Jose's Flat Foot Blues

Well after a long absence from the blog I have decided to post again.  I ran the Del Sol relay with a few people from the blog (Walter & Misty and Scott and Kelli) this past weekend.  Our friend Lamont from my ward was also part of the team.  We were van 2 of the Redmond Racers team.  Redmond is a company in Heber that sponsored van 1.  The overall team had differing skill levels and the race was a fun experience for all.

It was great for me to hit my goal of 8:30 pace for all 17.4 miles of my legs.  My first leg was 5.5 miles and I did it in 8:35 pace (lots of uphill).  My second leg was 8.8 miles and I did it in 8:27 pace.  This one was interesting.  It also had a lot of uphill but it was in the middle of the night, which I think somehow helped my pace.  My last leg was an easy 2.9 miles and I did it in 7:52 pace.  I know some of these paces look painfully slow to some of you but for me it felt like I was flying, so I am very happy with my performance.  I am also optimistic that if I keep up the training I will be able to break the 4hr mark in Ogden in May (my ultimate goal for the first half of the year).

The best part of the race, however, was watching Walter tear up the trail.  I had never seen anyone running long distance that fast and it was definitely a treat to see people's faces when he would pass them.  Good job Walter!

The hours in the van were made easy by the quality of the company.  Thanks to all my team members hopefully we can repeat it some day.

Ran five on the treadmill at 7.1 mph.  Too windy to run outside (hey, I'm feeling wimpy today).  Still stiff from Ragnar but very happy to have run the miles.  I am planning on doing 20 on Saturday, probably on the Lehi trail.  I will put in about seven more miles between now and then.

Had a very good race. My best time at that distance was 1:58 so i was glad to beat that on a fairly challenging course. The wind was more of a factor than what I was expecting. Once more Weather.com sucks. They predicted light winds and the winds were not very light.

It was great to run with so many people I know like Kelly, Alan, Eric, Chad, Allison, Smooth, Walter, Misty and others. It was also good to have Scott and his kids as cheerleaders on the course, especially after the first big hill.

Alan and Eric were essentially my pacers until they decided to stop for water at mile 7, which almost killed me because I was then on my own. My legs don't respond well to pauses along the course. I surprisingly was able to maintain a really good pace during the whole race. I used my Garmin religiously and it really helped me stay on pace.

The race was very well organized. Kudos to the organizers you guys did an awesome job. I am proud this is my hometown's half! I will definitely run this one again next year. I loved the T-shirt (Eric, great job on the design). I also appreciated the many inspirational quotes along the course especially the one about giving it your best from Pre at "S Curve" hill and the one from George Sheehan that read something like "..sometimes you need to go a little berserk." Great quote to have with one mile to go. You can tell that the organizers are runners themselves.

All in all great experience.