Since my parents are facing a little dispute with Heber City over how long it has taken them to get their landscaping in (new home 1 1/2 years old) I took the day off work Thursday and spent 12 long grueling hours spreading 7 truck loads of topsoil at their house. A friend of theirs (a nice 80 year old Japanese guy) came and helped move the topsoil around with a tractor, but didn't have the proper attachment to level it. I.e., we ended up spreading it by hand because we were concerned that if we went and rented a tractor with a box scaper it might offend him. (The fact my parents are on a shoestring budget to put the yard in was a factor too, but I would have paid for the tractor myself). Twelve hours of raking and rolling take a toll on one's body. I think I overexerted myself because Thursday night I couldn't sleep. All I could do was lay there and think about how tired I was and how much it hurt to lay in any position. I finally fell asleep about 5 a.m. and got a couple hours of restless sleep.
So, after that great preparation for the Hobble Creek Half, I was wondering what kind of an experience I would have today. We left home at 4:00 a.m. for the nice drive to Mapleton and jumped on one of the first busses headed up the canyon. Fortunately it wasn't very cold at the top. Better yet, they started the race on time this year!
Unlike the Provo 1/2 I didn't come across any smart alecks or women trying to pass while calling me "bud". There was no stomach flu, and I didn't need a port-a-potty along the route. Things were pretty routine other than a couple of people we passed at mile 3 that were breathing way too hard (As we passed one guy trying to take in gulps of air like a sprinter that had just finished a 100 m dash, my friend turned to me and says, "I think that guy's in trouble"). We also met a nice guy from American Fork and chatted with him for a few miles.
I felt pretty good for the first 8 miles running around a 7:30 - 7:40 pace, but then the fatigue of this week set in and I had to slow things down. The last mile was pretty miserable. My legs were shouting "WALK! WALK! WALK!" but I kept going. Some guy wanted to race me at the end so I tried to keep up with him down the last stretch. We passed a couple of girls, but I never did catch him.
Even though I was tired I managed to eek out 1:41:49 completely running out of energy as I went under the clock. It wasn't what I was shooting for, but I beat my time from last year by a little more than 10 minutes! Unfortunately, I later learned that my cousin beat me by 2 minutes... Watch out next year buddy!
Onto other quests! Next Saturday is a great "people's race": Midway Swiss Days. There are no cash prizes, so not very many local elites show up. There are only about 300 runners. I want to try to break 7:30 pace and beat the guy who placed ahead of me last year. | 