Bear Lake 1/2 Marathon

On Saturday, I ran my first 1/2 marathon. I have done 2 full marathons and had considered doing the full on Saturday but my left knee was not feeling the greatest a few weeks ago when I signed up so I thought I would do the smart thing and just do the 1/2.

For the race they have you park at the finish and they bus you around the lake to the start. Because they only have so many buses I was waiting for about an hour at the start. Finally we started after having been rained on for a little while and listening to a chubby guy talk about how much running he does. It was a pretty small race. They limited it because of the whole bus thing and no parking at the start.

By about mile 1 I was in 4th place. I was pretty shocked and kept checking my watch and I was actually going slower than I had planned. A mile or two later I heard another runner catching me. Turns out it was a girl. I started talking with her and we ended up running together for a while. She had jut run the Ogden marathon 4 weeks earlier (where she finished in about 3:17) and just wanted to see what she could do. At about mile 6 or 7 I decided I needed to push it so I sped up and left her behind. I passed another guy that was in front of me and all of a sudden I found myself in 3rd place. There was a huge gap between me and 2nd and I don't think I saw the first place guy after about mile 4. I felt ok so I just kept plugging along and hoping that I wouldn't get passed. I just wanted to get a medal for finishing in the top 3 im my age division. There wasn't much drama the last 5-6 miles of the race and I finished in 1:36:52. I actually did finish 3rd overall and 2nd in my age division (the winner was only 23 or 24).

As my prize I got a big chunk of Sandstone that had the race info engraved on it. I also got a medal for being 2nd in my age division. I think that is probably the first race I've ever gotten a trophy or medal from. It wasn't for lack of people, the half marathon was full, it was just that the fast people from last year didn't show up I guess. I'll take it though. I was a little dissappointed with my time. I wanted to run under 1:30. Oh well. Here are my splits (they count down for this race so that should explain the .1. Oh, and the couple of splits that are way fast or slow... I think I pushed my split button late or early a couple times.

.1 - 0:51, 1 - 7:12, 2,3,4 - 21:08, 5 - 8:14, 6 - 7:46, 7 - 6:38, 8 - 7:42, 9 - 7:26, 10 - 7:37, 11 - 7:29, 12 - 7:29, 13 - 7:16, Total - 1:36.54

Triathlon, Zoo, and Gardening

Here is a pic of us eating Aggie Ice Cream on Memorial Day after the cemetary business was over. Do you think we're related?

So I did the Salem Spring Triathlon last Saturday. It is a sprint distance triathlon; 800 meter swim, 14 mile bike, and 5K run. I ended up placing 18th out of about 70 in my age division. I beat the CEO and R&D guy from work who have both done a lot more triathlons than me. They are older though (45-50 I think).

I borrowed a wetsuit and a bike and I think those were big parts of my success. I would have been a good 20 minutes slower if I went sans wetsuit and rode my heavy mountain bike. Here a link to my results. Just in case the link doesn't work here is a summary:

Swim - 12:07
Transition 1 - 4:01
Bike - 42:01
Transition 2 - 2:19 (this includes a trip to the porta-potty)
Run - 21:26
Total Time: 1:21:56

It was a fun experience. It was only my 2nd triathlon. I think I'm fairly decent at it. I'd like to do more. The other guys at work are doing 2 half Ironman's and a full Ironman this year. I'm definitely not up to the full. I am thinking about doing the half but I would like to get in an Olympic tri first if possible.

After the triathlon on Saturday we went to the Zoo. They have a pregnant elephant but you can't even tell. She weighs 8000 pounds and her baby will be about 200. Anyway here are some pictures from that trip.

We stayed the weekend at Martha's mom's house in Sandy. Sunday I took Dillan to the park to play. Here are some pics from that adventure.

Yesterday I finished planting the garden. Sweet white corn, red potatoes, and some pumpkins. Hopefully all goes well and we have plenty to share. Grandma's garden is so huge, I would never be able to handle the whole thing by myself.

A new talent.

Trampoline.

Grandma's garden hat.