RACE REPORT: Timp 10K 2022

Why do I run in July? I keep asking myself that each passing year. It's always hot. It's always miserable. Sure, there's the outlier race with perfect conditions (meaning to me a slight cold front with cloud coverage) that surprises you in July, but they're all just hot, sticky and hard (sounds like a food review of Winger's chicken fingers). Why do I keep going back to July races?

Well, one, I love to run. Secondly, running is very much a social event for me. I love seeing and being around my friends. Having been a part of the running community here in Utah for the past 10+ years I've made a bunch of friends that I love being around. But, then thirdly, I'm a sucker for a cool medal and t-shirt ... some things never change over the years.

After last weekend's race I was optimistically pessimistic about what my experience was going to be like for my 10K at the Timp Half. I knew it was going to be hot (because I obsessively checked my weather app for Saturday's weather nearly three times a day during the week) and that the 10K course was going to be relatively flat with some rolling gentle hills. The course was essentially the second half of the half marathon course. Having done the Timp Half a good half dozen times or so, I knew what to expect during the 10K. 

But, I also knew I could do a 10K, especially much better than a half marathon done under-trained and in the heat. I didn't set any time goal I had to meet. I just wanted to get outside and do it. But, I expected my time to be anywhere between 1:20-1:40 minutes depending on the conditions. The goal was really just to work on getting my legs moving while doing my run/walk method (which is three minutes running and 90 seconds walking).

The day before the race my father-in-law decided to sign up for the 10K as well. I've really enjoyed having a new running buddy lately and I won't lie, it's still weird thinking that not only is it my father-in-law, but that I have a father-in-law at all! I've been married now for two months and it's just crazy thinking back to 5-6 months ago and realizing that all of this was nowhere on my radar. Crazy, crazy, crazy ... but, that's life and a post for another day.

But, Van and I decided to carpool down to American Fork together on race morning. Living in South Jordan now is so nice because I don't have to block out an hour or more for some of these races in Utah County. It was less than a half hour drive and we were there by 5am. After meeting up with my friend KP the 10K buses loaded at 5:30am we were off to the start line, which was at a church parking lot about a quarter mile or so from the mouth of American Fork Canyon. And. after hanging out in the parking lot until 6:45am we were off!

The biggest difference to the 10K course was the quarter mile or so climb toward the canyon where we then jumped onto the half marathon course. It didn't seem too daunting at first, but wanting to get into nice rhythm with my run/walk method I pushed it a bit. This was a mistake because my quads wanted to remind me right away that we did this running thing last week and it really, really, really sucked. So that was a fun way to start my race.

Once I got to the turn onto the half marathon course KP met up with me (he held back at the start line to use the Honey Buckets) along with most of the elite half marathon runners who were making their way out of the canyon. Even though I was definitely in the back of the 10K it was nice running among a crowd of fast runners. Even if I felt like a Clydesdale crashing a race horse party it was fun to see a number of friends pass by.

As much as I may have been struggling with my zapped legs, I was loving the shade we had thanks to how close we were to Timp and the mountain range. It was really nice. If I had sun in my face early into the race I am sure I would have tanked immediately. But, not today.

It was fun running alongside KP, we just chatted and distracted each other from "the suck" of the miles. We talked about podcasts, Addict II Athlete, dogs, mental health, Disneyland vs. Walt Disney World, mind tricks and a lot more. That's the beauty of running in the back, your topics can range wide and large. You can really get to know someone during a run. Being a people person this is one of my biggest draws to running. 

When KP and I got to the last mile that's when the sun started to rise further above the mountains and we found ourselves in the sun. Thankfully, it was during the last mile and we were distracted my the memory mile of signs dedicated to loved ones who lost their battle with cancer. I thought it was a really touching tribute. 

Before we knew it KP and I crossed the finish line in just under an hour and forty minutes. Not bad. it was within my expected finish time range so that felt good. I know with some consistent training those times will get faster. Keeping up with my PT has really helped to keep me a good base level of mobility, but I need to up my game now that I'm more settled into my marriage and new place. I'm feeling that itch and will post more within the next week or two.

It was fun hanging out at the finish line with my friends and father-in-law cheering other runners in. I missed these moments during both the pandemic and my recovery. Running is such a life changing sport on so many levels -- physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, etc. It's a beautiful sport that doesn't care about your ability, just your willingness to put one foot in front of the other.

