High Speeds

16:13 in the Salt Lake Track Club 5 K. 3rd overall after Anthony Costalles (15:30), and Jason Holt (15:43). Jon Gauthier was 4th, 16:25, then Fritz Van De Kamp 16:38. Splits 4:59, 5:25, and 5:49 for the last 1.107 (5:15 pace). Last 1 K in 3:07. Was with Fritz and Jon until about 900 to go, then kicked. Tailwind first half, headwind second half, times slower by about 20-30 seconds than ideal conditions.
 

33:22 in Salt Lake Track Club 10 K, 3rd overall. The course was out and back. There was some tailwind going out, and headwind coming back, but not nearly as much as two weeks ago. Splits were 5:08, 5:27, 5:23, around 16:32 at 5 K, then 11:07 for the next 2 miles, next 0.214 in 1:09, and the last mile in 5:08.

Top 5 - Nate Peters 31:50, Jon Guthier 33:20, myself 33:22, Patrick Carol 33:41, and Fritz Van De Kamp 33:57.

Was not sure how I was going to handle the 10 K because I was not 100% over the cough and still feeling sluggish. Two days prior to the race 5:20 down the Provo Canyon felt much harder than it should have. But the race went OK.

At the start Nate took off and I ran in a pack with Jon, Patrick and Michael McPearson. Michael fell back around 2 miles, Jon pulled ahead around 2 miles, I stayed with Patrick because I was not sure I had the strength to run faster. With 1 K to go I made a move which dropped Patrick. I do not know how I missed the fact that I was closing on Jon - I could not see anybody ahead of me. I was not wearing my glasses and my vision is not very good without them. Plus I was running hard and that made everything look like a blur.

Ran 1:13:11 in Phoenix Half. 9th place. Windy. Dad thinks the wind cost us about a minute. Also lost 10 seconds or so in the finish chute because I headed into the 10 K chute by mistake and then had to climb over into the half marathon chute. This also cost me a place. Do not remember my splits very well. First mile was 5:22. The timing mat at 7.11 shows 39:15 which is 5:31 average. Last 6 miles in 33:55, which is 5:39 average. Did not slow down as much as I did last year. Was more competitive - dropped most of the people in my pack, only lost contact with one runner that beat me by 41 seconds, which would have been less without the finish chute mess up. Legs were strained, and gave out around 9.5. This shows I need to do more long tempos to be able to run a good half. Took some Gatorade at 11 miles and it helped a lot. Dad ran 1:16:23, 6th master, and 20th overall.

This is a PR for me, as well as my first time in a collegiate meet.
 

Utah Valley Half, 1:10:27, 5th overall, broke Conner Mantz's course record for the 15-18 age divison by 58 seconds. To be fair, Conner was 15 years and 6 months old, I am 16 years and 4 months old, so I had almost a year advantage on him. He also did it into a headwind, today we had mild tailwind. But it feels good to take Conner's record under any circumstances. I also finished ahead of Ryan Hall, who was not officially in the race, but was doing a fartlek on the course alterating 5:00 miles with what was supposed to be 7:00 but ended up being closer to 6:30 - he ended up covering the distance in around 1:14-1:15.

I earned $75 for finishing 5th overall. I do not care about high school or collegiate running, so I took it. This is the first time I earned actual cash prize in a race. I have gotten a gift certificate at the SLC Track Club series before, but never cash - the big lions have been taking it from me when I was just a baby lion. Now I am a teenage lion, and I proved that I can snatch the prey from the adults. My dad also got money today ($150) winning the masters in 1:15:54.

The only regret is that I was not able to break 1:10 which my dad set for me as a requirement to get my driver's license. But I am much closer now than I used to be. Prior to this my PR was 1:12:55 at the Top of Utah Half.

My dad told me to follow Braden Perry, a Weber State runner, who I raced at the BYU Clarence Robison Invitational in the 5000. He beat me by 12 seconds in that race, and was shooting for sub-1:10 in this one. So my dad thought this was a perfect match. We started out a bit slower  - 5:22, 5:21, 5:28, then we started cracking 5:20s, and there was a mile there in 5:07. Around 9 miles Braden dropped me. At 11 miles my split was just a little under 58:51 - just 11 seconds behind the 5:20 guy and about 5 seconds behind the DL qualifier. I gave it all I had over the last 2 miles, but it was somewhere in the 5:30 range - though my best finish of the half still not quite good enough to get the standard.

In the last two miles I passed Mike Nielsen moving into the money. One of the three Nephites who my dad thinks was Scott Keate based on the description and the ability to run the pace ran with me and cheered me on on that difficult stretch. Another runner passed me in the last mile, and I thought I had finished 6th, but it turned out that that runner was not officially in the race.

