Ultimate Tri, Parowan Half & Weekend!!

This past weekend consisted of the Ultimate Tri Relay on Friday and the Parowan Yankee Meadow Half Marathon on Saturday, then my brother Stephen and his family came in to town Saturday from North Carolina and my son Alex was ordained a deacon in church on Sunday.

Ultimate Tri Relay

Our team consisted of myself, Craig Coats, Breanna Nelson, and Brittany Hunter.  We left Thursday evening around 5:30 to head up north for the race which started Friday morning in Pine View Reservoir near Ogden.  We ended up staying at my sister's house in Orem Thursday night.  Thanks Garrett and Kellie Bull!  We woke up Friday morning at 4 and left to be at check in by 6am.  The race started at 7am with a mass start.  There were 36 teams and 8 solo individuals competing in the 133 mile event that had 4

L to R Me, Breanna, Brittany, Craig

swims (all 1000 meters), 4 bikes (totaling 107 miles), and 4 runs (all 6 miles).  Breanna did our first swim in Pine View Reservoir and came out in the top 20.  Craig did our first bike which was a tough 41 miles through the mountains.  I did our first run and held a 6:53 pace.  Brittany did 2nd swim in East Canyon Reservoir and had to run about a quarter mile to get to the lake.  Breanna did our 2nd bike which was 19.5 miles.  I did our 2nd run and held a 7:10 pace.  Craig did our 3rd swim in Echo Reservoir. Brittany did our 3rd bike which was 33 miles with a stiff headwind the entire way.  Craig did our 3rd run which was the toughest run of the day with some nasty hills.  Brittany did our 4th swim in Jordanelle Reservoir.  Breanna did our 4th bike which was 13.5 miles.  I did our 4th run and held a 7:19 pace.  We had a goal to finish in 10 hours 50 minutes and we pulled it off in 10 hours 37 minutes and ended up 5th place overall and 1st place coed.  We won some really nice cycling jerseys and free pizza.  After eating our free pizza we headed back to St. George so that I could make it to the Half Marathon the next morning. 

 

Parowan Half Marathon

Mile 7.5 Both these other guys passed me.

The dreaded alarm clock went off at 4:30am and I got up and got ready.  I met Joel Beckstrand, Phil Packard, Ben Kroff and Amber Heppler at Red Rock Canyon school and we took 9 of our boys up to the race with us so they could experience it as well.  We got to Parowan and picked up our packets and headed up to Yankee Meadow to the starting line.  My goal for this race was to try and set a personal record by beating 1:21:13.  Ben was going for the same time so we thought we'd push each other.  My legs were feeling a little sore from the day before but I was hoping the downhill course would make up for it.  Parowan has a net downhill of 2300 feet over the 13.1 miles.  Here is how those 13.1 miles played out.

Mile 1: 6:03 Started out a little fast but feeling good (dirt road).

Mile 2: 5:49 Ben picked up his pace on some downhill and I went with him (dirt road).

Mile 3: 6:21 Some little hills, passed Ben (dirt road) drank water.

Mile 4: 5:53 Pavement and steep downhill with potholes.

Mile 5: 5:43 More steep downhill.  Ben passed me here.  Holding back so I don't fall.

Mile 6: 6:00 More steep downhill.  Passed some guy.  Took a PowerBar Gel and some water.

Mile 7: 6:01 More steep downhill.

Mile 8: 6:13 Road flattening out.

Mile 9: 6:22 A few little rollers.  Some guy passes me back.  Drank water.

Mile 10: 6:33 Little rollers.

Mile 11: 6:59 More little rollers.  Legs about to fall off.  Drank water.

Mile 12: 7:30 Legs very tired.  Just trying not to walk.  Another guy catches me.  More water.

Mile 13: 8:27 Climb to the finish.  Feels like I am crawling. 

Last 0.1: ?  My watch said 1:24:14 but their official time said 1:24:54. 

This gave me a 7th place overall finish and 3rd in my age group.  Got some really good honey and a medal for finishing 3rd.  Ben finished 4th overall in 1:20:40.  One of my Red Rock boys finished 1st in the 15 and under age group (1:40:00ish) and another finished 3rd in the 16-24 age group (1:34:00ish).  I was totally excited for those guys.

 

Saturday Night

I came home from the half marathon and helped Kristal with some shopping and we went and ate at Café Rio.  My brother Stephen showed up around 5:30 from North Carolina with his family so we all went over to my brother Brian's house to hang out with them.  At 8:30 we went over to my brother Jared's house (yes, I have a lot of brothers) and played some dunk ball on his court under the lights.  Surprised my legs were able to handle it but once the adrenalin kicked in it was ok.

 

Sunday

My awesome family.  L to R Kristal, Emma Alex, Kali, Mary

Slept in because of all the lack of sleep over the weekend.  I had the opportunity to ordain my son Alex a deacon today.  It is crazy to think that my boy is12 years old already.  It was really great to have the support from family there.  Four of my brothers with their families were there, my parents and Kristal's dad.  We definitely filled the room.  Alex is so excited to have the priesthood and I know he'll do great with it.  We went over to Brian's house afterward for a family dinner and to just all hang out together.  Very relaxing day.





Here It Goes Again!

This is the start of blogging again for me so I thought the following video was very appropriate:

I titled this blog It's Not Over Until I Win because I think it's important to set goals and then work hard to accomplish them.  Don't ever give up on your dreams.  As a runner and triathlete I am always looking to improve upon my own times and reach new heights.  This blog will be a combination family life, training, inspirational messages, things I find funny, and pretty much anything else I decide to put in here.  


I work as the Recreation Coordinator at a school for trouble youth and I am able to take them on hikes and to museums and coach them in running and basketball.  They are able to run 5Ks, 10Ks and Half Marathons.  I also try to educate them on the importance of making good choices as far as eating healthy and avoiding drugs and addictive substances.  I love what I do and receive a great sense of accomplishment when I see the youth achieve new things.

I am currently working on completing my Masters Degree in Sports and Health Science and have about 7 months left to be completed.  I would like to work in the Health and Wellness industry so that I can help people accomplish their physical fitness goals.

My ultimate goal for fitness this year is to run a sub 3 hour marathon.  I have been training hard and putting in the time and miles to make it happen.  I have some awesome training partners that are shooting for the same goal.  I have a few relays and 5Ks coming up in the next 2 months with the St. George Marathon coming up the first Saturday in October.  I've also started working on my upper body strength to improve my core strength which will help with endurance.  I started a couple months ago and could only do about 6 pull-ups.  Now after training 3 days a week with my brother Brian I am able to do 6 sets of 10 pull-ups with other workouts added in as well.  Things are progressing nicely.


This morning was a nice and easy 4 mile run with the best looking running partner ever. Thanks Kristal for waking up and going with me. These next 2 days will be some crazy running with two 6 mile legs in the TriUtah Ultimate relay tomorrow and then the Parowan Yankee Meadow Half Marathon on Saturday. Should be interesting....  This will be almost as intense as the Bachelorette. (There could be a lot of crying.)  

You can follow my training runs and rides at strava.com for more details and maps as to where and how fast the runs are being done.  I will post my race results on this blog along with everything else.  Here it goes again!!