SLC Half Marathon and Bike Tour

Rich and I participated in the annual SLC Marathon events this weekend. An unusual turn of events, though - Rich ran and I biked! I've done the run for the past 4 years, one marathon and 3 half marathons while Rich was always spectating and chasing me around on his bike. This year, because I've been working on these sprint triathlons, I havent been putting in long run miles yet. Rich decided to do this half as a training run and I decided to do the Bike Tour for the fun of it. The bike tour allows riders to ride the marathon course with the streets being blocked off and no stops. It was a great training ride for me as it allowed me to just push a big gear and pedal hard for an hour and a half, building some strength. The start was a little hairy, though, and very cold. We got up at 4:30 a.m. as I had to be at the start by 6:00. Morning temp: 38 degrees. Brrrrr. I couldnt get over how many people were there! Wow, over 1500 riders all starting at the same time - a little chaotic to say the least. The ride started off on a slight downhill stretch for a couple of miles, causing some teeth chattering and shivering, but once we got to Sugarhouse Park and I was able to push a big gear up a couple of hills (re: working hard to create warmth!) I started to thaw out. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Rich ran a great race - finished in 1:35, a pretty quick pace, although, he was not finished there! His training program called for a 3 hour run that day so he decided he would just continue running back to the car at the start. He added 8 miles for a total run of 21 miles. I couldnt believe it - the "after run" was all uphill to the car - what an amazingly strong guy he is! I rode along with him on my bike, I'm not supposed to admit it but on the really steep ups, he beat me up the hills! Lame! :-) Haha. Ah, well... We got home by 10 a.m., couldnt believe it was ONLY 10 a.m.! We put our jammies back on, made coffee and read the paper - starting the day over...