What a fun day, took first place at the crossover half marathon! Pretty happy with 1:26 on a trail half marathon course with over 1400 feet elevation gain. Google maps took me on a route that ended 2.5 miles up the course at a closed road and I wasn't sure how long it would take to re-route so I ran downhill at 6:30 pace for 2.5 miles to warm up... definitely paid for that later. I had planned to just stick with the lead pack on the way up and hammer the downhills back but that's not at all how it went. I took off when they blew the horn and ran a sub 6:30 opening mile and stayed sub 7 pace all the way up until mile 6 where there's almost 400 feet of elevation gain, was 8:55 for that. I had hoped to go sub 5:30 pace the last 6 miles but my legs just did not have it today, partially because of my pre-race blunders. Instead I averaged about 5:45-5:50 on the way down. My legs were tired and it was a mental battle to keep sub 6 pace. Jeremy Tolman had been about 70-80 seconds back from me at the turnaround and with a little less than a mile to go I looked back and saw him gaining ground so I unleashed whatever kick I had left which was good for about a 5:10 pace last half mile, not bad considering most of that was flat. I ended up beating him by 35 seconds. That late challenge really made the race thrilling for me, and I'm really happy that despite the fatigue and my legs being dead I was able to push that hard to close. Awards ceremony was an hour and a half after we finished so I got some time to chat with the other finishers. I also got a free massage which was divine, very grateful for that. My legs were cramping up a bit before the massage and it fixed them. I talked a lot with Jon, who had also fallen into the closed road trap and had to run down to the start. He was a cool guy and a very experienced trail runner, and quite fast - he ran a 1:15 flat half earlier this year and is a low 16 minute guy. Adam Hendrickson took 3rd or 4th, he was a USU guy when I was a SUU guy and apparently has run the Des news half in 64 minutes since then... not sure how I beat him... so there were a lot of fast dudes in this race and I am feeling really good about winning today and generally having a phenomenal morning. Bonus cool thing: Around mile 2 I was in the lead and ran past a pack of horses that were on the other side of the fence next to the road and they all started running with me for a few hundred meters. Was surreal. Also got a new Strava 10k or of 35:50 Good day |