Ahead of me - Brett Hales 1:05:45, Riley Cook 1:06:49, Taylor Farnsworth 1:09:14, Braden Perry 1:09:49.

Did 12x400, averaging about 67 per quarter. Ended up with 7 slow miles. so 10 total.

16:28, 4th place. It was hot, humid and miserable. I got some water from an aid station around 2.5. That refreshed me enough to pass someone in the last 400 to finish 4th.

Easy.

Ran 15:58 in Draper Days 5 K. 3rd overall, $50. Splits 5:03, 5:03, 5:23, 32 for the kick. Ran most of the race alone - Garek and Anthony were too fast, everybody else was behind. Top 5 - Garek 14:56, Antony officially 15:36 but that is likely wrong, more like 14:58, me , then Neil Anderson 16:10, and Fritz Van De Kamp 16:25.

We got 20:50 average as a family. Times were me 15:58, Dad 17:22, Joseph 19:48, Jacob 20:07, Jenny 22:14, Julia 23:04, William (6 years old) 23:15, Mom 24:58.

  Coming into the race I wasn't sure how I'd do. Although my training indicated I was in good shape, I'd gotton an injury playing soccer that week, either cracked or bruised my ribs, and had a hard time breathing deeply. Fortunately, my ribs gave me little trouble throughout the race.

  My first mile was 5:08. I felt it was a little fast, but to slow down would leave me in no man's land. So I resolved to hang on with the pack I was with.

  The next mile was 5:15. So far, I was enjoying the speed and the scenery. This mile was what I felt like was a good pace. Unfortunately, it was not to last. After mile two, I think the pack I was with started to disintegrate. I went with the faster half, fearing that if I did not, I'd end up running slower than my target pace.

  I ran 5:10 for the next mile. I felt this was on the fast end of things, but again was afraid of running too slow. The next mile was 5:13, and I still felt pretty good. This was not to last.

  The next two miles were in 5:05. The remainder of the pack disintegrated at that point. I made the mistake of again going with the faster half. I hit six miles in 30:56. And then completely fell apart. My next mile was in 5:18, then about 5:30, then ~ 5:40, 5:50. 6:10, and ~5:25 for the last mile.  1:10:42 in total. I was pretty miserable and despondent in those last six miles. This blow-up reminds me of the first time I ran Pheonix, though that one was a lot more dramatic.

  So no drivers lisence. A lesson learned. And a 10K PR as a split :).

Finally. Under 1:10. No more driver's license yak. Yay!

The first two miles were in 10:05. I kept close contact with the lead pack for the first two miles, then felt the pace was too fast and dropped back. I saw 15:26 at 3, then 20:34 at 4. Some of the splits may have been uneven, but I was happy to be on pace for the first four.

Then the road flattened out. I felt residual fatigue from the fast start, and was worried about what would happen over the remaining 9 miles. The first four miles of a half marathon can be decieving. Huntsville, TOU, Pheonix, Provo River.

I saw 5:22 for mile 5, so 25:56 overall. This was discouraging as I thought I was losing pace and because I started feeling more tired. The course became more downhill. I tried to focus on pushing and not on my fatigue or fears. I made the scripture "for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" my motto. I felt like I was floating for the next two miles, which were in 5:18 and 5:15. I was really glad I didn't have to do the uphill like in Provo River and in my training runs.

After 7 I became more tired. I no longer felt like I was floating, but I also wasn't completely miserable. I kept the 5:15 pace all the way through 9. At 9 I could feel my heart's fatigue. At that point I really started to belive the standard was within reach. I resolved to fight for each mile. Given my substantial lead, I knew that each mile on pace both shortened the amount of time I had to crash as well as the severity of the upcoming crash.

I was able to hold onto pace up to mile 11. Eleven to 12 was 5:31, and 12 to the finish was about 5:35. My total time was 1:09:11, and my place overall was 6th.

I'm very happy with my performance in this race. I feel like I did not have a psychological breakdown like in Utah Valley, TOU or Hunstville, where after a certain point I stopped fighting and just suffered to the finish. I felt worse after this half than any other. I threw up, and walked like a toddler.

A.M. Participated in the Intermountain Collegiate Mathematics Competition. I got 5 out of seven problem on the exam, plus a partial solution for a sixth one. I think I have a decent shot at first place, based on historical data and the performance of my BYU teammates.

1 P.M.

It was a hilly XC race. I was in fourth for most of the race, then caught a high-schooler on the hills of the last mile. I was then passed by John Coyle, who outkicked me, putting me in fourth place. It was about what I was expecting. I didn't feel weak, but I didn't feel strong. I think this puts me in fourth place for the circuit, which is nice.

Later.

Eight mile cool-down with my Dad. Talked about the race, the problems from the competition, and the most recent Project Euler problem.