Sunset, Full Moon, and Rocking to Taylor Swift

I have exactly no running pictures to post for the past week because most of my running was before work when it was still dark.

This little blog here is how I keep my training log, so feel free to skip this little blip and then I'll show you some pictures from Friday night when my daughter and I went moon hunting.

Monday, September 24th 2012: 8 miles @ 9:59 minutes per mile.
Tuesday, September 25th 2012: 5 miles @ 9:54 minutes per mile.
Wednesday, September 26th 2012: 4 miles @ 11:37 minutes per mile. Hills in Confluence Park.
Later that day I had to go pick up my car at the mechanic so I decided to run over there. I did 2 miles @ 8:23 minutes per mile. Slightly embarrassing to walk into the mechanic looking like I just got out of a lake.
Thursday, September 27th 2012: Nothing.
Friday, September 28th 2012: 5 miles @ 9:27 minutes per mile.
Saturday, September 29th 2012: 8 miles @ 10:17 minutes per mile. Then Mel and I went on a bike ride for an hour and a half. These are some of our favorite dates together.

On Friday night my daughter Danica and I went to the Gould's Rim Trail hoping to get some pictures of the moon. We got there right in time for an awesome sunset.

The mountain Molly's Nipple was off on the horizon:

Dani and I were having a great time together. We ate granola bars and rocked out to Taylor Swift.

While I was taking pictures I saw her writing in the dirt. When she was little she used to call me "Derby" and this nickname has stuck ever since:

Danica was also a helpful photo model to help take advantage of the incredible sunset.

And then the moment we were waiting for - the moon came up!

Dani went home bragging about how much fun we had and telling the rest of the family that they should have joined us. I told her that every time I run on this trail I will think of our night out together.

In 5 short days I'm running the St. George Marathon! I'm just a little apprehensive about running 26 miles on the road. Ouch! My legs appreciate roads much less than trails. My sister Hollie is also running - this will be her first marathon! Spoiler Alert: I found the most awesome shirt EVER which will make it's debut at the race. Can't wait.

Watch My Friends on Jay Leno Friday Night!

In my other life I'm a piano player and have been fortunate enough to become friends with some incredible musicians over the years.

A few of those friends are The Piano Guys whose videos have a collective 145 MILLION (nope, not a typo) views on Youtube. (Take that Justin Bieber!) Jon Schmidt plays piano, Steven Sharp Nelson on cello, and Paul Anderson is behind the scenes coordinating everything. Want to know something positively awesome?

They are going to be on Jay Leno this Friday night, September 28th!

When was the last time you saw a piano/cello duo on Jay Leno? I think the last time that happened was, um, never. Insane, crazy success couldn't happen to nicer guys. As a teaser for Leno, here is one of their recent songs (a la Bourne Identity):

Run Across America Completed!!!

In June I had the privelege of running with Chris Praetzel. Chris was in the midst of doing something unbelievable:

RUN ALL THE WAY ACROSS AMERICA.

What was remarkable was that Chris was doing the run completely self-supported. No support crew or van full of gear. All he had with him was what he could pack into a baby stroller. His purpose was to raise awareness for organ donation.

By the time Chris arrived in southern Utah he had already run 500+ miles but had another 2,500+ miles to go. We offered to let him spend the night at our house as he passed through town and it was an experience I don't think my kids will ever forget. (You can read about our experience HERE.)

 
I have exciting news to report. After 125 days and more than 3,000 miles, Chris arrived on the other side of the country in New Jersey yesterday! I am speechless. I can't image what his journey must have been like. I am so thankful that we got to spend 1 of those 125 days with him. Congratulations Chris!

I Like People Who Run Like A Turtle

I am pleasantly surprised with how quickly my legs recovered from the Almost-50-Miler last week. The day after the race, my legs felt like I jumped off a nine story building, poured gasoline on them, and then lit them on fire. But a few days later I was feeling fine. I've still been conservative for the week just to make sure those chicken legs of mine have all the time they need to recover.

Monday, September 17th 2012: Nothing.

Tuesday, September 18th 2012: I did my part to keep the running gods happy and volunteered to help with a trail maintenance project in Confluence Park.

Wednesday, September 19th 2012: Ran for one hour. I dropped my girls off at gymnastics Wednesday night and realized that I had an hour free before I needed to pick them up. The Hurricane Rim Trail was a few minutes away so I decided to take advantage of that free hour.

It was a 100% spontaneous run. Luckily I was already wearing some trail shoes because I was wearing a new pair around the house to break them in. (Montrail Bajada shoes. I'll give you a review after I put some more miles on them.)

I had to give myself a little bit of therapy to work through some Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because the last time I was on this trail was around mile 90 of the Zion 100. My recent visit was much, MUCH more enjoyable.

Thursday, September 20th 2012: Nothing.

Friday, September 21st 2012: I got three runs in for the day. First was 5 miles @ 10:00 minutes per mile before work. In the last mile I crossed a guy who was at least 65 years old, had an enormous smile on his face, and was running slow as a turtle. That sight made me so, so happy. I love to see people who obviously really love running. It's not a chore. They don't care about pace at all. They just love the fact that they are running. I have a special kinship with my turtle brothers and sisters.

Later in the day I went to the elementary school to have lunch with my daughter Kylee. Once a month the kids have a reward program if they run a mile during their lunch break. This day happened to be the mile challenge so I got to join Kylee and her friends for my favorite mile of the week.

