I'm an Ironman... well half of one... well, almost.

Last saturday was the UTAH HALF. It is a half Ironman distance triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. I stayed at Cassie's the night before and still had to get up so I could leave by 5am. I got there, got marked up and got all my things ready in the transition area.

Apparently people weren't getting there fast enough so we were delayed a few minutes. Then, when we went to the water for the start (in Utah lake), it was so windy and the water was so choppy, they couldn't place one of the bouys for the swim. After a few more delays, they decided that we only had a small window to do the swim before a storm so they cut the 2nd lap off our open water swim. Bummer. That was supposed to be a strong leg for me.

The swim went ok. I felt strong, but my goggles fogged up and on the way back the sun was in my eyes so it was really hard to tell where I was going. When I got to the boat ramp to climb out, it was so slick I lost a bit of time trying to stand up. I had to beach myself before I could get up. I finally did and it was off to transition 1 (T1).

The transition went fine, except that my plan was to eat a banana before leaving on the bike. I realized a few miles into the bike that I had only taken one bite. Oh well.

The bike was the leg I dreaded most and I soon found out why. It was super windy and slow-going. I tried to stay strong and feel like I got into a rythm for about an hour and a half. Then, on the way back (it was an out and back course) it started hailing. Ouch that hurt. After a few minutes, the hail turned to rain and I think I got more wet on the bike than the swim. About 30 minutes from the end of the bike it stopped raining and I started realizing how bad my butt hurt. Every little bump seemed so painful. Finally the bike was over and as I approached the transition area I was so excited to get off my butt I thought I'd fall flat on my face. Too bad for this story, I didn't.

I changed my shoes put on my shorts with my energy gels and ate the rest of the banana I forgot to eat during T1. I was off on the run. The sun actually came out from time to time and even though we had a few sprinkles, the weather was great for running. I felt good and completed the half marathon run in an hour and 45 minutes; just what I wanted. I was so excited to have completed this race that I did a summersault over the finish line.

My (official) total time for the day was 5:17:25. I'm pretty sure they messed up my swim and bike times but the overall was accurate. So I am officially almost half an Ironman.

P.S. I was a little overhydrated and had to make 4 more stops that were unplanned. I'll let you guess where but I'll tell you only one was in a bathroom.

For my official results click here.

It's been a while...

So it's been over a month since I've made a post. Let me catch you all up. On the 4th of July I ran the Blacksmith Fork Canyon Freedom Run. It was a 15K (9.3 miles). I had never done a 15k before but I thought it sounded like fun. It was a mostly downhill course with a little uphill at the end. I did pretty decent. 1:04:30. I averaged just under 7 min/mile and it was good enough for 4th in my age division.

On the 11th of July, we celebrated Dad's birthday by going to the demolition derby. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it so we went with some friends. It was pretty good. I miss those times. Unfortunately the people watching has gone downhill and now it is a lot harder to find a nice mullet. It has become more family-friendly.

July has been pretty hot. I am glad that I do most of my running in the morning. I have entered the Utah Half Ironman that is in about 2 1/2 weeks on August 15th (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). Because of this I have tried to be more dedicated to swim and bike but I also want to do the Top of Utah Marathon so I am stacking workouts on top of marathon training. My body is actually handling it pretty well, although my knees have been beat up lately. I am having a harder time with less sleep. Because I workout more and run further, I have to get up earlier and more often. I guess I'll get to rest in 2 months when the races are over.

I did a pretty fun run up Dry Canyon a few weeks ago. It is the canyon that goes toward Logan peak. But just below the peak it loops around and it way to long for me to run. I climbed almost 4000 ft in about 6 miles up and then came back down all in just over 2 hours (12 miles total).

Last saturday I did a 19 miler up green canyon. It didn't seem very steep because it was less than 2ooo ft in the almost 10 miles out. I also went slow but I felt pretty good about it.

This week Dillan busted a can of soda open in the livingroom and I had to bring some stuff home to clean the couch and carpet. Dillan is such a good boy he wanted to help. Here are some pictures.

In the last few weeks, we have had a few scares from Grandma Tolman with a few falls and what the nurses think was a mini-stroke. Now her legs are swollen and she has a cough so we are going to the doctor today to get her checked out.

I'm sure I left a lot out. Sorry. I'll see if I can get some more pictures to go with my stories.

Only in Logan

So we just ate some delicious Aggie ice cream and we saw this in the parking lot. You would think in a college town people would be smart enough to at least take the keys out of the car. Most places people have to lock their cars for security but apparently Logan is safe enough that you can just leave your keys hanging out of the keyhole. Things that make you go hmmm? I think so.

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.