My next race is the Mt. Nebo Half on August 27th which I am excited and motivated about doing. I have a few good loooong runs planned, plus I just became a VASA member so my consistency will get better now that I am less than a quarter of a mile walk from working out. I'll post more about all of that later in the week. But, simply put ... it's go time!

RACE REPORT: Deseret News Half Marathon 2022

If I wasn't a blogger, I'd be reaaaaally tempted to sum up this race with ... it was hot, it sucked, I hate running ... and then left it at that. This was a tough race for a number of reasons. Not only was it my first half marathon since last September, but I felt severely under-trained that was exacerbated by the hot, hot heat. 

But, I did it.

When I signed up for this race last year I did it because I love running Emigration Canyon. It's a nice downhill course that does have a couple tough miles along the parade route to the finish line, but overall it's usually not bad. Well, not when it's hotter than Satan's armpits. During the years I do this race on a hot Pioneer Day morning I do question my sanity and life choices, because running in the heat is just not fun.

With that said, I am often perplexed why I chose to run my first half and full marathon in the middle of July. I've always kind of hated extreme weather, especially running in it. Finding out how much MaryAnn hates the heat was a major plus to me when we were dating, because the heat is just horrible. The snow is horrible. You can't do anything outside when it's over 100 degrees and then don't get me started about driving or walking/running in the snow. It's horrible.

Have I adequately mentioned how horrible it all is? Because it is.

Weather aside, a couple weeks before the race I was contemplating on downgrading my entry from the half marathon to the 10K. I knew the race was going to be a struggle between my preparedness and the hot summer we have been experiencing in Salt Lake this year. I really should have downgraded, but when my friend Rick asked me to run it with him since he was expecting to be slower than usual for the same reasons as me ... I agreed.

This might be a good place to point out that it doesn't take much peer pressure to get me to do something. And, the worst the idea or situation the more likely I am to do it. Which is definitely a post for another day. Needless to say, you can talk me into pretty much anything. It doesn't take much either, again ... that's a post for another day.

The week leading up to race day I kept obsessively checking the weather. The high was going to reach somewhere between 98-100 degrees and that pretty much didn't change throughout the week, no matter how many times I checked the weather app. I just had to come to terms that it would be hot and probably suck from start to finish lines.

And, yeah, that assessment was pretty much spot on.

After a 3am wake up call to get to the buses by 4:30am, I met up with my friends Taylor and Rick at the Rice-Eccles Stadium parking lot before loading on the cramped buses. The ride up Emigration Canyon wasn't long, but our poor bus died a couple times and had to be restarted. In my mind I wasn't worried about missing the race if something happened to the bus, but on the other hand I wouldn't have necessarily been sad either. But, we made it up the canyon with about 45 minutes or so to go until gun time.

After standing in line at the Honey Buckets for 40 of those 45 minutes we jaunted down the quarter mile walk to the start line. The start line is usually further up the canyon, but because of construction they had to move it a little this year. It would have been nice if we got more canyon miles instead of less, but it wasn't that bad of a temporary change.

My father-in-law Van, friends Rick, Taylor, Amanda and I all started together, which oddly was almost the same crew of runners we had start the same race together last year. After about a mile or so running together the faster runners separated from Rick and I and I settled into my run/walk method. The miles down Emigration Canyon went surprisingly well. I knew that I needed to enjoy those miles because once we were out of the canyon it was going to get hot and much harder.

Which it did.

Not only was it hot, but the humidity was an unexpected evil. There was some cloud coverage in the valley that provided some rain around Miles 8-9, but it wasn't a relief, it just added to the humidity. It was around this time that Rick and I was feeling the strain of the heat and started to cramp a little bit. The clouds broke to a very hot sun that made life miserable and at Mile 9, Rick and I stopped at the 7 Eleven along 1300 South for some relief.

We grabbed not only a Slurpee, but some cold bottled water as well. The boost helped, even if it was short lived. By Mile 10 when we turned onto South Temple, Rick was done. His foot was hurting too bad and he was worried about getting heat stroke. So at the Mile 10 aid station I kept going while he had Taylor pick him up.

