Category Archives: Race Reports

A Thanksgiving 5K PR

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Aaron K

I have only been focused on marathon training lately, so I was pretty happy to PR in the 5K by over 30 seconds.

Though it gets me pretty curious to see what I can do in the 5K with 6-7 weeks of specific 5K training I must admit.

But it was nice going into a race without many self-expectations and just racing the people.

What that meant in this case was the following:

Turkey Leg 5K in Farmington Utah.  A small race, maybe 200 people.  Perfect 40 degree sunshine and dry roads made for a great morning to run.

After 1/4 mile it was just three of us way off the front of the rest.  It was 2 Davis High school runners and then me following a few feet behind.

First mile was really comfortable and slightly down hill in 5:32.  Then it started up hill and my plan on the day was just to hang with the leaders and see if I could out kick them for the $50 overall prize at the end.  I knew that one of the kids was a solid enough runner because he had won the race last year beating Nan by 10-15 seconds running low 17.  It was obvious he wasn’t working that hard.

I stuck right behind them as the effort increased in the 2nd mile uphill.  Split was 5:42.  Then one of the kids started to fade.  I stuck with the leader.

Then came the sharp downhill drop.  I looked at my gps out of curiosity and it said 4:27/mile pace.  It was a STEEP section, but quickly levels off.  I pulled slightly ahead of the kid on the steepest part and noted how loud his feet were slapping down with each step.  But me pulling ahead must have given him the impetus he needed because he held on to the 5:00/mile pace even on the flat and after a bit he started gapping me.  Then it looped back up hill to the finish and he gapped me more.  I dug in and did my best to stay as close as I could to him and finish strong.

Sprinted to the finish with the clock registering 16:53.

Sweet!  Finally broke that 17 minute mark.  Feels good to see the fitness improvement this last marathon training block has provided.  The 1st place kid beat me by about 15 seconds I think.

I found out after he ran a 15:27 at regionals the week prior.  I was glad to have him there pulling me to a new PR.  And it felt good to negatively split.  Splits were: 5:30 downhill, 5:40 uphill, 5:17 down then up, :26 for the last .1

I wasn’t thinking about my finish time as I ran, just running to keep up with the kid in front of me.  So it was pretty nice to see the 16 on the clock as I rounded the last corner.

Posted in Race Reports | Tagged | 5 Comments

Quest for Kings Marathon v.2

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Aaron K

Running Kings peak is significantly more challenging than it appears to be on paper.  The data says its ~26 miles with 4200′ vertical.  That sounds like it would be a pretty fast mountain course compared to say, speedgoat 50K, or other races that have 9-11K’ vertical over about 30 miles.

The challenge with Kings Peak is that after the first 10 miles it turns into a boulder hopping, tundra traversing, rock scree scrambiling, slick snow traversing, boulder climbing fest all at 12-13,000 feet.  And it really takes its toll on the average time.  To give you an idea of how slow it makes you go, check out the splits below.  I went from averaging 10:30 for 10 miles, to averaging 18 min/mile for the next 5.5 miles.  And there is only 1500′ vertical in those miles.  Its just challenging terrain.  That being said, I feel like I could do that section much faster.  But its a tough call because over exerting yourself at that altitude can cause a significant energy drain, and then I may not have had much left for the last 10 miles.

Splits at major points:
 Gunsight pass up: 1:45 – 10 miles – 10:30/mile avg
Gunsight to Summit: 0:55 – 2.75 miles – 20:00/mile avg (2:40 total)
Summit to gunsight: 0:44 – 2.75 miles – 16:00/mile avg (3:24 total)
Gunsight to trailhead: 1:24 – 10 miles – 8:24/mile avg
Total time: 4:48

Splits from 2010:
Gunsight pass up: 1:55 – 10 miles – 11:30/mile avg
Gunsight to Summit: 1:19 – 2.75 miles – 28:43/mile avg
Summit to gunsight: 0:55 – 2.75 miles – 20:00/mile avg
Gunsight to trailhead: 1:36 – 10 miles – 9:36/mile avg
Total time: 5:45

Here’s a link to my garmin data – the garmin data is messed up though, because I didn’t have GPS signal when we started.  Then I accidentally bumped the stop button 9 minutes above Gunsight pass coming down and didn’t notice it was off until Gunsight.  When I stopped the clock at the trailhead it was at 4:39.   Then I turned it on again to jog a bit more and forgot to turn it off until 4:51.

But I was able to verify close to my exact total elapsed time because  Facelessghost (Eric) and I started the run together, and he didn’t have any glitches with tracking his time.  The time of day on my watch was 1:11 pm when I finished.  When Eric came in, the time of day on my watch was 2:10.

Eric posted his gps data here and his full elapsed time was 5:47:25 – so taking off 59 minutes, that would make my time 4:48:xx.

The elapsed time on my watch when I reached the trailhead was 4:39.  So I accidentally had my watch stopped for 9 minutes apparently.

I’m really glad I was able to head out and run Kings again this year for multiple reasons.
1. It’s just a really fun peak to run to.
2. It was great to run with the elusive Faceless Ghost
3. It was great to see such a marked improvement in fitness from one year to the next, and that’s always encouraging.

So I took 57 minutes off my time from last year and get to take home the Cowbell once again!  Obviously the consistent speed work and 50-60 mile weeks for the past year make a pretty big difference.   I think I could have gone faster though had Eric been up front pushing with me the whole way. He definitely pushed me to a better first 10 mile split than last year.  Truthfully, next year I really hope Eric is uninjured and fit and that I’m trying to chase him down the whole day, because I’m pretty sure we could run that course under 4:30 if we were pushing each other. But don’t be mislead, that course is way tougher than it lets on. On paper it seems like you could for sure do it under 4 hours if you’re fit.  But the top 3 miles of boulder scrambling, tundra, and 12-13000 feet on this route really take their toll.

