Snow Canyon Half Marathon what a great course and Beautiful scenary! Couldnt have asked for better temperature for the first week of November in STG. My entire goal for the race was to hit under 1:09 so I could got to Houston in January with Riley and Bryant for the USA Championships. Once in a lifetime opportunity and definitley felt that the goal was attainable.
So Riley was nice enough to come get Dave and I for the Half at our hotel so we didnt have to catch a bus to the top. Worked out perfectly. Was able to get in about 2.25 miles in with about 3X100 meter strides in before the race started. I was telling Dave that my stomach wasnt feeling so hot and that I felt like I had to use the bathroom one more time before the race started and unfortunetely I didnt get it that in.
Well the race started and within a minute the pack was already seperated down to 6 guys. Matt, Walter, Jacob, Dave, Trevor and myself. First mile went out a quicker then expected I was roughly around 5:09 and goal split was supposed to be around 5:16. Then for some reason the 2nd mile slowed around to 5:245 split so I decided to push the pace a little bit for the 3rd mile to get the group going and it did. Dave, Matt, Jacob all came and from there the race was on!
The 4 of us ran together through mile 6 then Matt gapped us slowly and looked comfortable at doing it. I think his mile split was 4:38 and I was 4:48. Around mile seven unfortunetly that bathroom break that I didnt get in had to come out so I immediately pulled of the trail and pull a sweeping S.P. and lost maybe 10 seconds at the most. Split was 5:10 and shouldve been around 5:00 flat or a little quicker. Around mile 8 I caught back up to Dave and he stated that he was done. Mile 8 was pretty rough and it even put myself into oxygen debt and took me about a half mile to recover. Arond mile 9 I could see Jacob up ahead and just kept my sight on him and was hoping that I could close the gap or just be somewhat close to him towards the finish. Well around mile 11.5 I caught him on a uphill portion through entrada and never looked back. Just ran as comfortable as I could and tried to hold on for the finish. I got to Snow Canyon highschool and started around the track at 1:07:30 and realized that I had 90 seconds to run 300 meters basically to achieve my goal. ended up finishing at 1:08:28.
Overall loved the course. Wish I didnt have a bathroom break at mile 7, and also wished I couldve pushed Matt more. I wouldnt have beat him today but wouldve been fun trying or to make him sweat a little more ;)
But #1 glad that I accomplished my goal and set a PR in the Half Marathon. Houston should be fun!
Splits were 5:09; 5:24; 5:05; 4:50; 4:46; 4:48; 5:10(Poo break) 5:26; 5:11; 5:19; 5:28; 5:30; 5:30.
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