I felt bad that Rick wasn't able to finish the race, but I don't blame him dropping out. The heat was miserable. I entertained the thought for a moment, but I felt like I could beast out a 5K to the finish line. I just wasn't looking forward to it because I started cramping a little bit more ... and did I mention it was hot? And, humidity? It was miserable, but I kept going.

I missed the cutoff to run the last two miles along the Days of '47 Parade route. As much as I hate parades I've always enjoyed running those last couple of miles with thousands of people cheering you on. It's fun. But, since I missed the cutoff they diverted me one block west. I did get a half block of the parade route, but the last couple miles were pretty dead and nondescript. Well, they were hot and humidity, so there was that.

After dodging the Mormon Battalion near the finish line I found myself crossing the finish line in just under four hours. It wasn't my worst time and it could have been better. But, considering the challenges, the heat, the 7 Eleven pitstop and all of that ... I finished the race and that was victory enough for me. And, it gives me a good starting point on the road to where I'd like to go.

It wasn't long after getting home that MaryAnn and I headed up to Bear Lake with her family for the weekend. Dipping my legs in the lake was a great relief not to mention the numerous recovery naps I took on the holiday weekend. It was the perfect recovery.

My next half marathon is the Mt. Nebo Half at the end of August, so I have some time to get some good training done. But, next week I have the Timp 10K in American Fork, which I am sure will be hot, but 6.2 miles will seem like a relief.

LET'S DO THIS!

Josh & Blu GO BIG at Revel Big Cottonwood Marathon!

With the recent news that the Revel Big Cottonwood Marathon may be coming to an end Josh & Blu are reaching into the archives for their first adventure on 'The Party in the Back TV!'

They are running the Revel Big Cottonwood Half Marathon in Salt Lake City, Utah on Sept. 11, 2021! Where will this adventure take them? Will Blu be able to keep Josh on focused to the finish line? Will the canyon wildlife derail their race? AND, THEY STOP FOR WHAT at Mile 10?

Watch the adventure now on the inaugural episode of 'The Party in the Back TV!' and make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a minute of 'The Party! on YouTube!

Welcome to 'Josh in the Back!'

Hello there. It's me Josh. Welcome to my new blog. As many of you have probably seen plastered all over my social media I have a new podcast and YouTube channel that I started alongside my friend Blu Robinson called 'The Party in the Back.' I was still blogging under 'Okayest Jogger' but decided to streamline it, hence the 'Josh in the Back' blog name.

I thought about keeping the 'Okayest Jogger' blog and just rebranding it all, but I honestly wanted to start from scratch. I need to hit the major reset button. Not just on the blog, but my running, fitness and life. The hard life reset was hit back in February after meeting, my now wife, MaryAnn in Disneyland. Meeting her set off a chain reaction of change that led me to reevaluate goals, priorities and even friendships.

I quit my position as co-host of Radio Ronin and RoninTV in late March, something that was hard, yet easy to do. The easiest hard decision I've ever had to make. I couldn't go in the direction Radio Ronin wanted to go and it was 100% because I now had MaryAnn in my life. She has been the best thing to ever happen to me.

After talking marriage a prospective date in October, the date kept creeping up earlier and earlier. October gave way to August, which gave way to July, which eventually gave way to June. June 2nd to be specific, just 111 days after we met. But, both of us are over 40 and really ... when you know, you know. There really was no need to wait any longer than needed.

Even after stepping away from Radio Ronin, I still had the itch to be involved in something creative. I thrive off creativity and while Radio Ronin wasn't an option for me, I knew I needed a project. I wasn't in a rush to find something because I was focused on wedding plans and my relationship with MaryAnn.

Then my friend Blu and I started talking.

Things happen when Blu and I get together. Some good. Some bad. But, most of the time in the cloud ideas. When I ended The Runcast about five years ago, I knew I wasn't done with the idea of a running podcast. It just had to be the right situation, right hosts and right focus. And, more importantly it had to be something fun and authentic.

Over the years we've had a running podcast idea brewing that focused on 'the back of the pack' runners. A podcast that would be a good mix of running knowledge but not overly geeky where beginning runners feel intimidated along with a mixture of fun. So, when Blu approached me about making this podcast a reality ... I jumped onto it. Well, after getting the blessing of MaryAnn, of course.

