This race was run in the memory of the girl who was hit and killed by a car while running in West Bountiful in January. I really wanted to run this race even though it didn't fit very well into my schedule. The money goes toward a scholarship fund set up in Trudi's name and I think that they raised $15,000. Even though I didn't know Trudi, I think about the accident a lot while I am running. The day it happened, I was only a couple of blocks away and could hear all of the emergency vehicles.
Since this was a fun run in a small town I knew that there was a chance that I could finish towards the top. The course is along roads that I run almost everyday so I consider this my home course. My plan was to attack the first mile because it is slightly downhill, expect a slight slow down during the second mile because of a slight incline then hold on during mile 3. At the starting line, there were only a couple of people that I was worried about. One was pushing a stroller but looked real fast.
The gun went off and I was immediately in the lead. No one really went with me so I just focused on the lead car and plugged along. It was kind of fun following the lead vehicle because I was able to pretend, just for a little while, that I was a decent runner. I could tell that I was pushing harder on the first mile than I normally do because my breathing was a little more labored. Hit the first mile marker in 5:38. This was 10 seconds faster than I wanted but felt alright. At the half way point, another runner came along side of me and easily put a little distance between us. He was moving really well and I could tell that he was just running fast enough to hold the lead but could run faster if he needed to. Second mile split was 6:08 which was exactly what I was expecting. My legs started to burn and I really didn't have the desire to push hard. The aggressive start came back to bite me hard. Third mile is mostly flat and I ended up running that in 6:17. Very disappointing to say the least. Finished the last 0.15 (the course was long) at a 5:46 pace to finish in 18:52 -- 4 seconds slower than my PR which means that my PR streak ends at 8. First place was less than 10 seconds ahead of me and 3rd place (the guy pushing the stroller) came in probably 30 seconds after me.
There are two ways I can look at this race. I can either be very disappointed in my inability to tough it out at the end or I can be happy that I tried an aggressive pace and was able to hold on for a decent time. I'm somewhere in the middle right now which is an improvement since I typically have a negative view on my race results. I haven't done a lot of speed work lately other than tempo runs which I think is why I was unable to hold the pace at the end. Also, as I was getting ready for the race, I discovered that somebody stole my check book and has written $2,000 worth of checks. Being on the phone with the bank for an hour before the race certainly didn't do a lot to get me race ready.
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