Ran this race primarily to get circuit points, but also to get in a good workout before the Top of Utah Marathon next Saturday. The win was a nice bonus, and is my first road race win, and certainly my first win with prize money. My time was 33:25, a 49-second improvement over last year.
Last year I almost got lost on the course, and was afraid of getting lost again. Fortunately, I led from the gun, and so was following a biker rabbit. The first mile was in 5:14, pretty flat. Shortly after that, we turned and started going uphill. Ken was doing a workout, and he surged to pass me on the hill. I started trying to catch him, but he let me know that he was doing a workout and would be slowing back down, so I backed off a bit. I caught him again at mile 2 (11:03, so 5:49). Despite Ken's promise to slow down, I ran the rest of the race scared that he would catch up to me again and pass me with impunity, as getting passed so quickly on the hill had a psychological effect on me.
Mile 3 was 16:53, then 27:03 at 5 miles (missed 4), so 5:50 and then 10:10. I really hammered the downhill from 3 to 5. After the course leveled out, I felt like I was out of gas, and that I was moving slowly. Mile 6 was 5:14, and the last little bit was 1:08 to finish in 33:25.
Cooled down with my Dad and Brad Barton.
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