After working on the podcast for a few weeks we still didn't have a name for it. After a number of promising names, it struck us. It was right in front of us the whole time ... "The Party in the Back." When I swept races (the last pacer of a marathon or half marathon) I would always refer to it as "the party in the back," because that's what it was.

My tactic as a pacer was always to distract the last few runners of the race and it was usually done by having fun. If we were running in an urban area it usually meant stopping for a Slurpee mid-run or if we were in the middle of nowhere it was all about joking, laughing and having fun in hopes to relieve us all from 'the suck.' This is the spirit of what we wanted to capture into the podcast and so the name was perfectly there all along.

Blu and I decided to launch the podcast on Global Running Day which was June 1st this year. It also happened to be the day BEFORE my wedding. And, if things could get crazier, besides setting up the graphics, feeds, etc., we decided to launch the podcast by releasing the first eight episodes in the first week (a practice that a number of podcasts use when launching). So we had eight episodes to record before June 1st in the middle of wedding planning.

It was hectic to say the least.

However, the hecticness really turned out to be a welcomed distraction, especially when I needed to mentally checkout. It was fun being able to record with Blu and just have fun talking about a sport I absolutely love. It helped temporarily balance me out.

As of the launch of this blog, we've released 12 episodes and the podcast has been received really well not just in the running community, but outside of it as well. We launched a Patreon campaign and it's a mix of runners and non-runners, which makes me glad that it's resonating beyond the sport. Because the podcast is about so much more than just running. It's about mental health. It's about current events. It's about pop culture. It's about life. It's serious when it needs to be serious, and it's light and fun most of the time. It's everything you'd talk about running in the back of the pack.

So, with that back story about the podcast and YouTube channel, why this new blog? Well, partly because I wanted to create some synergy with The Party in the Back and my running blog. But, as I mentioned above I could have simply rebranded Okayest Jogger, but I needed a clean slate not just on my running blog, but entire fitness and running journey.

Since late-2019/early-2020 I've been recovering. In December 2019 I had ankle surgery to repair a torn tendon and shave off a bone spur. Thankfully that recovery has been seamless and I've had no recurring issues with the ankle. A month later in January 2020 I was in an auto/pedestrian accident where I was the pedestrian. I won't go into details of the accident because there's pending litigation, but it could have been much worse if I wasn't extra vigilant thanks to my habits of running on the road.

However that injuries from that accident has been the bane of existence for the past couple of years. My right knee took the brunt of the impact, and long story short, triggered arthritis in the joint. I've done tons of physical therapy, had a number of doctor appointments and in January of this year an injection to help get it back to where I feel good running the distances I was used to running before the injury.

I'm getting there.

But, it's impacted so much more than just a bum knee. My weight has yo-yo'd and been harder than usual to manage because not only can I not run like I used to, but there are gym exercises that are impossible for me to do. It's also affected my mental health, because running really helped me process life. I struggled a lot late last year because of it. I don't want to sound like a complaining board. It's just been hard trying to get everything back on track.

And, since I am not the same runner that I used to be, I really want a hard reset of my running and fitness. Meaning, I want to forget about what happened to me not just before the accident, but really before I met MaryAnn. This would be the 250+ races I've done, the weight I lost and personal records I achieved. Those all belong to another Josh. This is a completely new journey I'm undertaking, but thankfully one that I am bringing all the things I learned from that previous journey.

So on this blog I am still keeping my race calendar from June 2022 forward. My personal best records are all from June 2022 forward. I will still have all the previous records and calendar on Okayest Jogger, but I won't be updating that site anymore. The blog is dead to me, but the URL and link will live on forever.

I really need this reset. I want to reconnect with my "why I love this sport" and stop comparing my current speed with the much faster speeds of a different Josh. It's just not fair to put myself in that mental space. So I'm taking myself out of it and creating something new.

The launch of this blog is technically July 7th, but I will be posting a few things over the next couple of weeks that precede that date. Namely episodes of The Party in the Back from June 1st onward along with a couple of race reports, the Taylorsville Dayzz 5K and Riverton Town Days 5K. Expect a lot of crossover between The Party in the Back podcast and YouTube channel along with this blog.

Additionally you can follow the blog on Instagram @joshintheback_ and Facebook @joshintheback. I might stick with those social media platforms for now. But, you can also find me on Twitter and my personal Instagram page. I'd love to connect with anyone and everyone regardless of whether or not you run.

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