I had a great time running with facelessghost and trevor the first 10 miles and then I was solo from there.

I went through a few minor low energy points on the upper section, where I would just feel tired so I would start to hike, or stop for a second to catch my breath and suck down some EFS liquid shot.

Then I’d keep moving, and within moments each time I would feel pretty good again and start running or moving faster.  EFS liquid shot is the best endurance energy product that I’m aware of.  That stuff works like clockwork for me every time.  I never have any problem sipping down that stuff all day.  And ever since I started using it last summer, I have without fail had plenty of energy all day on all the long distances events I have done.  Not ever even coming close to bonking.  I dig EFS.

I used about 14 ounces total throughout the day.  Which is 12-1300 calories probably.  But I also carried a Red Bull up the trail for the first 5 miles and stashed it at the bridge at Elkhorn crossing.  That was really, really nice to have at 20 miles in, I assure you of that.  I was very glad I did that.  I only carried 70 ounces of water with me, between 1 handheld and a 50 oz. nathan bladder.  And I was pretty sure that wasn’t going to suffice.  But I didn’t want to stop and search for water and waste time messing with it up high, so I brought the red bull to tide me over to the finish.

It ended up working out great.  Because I was nearing the end of my water supply as I got down to elk horn crossing.  And that Red Bull was very refreshing.  And it gave me a noticeable boost in energy.  It was also a nice thing to look forward to on miles 15-20.

Each mile coming down from Gunsight pass it was my goal to average sub 8:00 pace.  That’s what I focused on and it helped when I was feeling tired, just to focus on one mile at a time, and give myself a bunch of mini milestones to try and hit.  I did hit 5 of my last 10 miles in the 7:30-7:50 range.  Another few just over 8:00 pace.  And on one of the miles I hit 10:47 because I was messing with grabbing the red bull and dumping it in my water bottle, and re-fitting my pack etc.  But it was nice to have the Red Bull reward stash giving me motivation to get to Elkhorn crossing.

I was completely out of water by the time I had about 3 miles to go, and that wasn’t a huge deal because I was so close to the end.  But I did notice myself losing energy.  So a couple different times as I was passing by the hordes of hikers coming down, I stopped and bummed some water off some people.  That only took 15-20 seconds each time and was well worth it, and I was appreciative of the few gulps of liquid people gave me.

Thanks to Jun for organizing a fun day, it was a huge bummer you weren’t able to make it, you were missed.  Thanks to Eric for coming up and running.  And congrats to Davy Crockett for pushing through a double Kings peak Ascent starting the day before and going overnight…gnarly stuff!  Good seeing Scott W out there too for a moment at least, who started at midnight in a double attempt.

I highly recommend running Kings peak at some point to anyone who likes running peaks.  Its a really cool peak to run to.  Its so far from the trailhead that the majority of people that ever make it up to that peak take 3-4 days to do it and have huge packs.  Just hiking it in one day would be an all day event for most people so its not that common I don’t think.

Posted in Race Reports, Running Logs, Trail Runs | Tagged | 2 Comments

Pearl Street Mile – Almost a success story

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Aaron K

Despite what the official results show, I feel pretty pleased knowing I would have hit my goal had I not pulled another epic end of race blunder by stopping running 25 feet too soon.  As Homer would so aptly state in a situation like this (though he would never have found himself in a situation like this) DOH!!

The clock has me at 4:44.  And David Wottle at 4:40.  I was right on his heel when we arrived at my imaginary finish line and I was closing in.

I thought I had run out of real estate.  My mind must have been a bit foggy in those final all-out sprinting moments.

I saw a big ‘Pearl street mile’ banner on our left.  Then I saw the clock…4:36.  And I thought we were there so I stopped running.

But David Wottle kept running toward the ‘Non-imaginary’ finish line.  The one that has big blue mats underneath a HUGE sign that says FINISH right next to the finish line clock.

Then I kept going…but lost 4 seconds in the meantime.

You’ve got to hand it to David Wottle.  He is probably going to graduate from college at the rate he’s going.  Me on the other hand?  If you’ve been paying attention (which I’m sure you two readers have long since forgotten this), this is now the second time in 2011 I have accidentally stopped before the finish line.  So it should be obvious by now that I’m a dropout.  Because surely they teach people things like running all the way to the finish line, and don’t trespass, and other such useful life life lessons there.

But enough about the failure.  The great news is, I didn’t know if I had a 4:40 in me, and now I do.  And it makes me curious what I could run on the track in a race environment.  Because this course was definitely not flat.  If I’m not too beat up after running the Kings peak Marathon this weekend I think I’d like to jump into the mile race at Potts field next Thursday at the all-comers meet.

So here are some pics of the evening, courtesy of my amazing wife while on her crutches:

Breanne was having a great time.

Abe, didn’t seem to be feeling it tonight.  But I think he was glad he went.

A Happy runner

A tired runner

And we’re off…Kenyon commanding the lead from the start.

Congrats to Kenyon Neuman on the win tonight! And Jeremy Freed on a close second.

Here’s my final 200 meter pain train face.

Dang you David Wottle!  Couldn’t quite pull him back.  Running all the way to the actual finish line may have helped in that regard.

