Week 8 - Saturday

We were scheduled for a big 20 miler today, our third so far in the run up to Ogden. I was a bit nervous about this one with my lingering head cold, but decided to just stay positive and give it a go. Trever, Loren, Paul, and I met Brent, Kerry, Trina, and Ryan at Municipal Park at 7am. Ryan was late yet again!

It was a little chilly when we started out from the park, heading west on the Greenbelt. I quickly realized I wouldn't be breathing through my nose on this run, but I otherwise was feeling pretty good. As we passed Americana we saw a doe just a few yards from us off to the right. I know there are some living in Kathryn Albertson Park, but it's still surprising to see deer in an urban area.

Loren and I ran together out front for the first 4 miles or so, and then Ryan, who had been hanging back a bit, decided to catch up and take his usual spot in the lead. The three of us ran together to the 10-mile turnaround point about two miles shy of Eagle road. Most of the first 10 miles were at just over an 8 minute pace. I was happy to be keeping each split below 8:15. As we headed back east, we passed the rest of the group nearing the turn and everyone looked to be running well. We weren't strung out very far from each other, which was great.

Ryan pulled ahead after the turn and Loren and I continued along together. I wasn't having any trouble maintaining pace at first, although I could tell my heart rate was running a little higher than normal. This made it seem like I was working harder than I should have been at this stage of the run. As we crossed Glenwood again at about mile 13, I started to really feel like I was laboring, but we held the pace until mile 15, where we took a brief Gu break.

This was where my wheels came off. Getting moving again was difficult for me. By mile 16 I had to take another break and Loren pulled away. I was really ticked at myself for stopping, and resolved there wouldn't be any more. I got moving again, and tried to settle into a slower pace I could hold. I must have looked awful to anyone passing by as I shuffled along. I was hot and had my vest and shirt unzipped Travolta-style, and I had a stream of neon green coming out of each nostril. You won't see me on the cover of Runner's World anytime soon!

With about 1.5 miles to go, I caught up to Loren again, who I think was having as much fun as I was by that point. I picked it up a bit for the final mile, and as I neared Municipal Park again I was happy to see Holly heading west after making the turn on her 14 mile run. I finished mile 20 in 8:17 and an overall time of 2 hours 49 minutes. This was two minutes slower than my last 20 miler, which was also actually 20.75 miles. My average pace for the run was 8:28, 15 seconds slower than the last one, and with all of that difference accumulating in those miserable final 5 miles.

That sort of pace will not get me a 3:35 finish at Ogden, but I know I have one more of these big runs in two weeks and intend to get back on track. As tough as this one was, once I was finished, I really wasn't too disappointed given the spotty training I've had for the last two weeks.

Oh, by the way, Ryan wasn't really late this morning. Just trying to rile him!