Scott's Running Blog

My favorite thing about the Speedy Spaniard is being surprised at how many people I know and seeing people that I wouldn't expect.  A close second is the canyon wind. ;)

I lined up a little closer to the front than I have in previous years so that it wouldn't take so long to get out of the park, which helped a lot.  My split times were 8:41, 7:53, 7:50, 8:05, 8:12, 8:06, 0:44 (Measured .11 on my watch).  I don't know what happened to my pace during the 5th mile, but can't complain too much because that's the first time I've broken 50 minutes on that course.  I finished 21/30 in my age bracket, and 129/282 overall.

I ran from South Fork down to the parking lot at the mouth of Provo Canyon.  Paul, Tom, Kerry and Kevin were kind enough to let me tag along.  I was a little bit worried at first, as they're much quicker than I am.  They were nice enough to keep their pace down for me.  I had a great time and went home motivated to work harder.

Our average time was 8:14, with splits of 8:27, 8:13, 8:19, 8:13, 8:24, 8:05, 8:14, 8:24, 8:21, 7:41. 

I had a really hard time sleeping last night, but I'm not sure why (other than the kids waking us up a couple of times). It seemed like I was just getting settled in when my alarm went off. I ran north on 1400 east to Canyon Road, and then headed east. I turned back into the subdivisions on Oak Crest road before making my way back home.

I didn't feel like I had much get-up-and-go today, probably due to the 10k on Thursday and the (for me) long 10 mile run on Saturday. I averaged 8:40, with splits of 8:42, 9:02, 8:48, 8:37, 8:09. I plan to slow down for tomorrow's run.

I didn't start running until about 7:15 in the evening, and it was really hot.  I didn't take any water with me because I expected to stop at the Spanish Oaks Golf Course, but by the time I got there the clubhouse was closed.  Fortunately, I live in Utah where there is a church on every block and they are always open on Tuesday nights. 

 I had kind of an odd experience during the last couple miles of my run.  The driver of a white SUV yelled "Ragnar!" and pumped his fist in the air as he passed me on the Riverbottoms Road (I was wearing my Wasatch Back Relay shirt while running.)  I thought that was rather friendly, and noticing the Ragnar sticker on his window didn't think much more about it. 

Once he was about 200 yards in front of me he slowed down significantly.  At first I thought he wanted to talk and was waiting for me to catch up.  Once I got close to the car, however, he drove away around the corner.  When I got to the corner he was waiting again.  After that he started driving down the road, but did so really slowly.  This continued for the next mile and a half.  I didn't see him anymore after I turned back up the hill and climbed into the subdivisions. 

I didn't think there was anything threatening in his behavior, but I couldn't figure out what he was doing.  Maybe I looked worse than I felt, and he was afraid that I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion or something. :)