A Balance, Redefined

WBR-181 Mile Relay Day 1

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Location:

Vestavia,AL,USA

Member Since:

May 31, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Marathon Top 10 Finishes: 7 Bridges ('15), Utah Valley ('13), Salt Lake City ('08), Top of Utah ('07), and St. Louis ('04). Ran around the equator (24901.55) in 4,388 days.

Personal Records
Marathon 2:39 (SLC '08)
1/2 Marathon 1:12.30 (Provo River, aided '08)
10K 34:16 (Track, sea level '00)
10K 33:15 (Des 10K, aided '08)
8K 25:32 (Crack of Dawn, aided '13)
5K 16:44 (Track, sea level '00)
5K 16:07 (Running of the Leopards, aided '12)
 

Short-Term Running Goals:

NYC Marathon November 3, 2019 done 

London Marathon October 3, 2021 done

Tokyo Marathon March 3, 2024!!!

And my largest challenge to date, raise $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in honor of my cancer survivorship and in memory of those lost to blood cancer...
DONE! $26,403.70

https://pages.lls.org/tnt/al/london2021/awende

Long-Term Running Goals:

Enjoy being a Masters Runner.

Get under 3 hours one more time...

Personal:

Grew up outside Chicago and joined the blog while I lived in Salt Lake City. Now living outside Birmingham. I am married with two daughters. Wife thinks I'm crazy for doing marathons. And yes I am crazy I'm a scientist for a living...

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 331.25
RM 090416 Lifetime Miles: 136.06
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 200.18
Nike Vaporfly Pink Lifetime Miles: 122.22
Saucony Ride #37 - Black Lifetime Miles: 56.50
Saucony Ride #38 - Neon Lifetime Miles: 53.50
Saucony Ride #39 - Grey Lifetime Miles: 59.50
Brooks Launch #38 - Grey Lifetime Miles: 65.25
Brooks Launch #39 - White Lifetime Miles: 57.50
Brooks Launch #40 - Blue Lifetime Miles: 54.00
Race: WBR-181 Mile Relay Day 1 (13.16 Miles) 01:29:13, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTrainer 1 MilesTrainer 2 MilesRacer MilesTotal Distance
1.500.003.500.000.000.000.005.00

Wasatch Back Relay: FRB White Team. I had planned an early run today to loosen up but had to work a few hours instead. I also decided a second 8-hr sleep night would be good prior to the sleepless night of WBR. I met Chad, Steve C, and James M. at Whole Foods and we left for Logan at about 2pm. The drive up was good and we stopped to pick up an additional runner. We met briefly at Paul’s and then all went over to the start.

It was pretty impressive to see so many people all on the same team (28 with drivers) plus friends and spouses that came to the start. We soon found out that the BYU rumors were true and they had a super stacked team. That didn’t change much as far as the race was concerned from my perspective, either way I was going to run my heart out. I knew I was one of, if not the slowest runner on the White Team and wanted to earn the honor that had been bestowed upon me. The only thing that knowing about BYU did was that it did change the overall mood for me from the Del Sol experience. Knowing our first runner was up against a sub-14 minute 5K guy was just a little intimidating. In any case we started at 5pm and van one did great. I’m not going to write about the other runners and just refer you to their blogs to not spoil their thunder.

The van I was in (Van 2) had Jake (the driver), Seth, Dave, Clyde, Logan, Taylor, and me. First, I have to thank Jake. We couldn’t have done the race without you. It was great that you offered the use of your vehicle and got us to where we needed to be on time. THANK YOU! Anyway back to the race. Being so close to home the prerace jitters were not too bad, we got to the start, started, and got to the first major exchange. There was nothing too noteworthy up to this point. When van 1 got to the exchange and handed off we were already about 12 minutes behind BYU and the pressure was on (or off) depending on how you looked at it. With the warmer temps I only did a mile warm-up. This was my easiest leg and I really wanted to break my projected finish of 5:37 pace. I got the handoff from Dave and took off as hard as I could. This was only 3.5 miles and had a slight downhill. I would guess that the temp was still about 70F at 9:23pm. The next team was pretty far ahead but I did manage 3 “roadkill” on the route. . For those that don’t know the race is run with the slowest teams starting first and the fastest starting last (the first start was at 7:40AM with over 600 teams registered). We started at 5PM with only about 5 other teams so there were a lot of people running ahead of us (some with a 9hr and 20min head start). My first mile was 5:14 and I was super excited about that but wouldn’t be able to maintain. My second mile was 5:39 and I was breathing really hard. I kept forgetting this wasn’t Phoenix we were running at 5000ft and the elevation and heat did play its toll. My third mile my wheels were falling off and I had to do all I could to stay under 6 minute pace (this mile was up hill) 5:51. The final half mile to my exchange with Seth was at 5:34 pace. Total 3.46 miles in 19:19.36 Avg. 5:35 HR 183 so I got the team an extra 7 seconds. Total ascent 248ft total descent 278ft. Then back into the van and on to the next exchange. The van I was in was great and everyone did a great job about making the experience as fun as possible. At the next exchange I did a half mile cool down. I was so exhausted. I couldn’t believe how much this leg wiped me out and was concerned about the next leg. As soon as we got to the major exchange I tried to sleep and managed about a half hour of sleep. I never got out of the car at the exchange…

Mi 5-Flats

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 280 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 281 / / Saucony Rides #1: 287 / / Saucony Rides #2: 290 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 162

Night Sleep Time: 8.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 8.00Weight: 0.00
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