Pining for the Fjords

Last Saturday, 11/22, I ran the first ever Gilbert Half Marathon.  Taking place on the same morning as the Gilbert Days Parade (actually, we kicked off the parade, which was kind of fun), the run started just north of Warner on Gilbert Road, made a 13.1 mile square, and finished up at the Gilbert Civic Center, just south of Warner on Gilbert Road. Standing in the port o potty line before the start. The field, lined up and ready to run! While I ran the half marathon for this event, there was also a 10K, which ran on the back half of the half marathon course.  The 10K started about 30 minutes after the half marathon, which cleared out the roads nicely by the time I came through; I'm sure the super fast half marathoners had to battle through some of the 10Kers, but overall, it worked out fine. There I am, in the middle of the shot, waving at Chris. Time to run! When you sign up for the inaugural run of an event, you never quite know what to expect,...

Be sure to read Part the First , Part the Second , Part the Third , and Part the Fourth ! After seeing Chris pass our campsite on his way to conquer the red trail,* I ate half a bagel and headed to Matt’s team campsite, figuring if I was up to run in about an hour, he would be, too.  Although he had a bit longer to wait (their team seemed to be about 20-30 minutes behind us at this point), he graciously accompanied me to the campfire to get warm and wait for our legs to start.  At the proper time, I moved to watching the tv screen, saw Chris’ number come across, stripped off all of my layers (well, all but one - there's no nude running, even if it is Ragnar), and headed into the tent.  Chris came running in and after swapping the race bib for all of our warm clothes,** I sprinted off to finish my run, this time on the green loop, the shortest of the three. The green loop was another fun trail – actually, all of the trails were really well crafted and enjoyable – ...

Be sure to read Part the First , Part the Second , and Part the Third ! Luis finished his second run - the yellow loop - without incident around 8pm Friday night, and Chris headed out on his jaunt around the green loop.  Since it was getting a bit chillier, we headed down to see Chris off and hang around the campfire for awhile to stay warm.  S’Mores were being roasted, but I decided against them, figuring eating one and then running wasn’t the greatest of ideas.* Murph, Chris, and I getting ready for our second set of loops. Getting ready to run and modeling his $2 Wal-Mart do-rag. Rag’Merica!  Freak yeah! I saw Chris pop up on the “incoming runner” tv screen, dropped my warm gear with Keeli and Murph near the campfire, and headed into the transition tent.  Our team and Matt’s were still running neck in neck, so I wasn’t surprised to visit with him near the campfire while Chris was running, as he was also getting ready for his spin around ...

Be sure to read Part the First and Part the Second ! After Chris came flying into the transition tent after his first loop, I finally headed out on my first run.  As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I slotted myself into the runner 3 spot, which had the longest loop first, an 8.4 miler known as the red loop.  There was a decent amount of climbing on all the loops, but the red loop held the largest summit – here’s the elevation profile from my Garmin: Yeah, that’s a decent amount of climbing in just a mile or so It was warm (around 1:30pm), but I wanted to push myself on this loop, since my other two legs would occur during the nighttime hours, and I knew I wouldn’t be as fast, mainly due to reasons of safety and a sense of self-preservation.* I ended up having to power walk up some of the big hike around mile 2, but I was able to run the rest of the leg, and I really enjoyed the downhill sections.  The totem pole marking the red loop Addi...