Timp Half Woke up at 3:45 this morning and did the normal routine. Banana and cliff bar with some gatorade and water. I really felt rested and my legs felt ready to go. I got on a bus right at 4:30 and headed up. I knew Scott, Dave Taylor, and Toni(bandit) would be running today so at least a few fellow runners. Everyone ran on Wed so I had no clue who would be there. I always think the more competition the better. But the competition ran Wed. Saw Mark Wright at the start also and told him to hang with me and Toni. He is a solid runner and hope he can join are ever expanding cc team in north utah county. Scott and I did a really easy warmup for a few miles. I did some more on my own just kind of methodically moving around with about 4 striders before the race. I felt really relaxed. In fact, I haven't felt this good pre-race since I started back running so this was a good sign. I got some great advice from many on Wed and before the race R and Jen gave me some final instruction. Mainly just calm down and forget the watch Spence :) My watch was not working for some reason before the start. Typical with me. So we line up and they took forever to start but whatever. It wasn't getting any colder. 83 degrees was interesting. I felt hydrated though so I was hoping the heat didn't affect me too bad. We took off and Ian and Scott took the lead effortlessly and really just looked like they were cruising. Craig Green, Dave Taylor and a kid from West Jordan were ahead of me, Toni and Mark Wright. There was another guy too. Don't know his name. I hit the mile mark 5:44 and this is about 9 secs slower then what I did at AF. I purposely went out slower. I felt way better. At AF, I felt bad at 1.5 miles. My body felt very relaxed and breathing was spot on. Right after a mile, Toni and Mark backed off their pace and just kind of hung a 1/4 mile behind me. I didn't think too much of it. I felt very relaxed with the pace and told myself I would go with what felt comfortable. Mile 2 came and I was 5:53. I was feeling great and exactly where I wanted to be. Mile 3 5:56 I started to catch up with some of the marathoner's. It was amazing watching these guys run up and down. Seriously I cannot imagine doing a marathon today and also that course is just crazy. I think I will stick to training runs only up and down AF canyon. I settled into a groove and felt like my body was responding well to the pace. I did not feel forced at all. Mile 4 5:34 It felt like the pace was picking up but didn't feel exertion. Just tried to go with what was comfortable. Mile 5 5:31 Weird water exchange here. Almost knocked a poor girl down at this aid station. Don't even know how this really happened. Just was fast and weird. Missed 3 cups. Mile 6 5:47 I caught up to this guy I cannot remember his name and the West Jordan kid. I told the kid to pick it up and work with me. He decided that meant to race the next mile. He had mentioned that this was his first half and by 6 miles it showed. I tried to get him to go me and the other guy but he was gassed. He wished me well and I went on my way, Mile 7 5:49. Seriously running through the canyon was really enjoyable. I felt great. Coming out of the canyon you could feel the temp change 10 degrees. It was not a cold day. I was now pouring water on my head at every aid station. I looked down at Mile 8 6:29, Oh freak! Ok, so normally I would get worried here and check out. What I realized is that the course was not appealing at this point and that I MP might just be a great effort for me. So I looked at just trying to maintain. Honestly, my fitness is just not good enough to maintain 5:50's for the entire half which is what I am going to do over the next month along with more track sessions. So I stayed in the game mentally and just tried to maintain. Also, I could feel my left foot becoming very irritable and feeling raw. I just hoped it did not get worse over the last 4 miles. It felt like my foot was rubbing off. Mile 9 and 10 6:25; 6:36. Right after mile 10 is the weird turn around they included on the course change last week. I was not familiar with the ending of this race because of this. Didn't think it would be nescarry. I was wrong. I should have familiarized myself with this ending. Toni has now caught up to me at around 10.5 and ran for a little together and then he took off. My left foot is now becoming a problem and I am worried that I will not even finish the race. My pace is now consistently MP but my head is still focuesed on trying to stay behind Toni who at Mile 11 6:37 I was about 200 meters behind him and that is pretty much where I stayed. Mile 12 6:40 slowest mile, I didn't take any aid and just cruised home. I knew I was going to be closing the 1:18's but I wanted to make an effort to do so. .25 last tenth. I don't know what the last part was. My garmin just said 5:48 pace to close and 1:18:59. They had two timing carpets at the end right next to each other so I didn't really get this. I am going with gramin :) I really felt like I ran the tangents well.
Only was able to do around 2.5 miles CD because of my foot. It's pretty bad. I am not going to post pics yet due to Allie would barf 10x's alone. But those who got the text pic pretty much will not eat the rest of the day... I really feel for Scott right now. He had a great race despite the last tenth of a mile. Watching him recover was painful and humbling. The effort he was willing to put himself in the pain box was unreal. He definitely went for broke. I think his nutrition was just too extreme this past month. I love the kind of shape he is in and he is a stud to all that are able to run with but the lesson here is that he redlined because he had no energy. You have to have energy in a half most definitely. Much props on the effort today Scott. Hope the recover is well.
I am pleased with my effort on this race. I know exactly now what I need to do to improve and its mainly more speed work and longer aerobic builders. I have a great base and the short track/tempo has done me improvement but now I need to push a little harder and the times will continue to come down and hopefully the weight too. Not lifting the past month helped a ton too. I am excited with the progress and really hungry for more. Make it Happen...
| 