I had my gps watch set on .25 mile auto laps, which recorded: 65, 67, 74, 68.  Which would equate to a 4:38-4:39.  Obviously that’s not 100% accurate, but its pretty close.  I wanted to have the data after my run to see how my pace throughout was.  I’m pretty pleased to see the evenness of the effort.  The first half was downhill and the last half was up.  So I’m pretty happy with the final 1/4 mile split.  The 74 second split looks slow, but was up hill and I was actually passing people and not getting passed.

What do you think, can I do another 4:44 on Saturday up to Kings peak and back?  It will have to be 4 hours and 44 minutes this time though since its a 26 mile round trip at high altitude (9-13.5k’) with 4500′ vertical.  Last year I did it in 5:45…So I’m not too sure about 4:44 being in the cards.  But we’ll see…

Posted in Race Reports, Running Logs | Tagged | 3 Comments

West end 3K…blah

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Aaron K

I didn’t feel that energetic on my warmup this evening.

And I also didn’t feel very motivated or energetic at any point in the race.

I felt like I could go one pace.  I went that pace.  I didn’t go out fast.  I went out behind 30+ dudes.  I thought I could be in the top 15 and run 9:45 or so.

Not tonight.  I split the first 1.5K in right over 5 minutes and finished the race in 10:07 – 23rd place I think.  5:26 pace is my current goal 5K pace so, yeah…not that great of a race for me.  And even with a great race right now, I’m not sure I could hold 5:26 for a 5K.  I am just getting back into consistent speed work though.  I had a month and a half off of that stuff and it definitely shows.  But it will come back with consistency.

I had a good time being out there tonight though.  Its always enjoyable meeting new people and associating with the community of runners and catching up with people.  And it was a good workout anyway, to run a couple miles at 5:26 pace.

Ran about 12.5 total today, with a super easy 7 miles this morning, randomly meeting and running with Zach Crandall as we happen to live 3 blocks away, and we both happened to be running the exact same loop start at virtually the same time this morning.  I was thinking to myself that I sure do warm up slowly when I run by myself.  Then sure enough, to prove my thought correct, Zach came trotting by and cruised past me. He wasn’t going fast, I was just plodding along at some ridiculously slow pace in the first mile of the run.  It was nice meeting him and chatting for about an hour.

And for your viewing entertainment:

Breanne going out too fast, and wow…Abe has an enthusiastic fan there!

Abe nearing the finish line…it was fun to run in with him a bit.

“C’mon Dad, 3K is way too easy.  I have run a 5K after all.”

Breanne at the finish “I don’t feel good”  She went out too hard and had the pleasure of experiencing that wonderful feeling.

The turnaround was jammed when I got there.

Congrats to Patrick Hunt, sealing the deal solidly on 2nd place after out-kicking 4-5 guys.

Jeffrey beats me at every race…and this time in a fully color coordinated skirt outfit just to rub it in.

Kick non-existent today…blah.

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Logan Peak Race report

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Aaron K

The week of the race last week the course kept getting shortened each day.  Until by race day, it had gone from an epic 28 miler to logan peak with 7200′ vertical, down to an 11+ mile out and back up dry canyon with 3500′ vertical.

I was minorly bummed that we couldn’t run the whole course, but it wasn’t going to stop me from having a great time running and racing on Saturday.

I ran with the lead pack from the get go.  I raced hard and did my best to flood my mind with positive thoughts the entire run.  I didn’t wear a GPS and was unconcerned about my pace or heart rate.  Just focused on running as hard as I could up the mountain, so I could give myself a fighting chance on the down hill.   I ended up placing 5th overall after a hard and fun hour and 51 minutes of running.  But I took a wrong turn at the end, so technically I am probably DQ’d, but it wouldn’t have made a difference in the placing.  It was a really fun race.  Here’s some more detail on how it went down:

I was in 3rd place after 25 minutes after surging past Ty Draney who was starting to walk some of the steeper parts.  He wouldn’t let me go though.  He would drop off a ways back, then surge back up.  After a few minutes of that he took the lead and I didn’t go with him and he put a gap and was out of sight a few minutes later.  This was the toughest part of the race for me.  I had to keep repeating to myself that I was fit, strong, and fast.  So that I would keep pushing and not just ease off the pace.  I had memorized this poem on the way over to Utah and I found myself repeating it over and over to myself on this section while I was alone.  It was a good distraction from the pain, and motivated me to keep pushing and thinking positive thoughts:

The Victor – C.W. Longenecker

If you think you are beaten you are.  If you think you dare not, you don’t.  If you like to win, but you think you can’t, It’s almost certain you won’t.

If you think you will lose, you have lost. For out in the world we find, Success begins with a fellows will. Its all in the state of mind.

If you think you are outclassed, you are.  You’ve got to think high to rise.  You’ve got to be sure of yourself before you can ever win a prize.

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man.  But soon or late, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can!

In between repeating that poem to myself, I would tell myself I was strong and I would finish in the top 3.  I’m pretty certain the forced positive thoughts helped a lot in keeping out the mediocre thoughts and slacking to some degree.  But by about 1000′ to go in the climb, it was getting pretty steep, and I was starting feel worked.  And my right foot went all numb, which felt extremely weird and annoying to run on.  I was in 4th place at this point behind Seth Wold, Joe Furse, and then Ty Draney.  Some guys were coming up behind me at this point.  So I stopped to shake my foot out and get the blood flowing again.  I’ve had that happen before on steep sustained climbs, and I knew it would just take about 30 seconds of standing there to get the circulation going again.   So 3 guys passed me.  But I kept two of them in sight.

Then we arrived at the snowy part.

