Ran the TOU half today. Ended up with second place in my age division (15-18) and 10 overall with a minute PR.
Warmed up a little before the start. I actually got decent sleep the night before -- unlike Pheonix. I started out with my Dad, Steve Anderson (both masters), a guy named Noah. and Jacob Stone, an 18 year-old. After four miles of ~5:30 pace both my Dad and Steve droppped back. I felt good and relaxed. for the first six miles of the race. As the course flattened out I experienced a drop in strength, and then another shortly after 7. At eight miles I was ready to drop back from the group I was with.
Instead, I gritted my teeth and resolved to hang on untill at least 9 miles. Around 9 Noah dropped back and there was nobody over 20 still with me :). I somehow managed to stay with Jacob untill 10. We kept pushing the pace untill 10.25 when Jacob looked at his GPS and realized we were going 5:20. We slowed down after that. And then came the hill.
I ended up dropping back from Jacob a little before mile 11, on the hill. I limped my way to mile 12 in ~6:10. at which point I crested the hill, saw the finish, and was able to speed up to 5:30 pace for the remaining 1.1. I ended up with 1:12:55, a PR of a minute (from Provo RIver two weeks ago).
Overall, I'm very pleased with this race. After I finished I was more hungry and tired than I'd been since Phoenix, so I think I really gave it everything this time.
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