A Balance, Redefined

I was pretty nervous about this race. It was Aug 20^th, 2008 when I was going to break in my flats for St. George and just broke myself. Since then I’ve obviously been hesitant in my training. The slower mileage build and much easier pace has been good for me. Des 10K was a huge surprise for me but I came into this race very unsure of myself and my ability. The few longer hard runs I’ve done were pretty tough. I figured I could surprise myself like at Des 10K and run a 1:12 or run a 1:18. I however wanted anything under 1:15…

I drove up to Logan after helping put the girls down for the night. Jon was nice enough to pick up my race packet and Cody let me stay at his place. Thanks to both of them. Friday night Cody showed me his race report from the previous year and we went over Paul’s map, both came in very helpful. I ended up reading Born to Run for about an hour and then got to sleep. I woke up a couple times, probably nervous about the race. Cody drove to the start after picking up Paul. At the start we saw a number of people I hadn’t seen in a while or ever met before. This race was going to be very stacked and I would just have to wait to see how it played out.

After a little extra wait due to the huge increase in participation we were headed down the canyon. I stayed back a little the first few miles to get a good feel for things. I watched Cody, Jon, Albert and a number of other people slowly gain on me. In addition to the Terran, Alex, Paul, and Seth who were screaming up ahead.

The first mile was 5:27.55 (183). The pace was good and I wasn’t feeling too bad so I decided I would stick with it.

The second mile was 5:28.94 (176). Still feeling good and starting to gain a little on Cody. Also, three guys pulled up alongside me and started discussing pace. The mentioned they were a 5:45 group obviously going too fast.

The third mile was 5:30.10 (184). Very happy with how the effort felt. I think I caught Cody this mile. Now on to “yellow shirt”.

The fourth mile was 5:32.07 (184). The “5:45 group” was still with me and one guy was following TOO close and clipped me a few times. I decided to very gradually pick it up and see what happened. Fortunately, he(they) opted to go with me.

The fifth mile was 5:24.68 (183). Not too fast but it did the trick they backed off. I did take a Gu during this mile as well.

The sixth mile was nearing the end of the canyon 5:21.31 (184). I was starting to gain on Walter and “yellow shirt”.

The seventh mile was 5:24.42 (184). It was nice to get in to the pretty decent group of fans as we exited the canyon. I passed Walter and was almost immediately passed by Justin (guy from Sandy). However, yellow shirt was pretty close in reach. I was hovering in 10^th place and really wanted to make top ten.

The eighth mile was 5:34.73 (185). I was in 9^th place and feeling pretty good. I really wanted to get a 55 min 10 mile split at this time.

Mile nine was 5:40.90 (183). Oops… I took a second Gu during this mile. I guess the lack of canyon descent and tailwind was playing its toll. Also at this point I heard two guys coming on fast. Turns out it was Joe Wilson and a training buddy. They passed me like I was standing still and continued on to Justin. Justin fended them off for awhile. So much for 10^th place…

Mile ten was 5:50.25 (182). Still falling off pace a little more than I would have liked and missed my 55. I think I saw 55:30 (I could add up the splits I guess)…

I knew the second half of mile 11 and all of mile 12 were going to be painful thanks to the conversation with Cody the night before so I just clamped down into survival mode. From the cheers of the crowd I knew someone was not too far behind and I did not want to get passed by anyone else.

Mile eleven was 5:54.12 (182). At least I was still under 6 but I knew the hardest mile was yet to come. The only thing that kept me moving was the fear of the cheers for the person behind me. I never looked back.

Mile twelve was 6:09.98 (183). So much for staying under 6 but not as bad as it could have been. Now to use the downhill.

Mile thirteen is all down to the finish. That you can see clearly the whole way. I could still see Justin, Joe and friend. Well beyond my reach but that helped pull me along. Time 5:39.11 (185). Not too shabby and a 0:50.65 (187) for the finish. Garmin had 0.16 (That’s what we get for not being allowed to run tangents.).

Final Garmin time 1:13:48.81 (Avg. 5:36-HR 183) final chip time 1:13:47.9. Second fastest half of all time so overall very happy with it. Since I didn’t know what to expect I had to be happy with whatever I got and I was. I did end up 11^th overall. Surprisingly, 6 of the 10 in front of me were in my age group. Including 1 (Tarren), 2 (Alex), and 3 (Paul). So 11^th overall those three get removed and still fourth in age group so out of the medals L… But happy with the day, being able to run  my second fastest time, chat with a number of bloggers and local running studs, congratulations to Carol on her marriage, visits to Narnia (see Paul’s or Cody’s reports), etc. etc.

Minor warm-up and a double cool-down (about 7 total).