- According to my Garmin: 1:54:41 (8:45 AP)
Gonna throw all modesty out the window here....I am so proud of myself right now, woot woot! I just beat the downhill half from 3 weeks ago by 41 seconds! I wasn't going to do this race because of those huge hills (I shy away from those kinds of races), but I couldn't pass up RAD's coupon for $10 bucks. I would have never known that I could actually do a race with hills. :) Last night I estimated my pace at each mile of the race based on the elevation map and realized that I could maybe beat 2 hours if I tried hard. So that was my goal and I was a little nervous because it seemed lofty, but I'm hungry to get back to where I was two years ago and then get even faster so I was going to go for it dang it!
I started out at a decent pace, not going too fast so I could get in a groove and not even a mile later we started the climb. And we climbed and climbed. Up until a year ago we lived up by the U so I'm familiar with those climbs. I'm glad I learned that although they are hard, steep hills actually help you run faster once you get past them...whether it's because the flats seem easier or because they condition your cardiovascular system so you're more efficient or both. Either way, it helped me not hate the hills so much because I knew it would open my lungs up. I felt like I was going dog slow on the steep parts, but I kept running! When there were less steep parts, I would try to slightly increase my speed. I knew I couldn't go fast, but I could increase my speed a little at a time so that's what I did. I did this "incremental increase" strategy throughout a lot of this race, even on the flats and downhills and I think it really makes a difference. At around 4.5 miles we were done with the bulk of the elevation gain and I felt like I could trust my cardio system, so I put down the first "hammer" LOL. I was able to really pick up the pace and not worry that I would fall apart. I love it when it gets to that point. You feel like a well oiled machine, all systems are a go and you can just step it up and feel free. Aahhhh. :) And that's when I started having LOTS of fun. :) We would get to some downhill parts and I just let it fly. I got my pace down to 6:29 and that was fun. I stayed on my forefoot instead of going on my heels for stability so I was flying. Then we'd get to some flat parts and some hills so I would just try to keep it up. I could feel my energy reserves get a little low around mile 7 so I was glad they had GU's (I had 2 total); the snack at 5:15am was wearing off. I threw another hammer down around 9.5 miles because I knew there was less than 4 miles left and I realized that I could actually beat my time from the Big Cottonwood Half 3 weeks ago! Holy cow! I thought beating 2 hrs was good, but beating 1:55 would be a-mazing. I would need an avg pace of 8:47 or lower for that, I was at 8:49. Then I got cocky and thought I could maybe even get to 8:30 because I thought the rest was downhill and I was still in the mood to fly. Come to mile 10.5 and we had to go back up hill! Agghh! I was not happy about that. My avg pace went back up to 8:51 so I knew I had to push it in order to get those 2 seconds back and then beat 8:47. I just went for it and decided that it's about time I start getting out of my comfort zone. I did NOT want anything left in me at the end of this race. It's hard to do that, but it's so rewarding and you realize it's worth it and really not that hard to just step it up. We finally finished the uphill and it was flat with some downhill the rest of the way so I just tried to keep up the pace. I was so freaking happy when I saw "1:54:xx" on the clock as I came into the finish line!! I think I maybe could have gone a little faster, but I was almost wheezing once I stopped so I that was a good sign. After getting some water, a banana and an orange, I went to the finish line and watched Jake K and Allie finish the 5K after just finishing the half! Awesome! I think Jake won the 5K and they didn't even realize he was a 5K finisher because it wasn't until about a minute or so later they announced "and here are the first 5K finishers coming in" LOL. The race was well organized, had lots of POP's and good fuel stations and volunteers.
For some reason I am still struggling with some mental barriers, so this helped me break through a few of them. Part of it is that I am still out of shape and I do have extra weight still to lose (+/- 20 lbs to get to my previous ideal running weight), but 80% of it is from me thinking I'm not able to step it up yet for various reasons. But I want to be faster so I've got to just figure this thing out! Yes, I need to give it time to get back into shape and loose the weight, but what I need even more is to just get out of my comfort zone more often and get more quality runs in!
Another fun running day for the books, I love running!
8:37, 9:22, 10:22, 9:44, 9:22, 8:16, 8:47, 8:26, 8:09, 8:10, 8:11, 8:17, 8:08, 7:33 (.11) | 
