Such a hard race mentally and phsyically. Had a horrible nights sleep last night, only 5 hours, I couldn't fall asleep and for some reason I woke up before 6:00. I was tired of trying to get rest so I just showered and ate. I go to the race and worked my WA up to the 3rd line of people before waiting for the gun. I got out well, maybe a little faster than really easy. I was in 3rd place and I let David Roche and the other guy (need to find out his name) pull away. There was a group of marathoners right behind me, timmy part (last years winner) Mike Aish (two time Olympian in the marathon) and someone else. I stuck with them until they turned off for the marathon detour. I stayed in third for a couple more miles and then I turned and waited at a for because I didn't want to choose the wrong path. The next guy had a USA jersey and was 10-15 seconds behind me and he pointed me in the right direction. I started racing with him, I asked him where he got the USA jersey and he said Junior mountain running world championships in Italy last year, so this guy went to nationals last year and qualified for worlds! I knew I had to beat him. We raced hard, I would lead some, he would lead, then we got to the part where it gets so steep you start walk running it. I remembered reading Timmy Parrs blog about how you might as well walk and conserve energy, so I walked and ran when it was less steep enough that it was worth it. I could see the top two guys out in the distance, and the USA guy was getting away but I knew he was wasting energy on the climb, I was conserving to destroy the way back. It worked. He beat me to the top by a minute or so, even the first mile or two down he put a couple minutes on me because it was so rocky and narrow I had to be careful not to break an ankle, and there were hundreds of runners all over the trail so I had to run in more perilous areas. Finally I got to a nice dirt part and I let it rip! Like FAST!! Almost sprinting down that road, people were still in the way but it was better, finally I got th USA guy in my vision, first he was a few hundred meters away, next he was just a couple hundred, then only 100, less and less until he was finally right there, I was storming down the hill, and then it switched back to uphill for a mile, that's where I really got him, I kept going pretty hard and passed him finally, I thought he might go with me but he didn't, I looked back after a little while on a steep part and saw him walking, so I knew I had defeated him, I think he expended too much energy trying to get away from me at the top. The last half hour of the race I ran fast, hoping to break 2:15, I was running very hard at some points, well down low in the 5 minute pace I'd say. But once I finally got into the last mile or two I was getting tired, I thought it was closer than it was haha, but I stayed at a fast pace and there wasn't anyone around me for a good mile so it was really nust the time. I finished in just above 2:13. It hurt. After me there was a 6-7 minute gap before the next person, USA jersey guy fell or something and finished quite a ways back, felt bad for him to race so hard and die like that. I played a dangerous game today. But I would have won last years heavy half by 3 minutes! I should get an invitation to Mountain Running Nationals after this performance, I can't go, but that would be really cool to get a letter haha. Maybe in 7 years, after my time at SUU, I will be as great as David Roche in this sport. But until then, I need to get really good at the 10k!!! My pace from the top back to the start was about 6:30, so if you take into account the first mile or two coming back that was plagued by hundreds of runners, tight trails, tons of shifty rocks, and ice, my pace for going back after that section was probably sub 6:00! |