I was the only one in the top group of runners who had packed micro spikes, and I was all about using them now after packing them up.  I noticed a pretty quick difference.  It only took 20 seconds or so to put them on, and I was still right behind Tim and one other guy and we had to go straight up a steep snow bank.  They started slipping all over and going really slow and I just blasted right past them.  Within a minute they were out of sight behind me as I went flying full speed across a 1/4 mile section of tracks running straight across a steep snow field.  It felt good to be able to take advantage of the spikes after having carried the extra weight up the hill.  This put me into 5th place by a good margin as we hit the turn around.

Seth Wold however, was 8 minutes up on me at the turn around.  Joe Furse was next, then Ty Draney and Chris were together coming down and had a few minutes of lead on me.

After the turnaround I did everything I could to blast back down fast.  One time I took a super man dive across a snowy section when one foot sunk to my knee.

After about half way down, running as hard and as fast as I could and having gone close to 3 miles and 2500′ descent, my quads were getting pretty worked.  And I wasn’t catching sight of the guys in front.

As I reached the dry gravelly section near the bottom of dry canyon, I took my eyes off the trail for only a moment to see the view of the canyon and soon found myself in what felt like a slow motion stumble to the earth.  And then I had skidded to a stop on my left side.

I jumped back up, saw a gash in my left knee, and started running again.  It was a little slow and painful at first, but soon enough I regained my tempo, not wanting to get caught by the dudes behind.  But at that point I lost hope of catching anyone in front.

Then I missed the turnoff to the trail at the bottom of the canyon and went running at probably a sub 5 minute pace straight down the road.  I was disoriented and had no clue where I was.  I ran north through a neighborhood, when I should have been going south to the park across the shoreline trail.  Finally I stopped a car in the middle of the street to ask where the park was.

I made it back to the park, via the wrong way, but still in 5th place.  The next guys didn’t arrive until 3 or so minutes after that.

I enjoyed that race a lot.  I liked the shorter distance actually…it made it pretty fun to just go all out the whole time.  It was quite a different experience than the pace I would have been able to sustain for 28 miles.

I missed out on a lot of action in front of me though.  It turned out to be quite a battle at the lead.  I thought Seth had it in the bag…but Ty and Chris actually caught up to Joe on the descent, they must have flown!  And then all three of them sucked up Seth who said he was just jogging pretty easy with a HR of 120 on the way down.  But by the time they passed Seth they were near the bottom of the canyon, and he turned on the speed.  He re-passed them, and Joe was the only one to hang, but he couldn’t out kick Seth.  They ended up in a sprint to the finish with Seth beating Joe by only about 1 second.

Sprint to the finish, followed by a puke on the nearest tree by Joe.  Way to give it everything you had Joe!  You were so close.

Then Ty came in followed by Chris.  I arrived about 4 minutes after Chris, about 5 minutes behind the leaders.  So I gained a few minutes on Seth on the down hill, but didn’t gain anything on Joe or the others.

Ty finishing third

Chris finishing 4th, he took a spill on the descent also it appeared

A slightly bloody finish

The risks of bombing the descent.  Better keep my eyes on the trail next time.  It could have been a lot worse I’m sure…

Oh yeah, and the fall.  So I cleaned out the gash in my knee, and surveyed a few folks as to whether they thought I should go get some stitches.  It was a pretty unanimous consensus for stitches…so I headed to the “5-minute clinic” south of town.  Glad I did too, I would much rather not get an infection in my knee if I can at all help it.

So in the end…it was a bummer we couldn’t run to the peak and around the awesome single track up high.  But not enough to ruin the fun time had racing and being out on a beautiful morning in the mountains.  I especially enjoyed the snowy sections of the course up high.

Kudos to the RD and volunteers for putting on a great event, despite the challenges with the weather and the course.

L to R: Seth, Joe, Chris, Cody (injured reserve list, CR holder last year), me, after the run.

Posted in Race Reports, Trail Runs | 11 Comments

Uni-Hill 2K

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Aaron K

I’m a slouch on blogging lately.  We got back from a 10 day trip to France (10 days ago, but give me a break) and that’s my excuse.  I’ll have to post some of the pics of the awesome rides we did on some of the tour de france routes…when I get around to it.

In the meantime, we had a fun time at the Uni-Hill 2K last night.  Here are some pics and a quick report.  Results here:  I was 15th overall in a time of 6:32 (5:15 avg pace)

Abe nearing the end

Breanne having fun

Dinner at the sink with Friends at the start/finish.  Good times.

The first dowhnill

The finish sprint

Todd Straka, leading then winning the masters division in 6:30

Did a really niceand easy 9 mile jog with Nan in the morning in the cool 60 degree mist around boulder.  Really pretty and peaceful run, and really nice to spend the time chatting without distractions.  Reminded me of being on Vacation again.

Then in the evening Abe, Breanne and I did the race.  What a fun event!  We signed up for the 3 race serious with a 2K, 3K, and a mile race throughout the summer evenings.  The kids get really stoked to go do races.  Its pretty awesome to see.  With Abe, we’ve been trying and trying to catch his interest in ANY activity this summer…and the only things he ever expresses excitement or interest in is camping, running, and biking.  DANGIT!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS KID!   (secret grin of delight that he on gets stoked about all the really cool activities) Seriously, we try talking about swimming, soccer, karate, baseball, etc. etc.  Nope.  no interest at all.

I guess kids can see right through our guise and they know all those other things must be lame since they never see us doing them.  So far they seem to want to do the things we’re do.  Works for me!!  I’d SOOOO rather go do a race with the kids than go watch them swim or do gymnastics or whatever.he wants to do is camp and run.

