Running 2016

Since running was one of my hobbies last year, I thought I would write some about my experiences with that.  It all started July 2015, when Dave Yung invited me to run Ragnar with him the following year.  I knew some of my friends had run Ragnar, so I agreed to do it.

Prior to this time, I hadn't really run at all.  I was on the track team my Senior year in High School, but I think the coach forgot that I was on the team, so I didn't compete very much.  I ran maybe a couple 5Ks prior to this, once through a park with the YSA stake, and at least once on the treadmill at the gym.  I'm more of a biker, I rode my bicycle tons of times, and riding long distance doesn't bother me at all.  But I figured a full year would give me plenty of time to practice and train myself up so that I'd be able to do it.

I was in pretty good shape, though, I had already been practicing running a mile or two at the gym, so my lungs were in pretty good condition.  On July 24th, I ran a 5K on the treadmill in 28:30.  Although I kept up running, I think it was a while before I tried long distance again.

In January, I was still just running a mile at a time, but this time I turned it up to 2% to have practice running uphill.  Or rather, since treadmills are easier, have practice running more realistically.  In February, I went back to running 5Ks on the treadmill, and I did 29 and 30 minutes.  I was getting slower, and blaming all the desserts I was eating.

In March, I was assigned Leg #12.  Dave was under the impression at the time that it was a medium-difficulty leg, just based off of distance.  He didn't realize at first that it included the tough climb up to Snow Basin.

In April, I bought running shoes.  That took a while to get used to.  I had been running in my normal shoes this whole time, a pair of Converses.  Sometime March or April, I began running outside around the track.

In May, I think I started to realize how difficult my leg was, so I kicked it up a notch.  On the 27th, I went running up Antelope Drive with Dave Yung, and he told me to just run, and that he'd catch up.  After a while though, I couldn't see him anymore, so I slowed down so that he could catch up and so I could offer some encouragement.

The next day was Saturday, and I drove to Snow Basin, then unloaded my bike and biked the route all the way down to the bottom.  I chained my bike and ran up to practice my route.

Biking down, I was flying super fast.  The road is blocked off for the majority of the route, so I didn't' have to worry about cars coming, but I had to be cautious so I wouldn't crash at such a high speed.  It was colder than I expected biking down, but running up, I warmed right up.  It was a nice run, and I finished in the time I was estimating.  Lunch was waiting in my car in a cooler, and I knew I was ready for Ragnar.

June 17th came, and our part of the race started in the afternoon.  It was a bit different running in the evening than in the morning, but I did my hard leg just fine.  After resting and having dinner and a shower, we were back at it running in the middle of the night.

I came ill-prepared for that, not realizing how cold it gets at night.  My leg was just two miles along echo reservoir into the city just before dawn, and I ran fast enough so I warmed up and got out of there fast.  We drove to the next spot and found a spot to sleep, but it wasn't great, since we got kicked off the grass, and then the sun got too warm to sleep on the rocky parking lot.  So we got up and had breakfast.

Everyone ran their last legs, and then it was back to me to bring it on home.  In my opinion, the last leg was harder than the first.  It started with a nice run through the city, but then it turned and went up a mountainside.  Snow Basin had nice switchbacks so it was more run/walk, but this one was steep the whole way, so it was mostly walking up.  Finally, we got sent into a path that went down the mountain.  It was just a path, though, so couldn't pick up a lot of speed.  But finally made it to the finish line, and I couldn't be happier.


Afterwards, Dave suggested we run Ragnar Vegas, but I wasn't feeling it at the time.  Later on, though I decided that if he asked again, I would say "yes."

That time came in August, but then after realizing costs and having to deal with schooling, Dave decided against it after all.

...But!  In October, Jenna asked if I would run on their team, and so I said "yes" to that.

This time, I was Runner #2.  I started out running down out of a canyon in the early morning.  Although I again didn't bring anything warm for my legs, I brought a jacket, so I was prepared enough-- I knew running warms you up quickly.

This time, we always slept between shifts, and that was just what I needed, this wasn't nearly as bad as last time.  Well, and it helped that my legs were almost only downhill, too.  My second leg was in the late evening after the sun had gone down, and I ran up into Red Rock Canyon, which curved around until I made the exchange.  It was too dark to really enjoy the canyon, but it seemed nice, all the same.

My final leg was the next morning that followed a winding path that took me down towards Lake Mead.  It was also the longest leg, but it was really nice-- mostly in the cool of the morning, and all downhill.  It was kind of different being the first one done.

It was a bit different this time, because all my friends (Jenna, Kim, and Mindy) were in the other van, so I was with a bunch of strangers.  We had fun anyway, though.  But I wish they had been a bit more reliable in taking pictures when I was running.  And even though I didn't travel with those three, we got to talk during the major exchanges while we waited, and we spent some time together the last day walking through the Vegas strip, and I also stayed an extra night with them to go to church the next day.  So even though maybe not as much as I'd like, I felt like I got to know them better, and that's what I was looking for so it was what I'd call a successful trip.