AM - Salt Lake City Half this morning. I was fortunate enough to be in the "elite math suite" until 20 minutes before the race. Then Allie, James, and I did our 1 mile warm-up to the start. I'm pretty sure I would've run 13 seconds faster if I didn't have to run an all uphill warm-up. My goal going into this race was 1:18-1:18:30. I couldn't decide which splits to go with, but they were only 2 seconds different per mile so I was just freaking out about nothing. Typical pre-race activity for me. Turns out I just split the difference between the two for my final time, so I was pretty spot on with what I thought I was capable of today.
Got to the start and was happy to see that Devra and Emily B decided to jump in the races at the last minute. I ran a few strides and then we were off. I immediately settled into goal time pace for the first mile and kept that effort for the whole race. The half marathon seems to be the only distance that I am very in-tune with what effort level I can maintain. Adam Wende jumped in to run with Emily B and me after about a mile, and he stayed around until mile 7 or so. Jake was on a bike with LuluWalls around mile 1 as well and the race crew was totally fine with them biking along the course with me. It was fun to have them for the whole race - this is probably the greatest benefit about lower-key local races. I love it! I felt pretty strong throughout the whole race. Got pretty tired by mile 10, like usual. Then I had to trudge up the hill and try to get some sort of turnover in the last half mile. Splits were a bit all over the place, but that was to be expected because of the different inclines throughout the course. I ran 5:49, 5:59, 5:47, 5:43, 6:06, 6:11, 5:53, 6:03, 5:51, 6:05, 5:58, 6:15, 5:55 pace for the last 1.1 miles. Overall I'm very happy with the race today. I am exactly where I was hoping to be right now in my training. I have about 8 weeks until the Half Marathon Champs so just enough time for a good buildup to bring that time down! Ran a cooldown with Jake for 5 miles to get 19 for the day. I have to say, I was really impressed with how well the race was organized. I was a little nervous since I have heard so many bad things about it, but the new owners did a great job. I have a feeling this race is going to get BIG in the next few years (well, assuming I get paid!!).
Great job to all the FRB group today! We had quite a showing! Jake got some great pics from the race. Here are a few -
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