Anyway, Abe and Breanne did awesome, both took 3rd place in their Age.  It was cool because they do timing chips and everything, and the kids were way into it.  Abe has been wearing his finishers medal non-stop today.

I had a great time racing also.  It was a really hilly course.  Basically straight up then straight downhill for a 1/4 mile stretch each way, repeated twice with a couple 1/8 mile flatter spots.  People ahead of me pulled away from me on the up hills and I reeled them in or passed them on the downs.  It was fun to push a hilly short course in 5:15 pace… but I’m pretty sure taking out the hills I could be under 5:00 pace on that distance right now.  I’m really looking forward to testing that out though in the pearl street mile coming up.

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Dash & Dine 5K pain train

Posted on May 11, 2011 by Aaron K

The Boulder Dash & Dine 5K at coot lake was more painful than it seems like it should have been for the time I ran.  Finished in 17:49…pretty far off the goal of 17 and slower than last week.

Ahhh..nothing like the painful feeling at the end of a 5K (except maybe the nausea inducing mile race.)

Was it the HUGE plate of chile relleno, beans, and enchiladas for lunch at Racines in Denver today?

Probably not a good idea.

Was it the stiff headwind the second half of the race??  Thank you mother nature!  Awesome.  I must be a much stronger person now.

Yeah that would have been fine and dandy if character building were the goal of the evening…but the actual goal was to get closer to 17 minutes vs. farther away.

Oh well.  Another day, another attempt.

At least I got away with 3rd overall and a free rolfing session since it wasn’t a very competitive race…I like rolfing :)

I got myself into no-mans land again into the headwind for about 1.25 miles.  It’s kind of a tough situation, when the leaders are a minute ahead, and the people behind are 30-40 seconds back.  Late in the race it didn’t help my motivation to keep pushing harder knowing my place wasn’t going to change at all.  That extra motivation of having someone to chase or push me can go a long way in those painful moments.

Instead, I was left to my own non-devices.  I didn’t have a watch on, so I didn’t even have that to distract me or tell me how slow I was plodding along.  I’m not sure whether I liked racing without a watch or not…right now I’m thinking not.  I’m so used to having a watch and knowing my pace.  But maybe I just need to get more accustomed to it and maybe it was just a bad day for me.  I can see how if I were feeling good, knowing my pace could definitely be a limiting factor.  So I’m interested in racing without a watch more if nothing more than for the thrill of the unknown.  It would be kind of cool to come within sight of a finishing clock at some point and have it read something way lower than what I thought myself capable of.

But this race felt way longer than any 5K I have done.  Maybe that’s because I ran the first mile in 5:10-5:15 and was blowing up pretty bad?  (found out from 2nd place Tate after that he ran a 5:01 first and I was about that far behind him.)

But it was a tailwind and down hill the first mile, so that pace shouldn’t have been way over my head.

Anyway, despite sucking wind the second half, and not even coming close to my goal, it was fun to get out and get a solid workout in.  Met some nice people.   And got to play with the family at the park for a bit and hang out.

Good times.

Tired?

Posted in Race Reports | 1 Comment

Kohl Elementary 5K

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Aaron K

Fun morning!  Wish it wasn’t quite so windy – and chilly.  The wind made my sub 17 min. goal more challenging than it otherwise should have been, but oh well.  I was only able to pull off a 17:26 today.  But that’s close to a 30 second PR, so that’s cool.  I will get to 17 soon I think.  It’s inevitable if I’m going to make to to 16 right?

[caption id="attachment_1279" align="aligncenter" width="272" caption="Breanne after taking 1st for kindergarten - and taking home some gift card $$"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1275" align="aligncenter" width="277" caption="Bre at the start"][/caption]

The highlight of the morning was watching my 5 yr. old Breanne win her first race though!  It was incredibly cute.  Like mother like daughter.   Quote from Bre after: “Mom, thats the first time I’ve run a race and finished 1st place!”.  When asked how she did it, “I just moved my legs faster and faster!”.    She is the most coordinated and naturally athletic of our kids for sure.  And she stepped up and raced against the kindergarten kids and handily beat all the girls and boys, winning a $10 gift card and feeling pretty happy with herself.

[caption id="attachment_1277" align="alignleft" width="223" caption="Bre, focused, looking for the finish at the 1/2 mile mark."][/caption]

Abe followed our pre-race advice perfectly, went out slower than everyone, and ended up in 2nd place for 1st grade boys.  And then he broke down in tears to find out that only 1st place gets a prize.  It was pretty funny actually (but I resisted laughing as I comforted him as he shed the tears of dealing with the tough breaks of 2nd place!)

I guess its kind of inevitable that our kids our going to be exposed to running and racing throughout their lives since Nan and I are so into it.  But the cool thing is that they get completely jazzed and excited about the opportunity to participate in a race.  I guess they might get jealous seeing Mom and Dad do it all the time.  Abe and Bre were seriously stoked last night when I reminded them that they got to do a race in the morning if they wanted to.  Which is always cool as a parent to see the kids get excited about the things that we enjoy.  It would be cool if that lasts.  And if not, that’s cool too though.  I’m of the strong opinion of not forcing my kids to like what I like.  And we are trying to expose them to a lot of different things.  I liked how Abe got the chance to learn a lesson first hand like that at a young age though.  It was a good teaching opportunity.

[caption id="attachment_1274" align="aligncenter" width="368" caption="Abe starting out smart at the back of the pack"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1276" align="aligncenter" width="232" caption="Cruising into the finish, excited to hear his name in the cheers I think."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1280" align="aligncenter" width="221" caption="Abe experiencing some good 'ol 2nd place blues!  "][/caption]

Abe has always been pretty keen on winning whatever it is he is doing…its good for him to be learning lessons about that.

