Top of Utah

Next marathon: Top of Utah, September 19th. This positive review from MarathonGuide.com (8th one down from YPR) helped me decided on TOU over the Air Force marathon.

Cache Valley, be prepared for snow that weekend! It's happened before (see TOU, 2000). Below is a graph comparing the elevation of TOU, Ogden and St. George marathons. TOU has more "inclines" in the last few miles, something I wish they could change.

Training officially started yesterday with a 14.3 mile run. Below is the old Nike+ view of my run. (I inadvertantly, stopped my watch after 13.34 miles but, honestly, I did one more mile)

Here's the newer look to Nike+. It makes me look a like a better runner so I like it.

Today I ran in the Habitat for Humanity, Four for the 4th fun run. I finished in 31:53, just under an 8 minute per mile pace. If I could keep up that pace over 26.2 miles, I'd be running Boston next April. If I could knock it down to a 5 minuter per mile pace I'd be running in the 2012 Olympics. How do people do that?

Anyway, the Four for the 4th run was fun. I ran most of it with Ethan Garrett. We ran most of the Washington D.C. marathon together back in 2002 and he ran the Indianapolis Marathon the same year I did in 2007 and was nice enough to wait at the end until I finished. I talked to Brett Bartlett at the start and then the finish. He didn't wait for me just like he didn't at TOU, 2000 and Memphis, 2000 but when you run that much fast than me, he shouldn't wait.

Depending on how things go with TOU, I may try the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis on the first Saturday in November. Then, there's Tecumseh a month later. I can't wait for fall! Although the past week was perfect running weather. Well as perfect as you can expect for summer so I took advantage of it and logged 29 miles this week. A decent amount for me.