That night my wife traded me a night on the trails in exchange for a girl's night the next night. I decided to go to Leeds, Utah around 20 minutes away to run through the Dixie National Forrest for the first time. There was lots of steep climbing but mostly on non-technical dirt roads:

Even though it was getting late in the evening, it was still 91 degrees. It felt much better once the sun started to go down. I apologize that my hydration pack makes it look like I'm wearing a saggy bra.

Thankfully as soon as the sun went down the temperature cooled off a lot.

I ended up running 10 miles @ 11:56 minutes per mile and was treated to a great sunset as I finished the run.

Saturday, September 22nd 2012: 30 minutes on the exercise bike. Bleh. The fun part of the day was that our family got to staff an aid station for a local 5k. This is the awesome sunrise that runners got to see. Wowzers.

One older lady got to the aid station toward the back of the pack and was happy as a clam. She said the race was her way to celebrate a knee replacement three months ago. Incredible! It was cool to see my kids so enthusiastic to help the racers.

Would you like to know what else is great? Alf is on Netflix and my kids are hooked. We've been having lots of Alf nights at our house lately. And that is awesome. (Are you an Alf lover or hater?)

Moab's Alpine To Slickrock 50 Miler - DNF

On Saturday morning I found myself surrounded by scenery that took my breath away (unless that was the altitude). I was running Moab's Alpine To Slickrock 50 miler, and didn't realize at the time that my day wouldn't have a very happy ending.

We met at the Slickrock Trail bright and early in the morning to take shuttles to the starting line. Moab is one of the most amazing places in the world.....even in the dark.

It was chilly at 5:30am as we waited for the race to start. I stood at the starting line with 30 other runners nervous and anxious. We all pushed to the back of the pack. Nobody wanted to take the lead.

Within three miles the excitement had started. We were climbing up the first of what would be many huge mountains. And then we saw runners heading back down. Some course markings got sabotaged so the trail we were on came to a dead end. As a group we held a tribal council (we didn't vote anyone off the island) and decided to follow the ribbons showing the wrong way to go. (The Wrong Way ribbons ended up being the right way.) We only got a few bonus miles.

A quote from the race website says this is "an ultra that will leave even the most seasoned runner wishing he had trained harder!" (Note to self: they weren't lying.)

One area I loved was a long stretch of rocks just begging to twist an ankle, but well worth the risk to enjoy the scenery.

Not surprisingly, the pace around these parts was not too speedy.

One of the things I enjoyed most was being able to run the whole time with my friend Jared Thorley. Jared is optimistic, funny, and can tackle steep, technical downhills like a bushy haired mountain goat.

The timing of Moab's Alpine to Slickrock (MAS 50) could not have been better. The aspen leaves were changing and the hills looked like they were on fire.

We knew the first half of the race would be grueling so we planned to be conservative and save our legs for the second half. We kept a steady pace, but with the relentless steep climbing, the energy slowly seeped out of our legs and was replaced with cement.

After seven or eight hours my stomach wasn't feeling tremendously awesome. With each Gu packet I ate, I was sure it would bring on barf. I was also a tad concerned about my heart rate. My heart had been pounding the whole time. It was that heart pounding that you can feel in your head. Jared mentioned that he was feeling the same. All the while, the scenery was nothing less than spectacular.

The mountains were intense. In the first thirty one miles of the course we climbed 14,778 feet! To put this in perspective, the Javelina Jundred climbs 5,200 feet over one hundred miles. This race climbs 14,778 feet in thirty one miles!

Despite stomachs not feeling good, hearts pounding in our heads, and legs full of cement, I noticed that there was never any complaining. Only optimism and gratitude to be where we were in that moment.

Along with plenty of steep uphills, we also had our share of steep downhills. At one point my foot caught a rock and I ended up pretending to be Superman flying through the air. Except my landing was much less graceful and resulted in a mouth full of dirt (plus a great view looking up).

Our climb from mile 28 to 30 ended up being the nail in the coffin. We climbed almost 1,500 feet and one of those miles took 46 minutes. Nope. Not a typo. We had a 46 minute mile which included sitting on the side of the trail after realizing that we couldn't make the cut-off. It was discouraging to realize that today would be my first ever Did Not Finish.

We finally reached the aid station after 11 hours and 31 miles at 5:00pm. We had exactly 30 minutes to be at the next aid station around 9 miles away or else we would miss the deadline and be pulled from the course. Our day was done. Then we had the dreaded drive of shame to get back to the finish line. 16 runners made it to the finish line.

Moab's Alpine to Slickrock was every bit as grueling and epic as it is billed to be. The course will put you through the meat grinder and make you thankful that you bought life insurance. And the aid station workers will be incredible. And the course will be very well marked. And you will be surrounded by some of the most amazing scenery your peepers may ever see.

And what about that DNF I have next to my name? Well, that sucks. I hate those three dumb letters. But I'm at peace knowing I gave 100% and did the very best I could. It's humbling to know that sometimes your 100% won't get you exactly where you hoped. Sometimes everything doesn't go according to script. Sometimes you will fly through the air like Superman, and end up chewing dirt while you stare at the sky. Sometimes life will remind you that the journey is more important than the destination. And what an awesome journey it was!