Race start, Left to right, me, Brandon (kind of hidden), Lucho (also kind of hidden) – bunch of young dudes in front of us

So as for my race, my goal was to run under 17 minutes.  Which would be a 53 second PR for me and kind of a stretch perhaps.  But even after this race, I do think I’m fit enough to do that in the right conditions.  When I ran the course as a warmup, I knew that the 2nd mile would be the crux of it.  It had a 1/3 mile downhill, followed by a 2/3 mile up hill into a pretty stiff head wind.  I knew it would be a slower mile, for everyone.  And that I would need to run faster the first mile to make up for it.

At the start, Lucho (just left of me there) and I talked about wanting to go sub 17 at the start line.  Of course I knew he was just being humble saying he was only shooting for 17, and that if I were to actually keep up with him that would not have been his best day by any means.  But he didn’t have a watch to pace from.  I now wish that I didn’t.  Next time I run a 5K I’m going to ditch the GPS entirely and race by feel.  I feel I made a tactical error in this race by going off my own pacing plan to strictly the first mile.  I may not have gone sub 17 had I done it differently, but I think I could have been faster had I stayed with lucho’s group the first mile.

Off the line I went with the lead pack for the first couple hundred meters and then backed off to settle into a 5:20 ish pace.  That meant that through the first mile the 10 or 15 leaders continuously gained ground on me.  The problem with that strategy of sticking to my even pace, was that the first mile was flat with a tail wind.  Lucho hit the first mile 15-20 seconds ahead of me, which was very smart of him to stick with another guy or two at that point.  The first mile for me felt totally controlled as I passed it in around 5:20 (per my gps, which lapped sooner than the actual mile marker.)  But then I was back in no-mans land,  because the two guys closest in front of me fell off pace severely, right as we hit the head wind down hill section so I had to just pass them.  And for my 6′ 2.5″ wide frame, the solo effort into a stiff head wind is not super favorable.

At least it was downhill at that point.  But soon enough it was up hill again for a longish grind (not that 2/3 of a mile ever really feels long) into the wind.  I knew that I needed to make this stretch as solid as possible to hit my goal, so I pushed the exertion level up a notch or two.   And I gained ground on Lucho and the 2 or 3 others between him and me.  By the top of the hill I had come to within 10-15 feet behind Jeffry Buechler from Boulder. He happens to look just like Ryan Burch from behind and gave me a nice little mental boost to try and catch him.  I was picturing that I was dueling Burch for 2 out of 3 honors.  We still need to have a re-match.

Lucho (ie Tim Waggoner) about to crest the hill near mile 2

My view the last half of the race…Jeffrey Buechler (met him after the race)

Me, Coming around the corner near the top of the hill

Gaining on him, didn’t ever get too much closer than this though.

Just after this shot we hit the bike path and as I got closer to Jeffry, he heard my heavy breathing and surged.  It was flat at that point and heading toward the down hill stretch, and he gapped me a bit more.  I tried to recover a little from the up hill push, while still keeping the pace down to 5:20.  My second mile was a 5:51 pace, which I knew meant I would need to be under 5:20 and have a solid kick if I was going to hit my goal.

I like this shot Nan got.  Lucho, Zack Watson, Andy Rinne, Jeffry Buechler, then me, coming down the final down hill.

Trying to increase speed, not having a ton of success going faster than 5:20 at this point.

I couldn’t catch back up to Jeffry, but I kept the gap the same to the end pretty much. But I also couldn’t get the pace below 5:20 as much as I tried.  The up hill headwind section had taken a toll on me apparently.

As I rounded the corner to the final 200 meters, it was an all out NON-Sprint.  As much as I tried, the acceleration was not happening.  It had some to do with being close to maxed out, but more to do with being close to maxed out and then turning straight into a super stiff head wind for the last 200 meters.  It felt like running through sand.

Lucho finishing strong

The finish stretch sure felt a lot more sand like than that looks like

I Crossed the line in 17:26, 9th overall.  And I think it was my first time not getting ‘chicked’ in, maybe, ever.  I’ll chalk it up to a good PR and a solid effort.

But like I said, next time I race a 5K, I’m going by feel.  I’m kind of tired of over analyzing the pace.  Pacing is a good thing.  But I feel like I should not have put on the breaks in the first mile.  I want to try pacing by feel next time.  I feel I should have stayed with a couple people in the first mile while it was easy.  Maybe I would have blown up.  Or maybe if I would have just stuck with Lucho and worked with him through the wind section, with 3 of us, it could have propelled all of us to faster times.  Or a big blow up for me…who knows.  What I do know is that there’s not much of anything to lose by risking it in a 5K.  If you blow up, its only going to hurt bad for a couple minutes.  Its not like a 50K or 50 Miler where you can pretty much plan on a 2-4 hour sufferfest if you go out way too hard.  And if you take the risk, you then have the chance to go beyond what you may have thought possible.  That’s mostly a paraphrase from what I gleaned from a post race chat with Lucho…great insight and great chatting with him.  He’s got me by a massive margin in experience racing and training, I appreciate his sound advice.

Race review…Lucho did a great job of nailing my goal pace.  Me, not quite.  The wind was definitely a factor.  I think everyone could have run 20-25 seconds faster if it were calm.

It was great seeing a bunch of blogosphere and other folks out there this morning.  Here are a bunch of other great pics Nan took of the morning.

Brownie at the finish – hmmm..I’m pretty sure that’s a girl in front of you.  Just kidding, solid race out there today Brownie with an 18:38!  You almost reeled her in too.

Don Conkey, finishing strong

Brandon looking fierce at the finish, the flames on his shoes really accentuate it…I need to get some of those!  He wasn’t about to be out kicked at the line.  And got himself a PR too, nice.

Love how George opted to run in with his son, very cool.

And look at JZ’s form!  Nice!

Watching the awards, Brownie hidden behind Lucho, George, Brandon

And last but not least, Lucho taking the prize for first in our Age group 30-39 (5th overall)

Posted in Race Reports, Running Logs | Tagged | 8 Comments

A Tribute to a Woman of Character

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Aaron K
[caption id="attachment_1229" align="aligncenter" width="440" caption="Nan in Copley Square at the CVC a couple days before the race."][/caption]

To those who want to be inspired by a great example of Faith, Courage, Strength, Perseverance, and Perspective, read Nan’s recent blog post about her experience at the Boston Marathon.

“I can’t help but feeling as though I’m going like a lamb to the slaughter.  But I’m calm as a summer’s morning”

That is a direct quote from Nan in our hotel room 117 at the Fairmont night before the 2011 Boston Marathon.

Kind of an ominous statement to say the least.  And certainly not the least bit comforting for me to hear something like that from her at that moment.

Normally before a race I hear things like, “I’m excited!”, or, “I’m not sure how it will go but I’m feeling ready.”   Things along those lines.

So inwardly I was a bit concerned for her, but did my best not to display that.  But since she brought it up, I opened up the scriptures to find the reference that she was actually quoting in her statement above.  To give you some background on just how ominous of a statement that really was, it was actually a quote from Joseph Smith, a prophet, just days before he was martyred in 1844, as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants section 135.  Here is an excerpt:

4 -When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a alamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a bconscience cvoid of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.”

And just days later, he was indeed murdered in cold blood.

Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t anticipate Nan dying or being martyred for a great cause.  And I’m sure she didn’t either.  I don’t believe she knew what she meant by the feeling she was expressing when she said that.  I believe she simply had a premonition that what lay before her was going to be extremely, extremely difficult.  And yet she was at peace.  She knew that she would do it anyway.  And that God would give her strength to do it.

After the race, she very clearly stated that if she had known just how intensely painful the experience was going to be, she’s pretty sure she would not have subjected herself to it.  But having crossed the starting line, there was nothing short of complete bodily failure that was going to stop her from finishing that race to the best of her ability.

Her actions and perseverance are a testament to her immense strength of character, mind, and will power.  And of her faith in God who she relies upon to make it through the difficult challenges in her life.

I wrote this in my journal the morning of the race at about 4:30 AM when I could no longer sleep (as is usually the case for me the night before Nan’s bigger races):

“Next time I write here it will be a different phase in our life.  The post-Boston phase.  It’s interesting how marathon events can tend to mark major turning points and changes.  The Baltimore marathon triggered a move to Boulder for us which has been an incredibly awesome change and a blessing.  What will Boston do?”

And indeed, that was the close of one chapter and the opening of another for Nan, and for me.  She is a new person after that experience.  There was no way to know beforehand how the experience would unfold.  And I believe I will be a better person for having witnessed her race that day.

And now to Nan:

You didn’t win the race or set any personal records.  But you won my heart all over again.  And you proved again without doubt to yourself and to anyone with eyes to see, that your courage and strength know no limits.

The next time I reach the hardest point of a race, or any challenge in my life, I know that I will do better and dig deeper than I would have before, because of your example.  I will be able to clearly see this picture of you etched into my mind, and I will remember that you showed me that I must have something more inside of me.

[caption id="attachment_1228" align="aligncenter" width="366" caption="Approaching the finish line in Boston"][/caption]

My heart broke for you as you collapsed at the finish line, not even possessing the ability to stand upright unaided at that point.  But that picture too, will stay in my mind as a reminder of your immense strength.

So I’m grateful to you for your self-sacrifice that provides me with strength from an incredible example to follow.  To be mentally capable of pushing your body to the absolute limit of its capability, through such excruciating pain for over 90 minutes, is simply amazing.  And though I doubt I will ever display such levels of mental strength or courage, I will always be motivated and driven by your example.

Your running career could end with that race and you would be a hero in my eyes.  Although I know that won’t be the case, as you are only just beginning to blossom as a runner and your best days are yet ahead.

You will benefit forever from the pain you endured on April 18, 2011.  Though the media and the world has no clue what even happened, I know.  And you know.

God loved you enough to cut you down on Monday.  Meaning he has incredible things in store for you.  You are like the currant bush Elder Christofferson spoke of 2 weeks ago in his General Conference address.  I believe there will come a time when you will see so clearly how much you needed that experience, that you will be thanking God tearfully for loving you enough to allow you to experience that pain.  As he stated:

“Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

Thank you Nan, for being who you are.  Don’t ever let yourself believe the completely false thoughts, that everyone experiences at one time or another, that you are somehow not good enough.

You are way more than good enough.  You are stunningly amazing and capable.

Only people with immense strength and courage are even given the opportunity to experience as much suffering as you experienced on Monday.  If you weren’t good enough you would never have come anywhere close to tasting so much pain.  The vast majority of people would have given up way before the finish line under such circumstances.  The amount of pain you endured on Monday is  the only witness you need to remember of how incredibly strong you are and the great potential God sees in you.

Everyone who knows you and who saw what you did is a benefactor of your example.

Nick Clark said it very well in a comment on your Boston post:

“Nan – great run! I’m certain that you’ll come back stronger for running the race that you did on Monday. Of course it wasn’t your best day, not even close, but as a test of character you came through with flying colors. Build on that and take it to Houston!”

I could not agree more.

Posted in Race Reports | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Nan 2nd at National Championship 15K – Gate River Run

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Aaron K

This morning my 5 year old Breanne was up and just finishing getting dressed already at 6:15, in eager anticipation of watching Mommy race.

Nan waived to her on the camera before the start of the race and she loved it!

Abe and Ali meandered out of bed 10 or 15 minutes later as the race was starting. It’s really cool that they broadcast those races live online. Its a lot of fun for us as a family to be able to watch. Our kids will probably grow up thinking its pretty routine to watch your Mom race on ‘TV’. It’s cool though…she is setting a great example for them. And the biggest part of the example is that she is maximizing her talent in her running passion while at the same time excelling at her mothering passion.

Here’s a pre-race interview RunnerSpace did with Nan:
Here’s how the women’s race went down:

  • 1st mile went out ‘slow’ in 5:28.  OK to us regular mortals that’s faster than 5K pace, but that was definitely an easy mile for this group and this race that would most likely be won in sub 5:20 pace average.
  • A group of about Ten or so stayed together through the first 5K which they clocked in 16:42.  Not too shabby for a 5K considering they need to do 3 of those.  They definitely picked it up miles 2 and 3.
  • I was thinking something had to start happening soon, but I kind of expected people to just dwindle off a mile at a time like what happened in Houston in January at the half.
  • But almost immediately after the 5K mark, Jen Rhines took off.
  • Immediately the pack of 10 was completely strung out…except for Jen and Nan.  Nan covered her move and stayed stride for stride with her for the next 3 miles as Jen laid down the hammer.
  • Clearly Jen was trying to break off Nan because the mile splits for the next 3 were 5:08, 5:12, and I think another 5:12 or so.
  • I don’t have the exact 10K split, but it was in the 32 range somewhere…Jen was on a mission through there.  But Nan stayed right with her, and there was a pretty large gap between the rest of the field that was all strung out.
  • I think their 2nd 5K split was somewhere between 16:00 and 16:10, which is a PR for Nan in a 5K, but she was running 3 of them in a row!  I’ve got a goal of going sub 17 for one 5K, and here is Nan throwing down 3 very far sub 17 5K’s in a row!  It hits home more just how fast she is thinking about it in that perspective.
  • Right about the 6 mile mark Nan decided to let Jen go.  There was a slight incline here and Jen was not letting up on the 5:10 ish pace.  So Nan decided to ease off a bit to get back to her comfort zone a bit so she wouldn’t blow up.  Probably a smart move…its probable that if she held that pace much longer and then blown up she would have been passed by Megan Hogan.
  • But she held very strong to the finish clocking close to 17 minutes for the final 5K which included the 1/2 mile hill over the bridge.
  • She finished 2nd overall in a 49:56 – a 5:21/mile average – very proud of her!   Stoked that she broke out of the 3rd place groove she was in (and in the right direction!)
  • Also, congrats to Colleen De Reuck and Sara Slattery for finishing strong and helping them all secure 2nd place in the team competition and an extra $3K in prize money to share.

Top 8 Women from left to right.

Women’s top 10 results
Name Time
1 Rhines, Jen 49:31
2 Kennard, Nan 49:56
3 Hogan, Megan 49:57
4 Grandt, Clara 50:34
5 Armstrong, Meghan 51:18
6 McGregor, Katie 51:21
7 Donaghue, Rebecca 51:52
8 Williams, Alisha 51:56
9 Houck, Jen 52:04
10 Cassie Slade 52:22

And here are two post race videos with Nan:


And a post race video with Sara and Colleen:
And finally, here’s the video of the Top 10 awards:

Another outstanding performance by Nan today! One of these times she is going to win a national championship race. But taking 2nd to Jen today is nothing to complain about. Nan ran smart, and she ran strong, and she keeps improving every race, which is a pretty cool thing to see and be a part of.

Up next: The Boston Marathon! I can’t wait. I get to go out for a 5 day trip out there to support and hang out with Nan. It’s going to be a lot of fun. And she is on track right now for another great marathon.

Oh yeah, and then there’s my running. It pales in comparison.  But I’m stoked to report that I’m almost back to 100% again after 3 weeks of recovery from the Moab 55K. Today I got out to the track to run over at Fairview. It was a really nice morning in the calm, sunny weather to be out there and feeling good again.  6 hill strides with Dr. Richey’s high schoolers from Peak to Peak.  Then 5 x 400 fast (76-79 sec.) with 200 Meter recoveries at a steady 46-48 seconds (6:10 ish pace).  It was interesting to test out a workout with the 200 recovery staying at a moderate pace rather than a full-on slow recovery.  It felt good.

The workout was pretty easy and light effort, except for one of the 400′s in which I tried to hang on to Brent Vaughn and Kenyon Neumann. Ummmmm…..not happening.

They did a 2 mile, 1 mile, 800m, 400m. And they were finishing on the 400m when I jumped in with them. I hung with them on a 31 second 200 but then it felt like they took off (in reality I hit the wall). They finished in about 61.5 and I gasped in for I think a 67 second split.

And they did that after running a 9:04 2 mile, then a low 4 minute 1 mile, a 2:06 800m. Yeah…different league altogether.

But it was fun running with them. And oh yeah…I was totally hanging with them on the warm up and cool down…;)

I’m excited to hear about Brent’s upcoming race at world XC championships in Spain. He’s racing there next Sunday and will more than likely lead the US team, based on how he ran at XC nationals.

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