I like this race because last year when I ran it Eric drove to all the aid stations to cheer for me. He bonded with Tigger and I realized how much I loved him. Anyway, Eric and his sister Amy and I left Provo at about 7:00 this morning for the comfortable 9:00 start. The weather was perfect and we were looking forward to the race. Amy was a little bit sick, though, and I wasn't feeling like I wanted to push very hard, so I think only Eric was counting on a PR. (But it was his first half-marathon, so really anything would be a PR.) After the first quarter mile I looked down at my Garmin and saw 6:20, so I tried to slow down. It was neat to be able to see Eric for a bit, though. My first mile was 7:27, but after that I kind of eased up and tried to think of it more as a faster long run. Also it started to be uphill, so my second mile was 8:40. I got passed by who I thought were girls 2 and 3 (really they were 3 and 4) when I stopped to drink the Gatorade at the first aid station in the middle of mile 3 (8:07), but I hung out behind them for the next couple of miles (8:05 and 8:19). Then I got passed by Amy when I stopped at the second aid station, and I spent the next few miles just running what felt comfortable (8:52, 9:12, 9:18 (some small hills), 8:37). A couple of other girls passed me around my stop at the last aid station in mile 10 (8:52), and all the water and the shot blocks I had been eating kind of made my stomach unhappy so I slowed down for mile 11 (9:18). But after a bit I felt better and even relatively rested, so I sped up just a little until the finish (8:23, 8:08, and 8:13 for .10), passing the last two girls who passed me and Amy, who was feeling über sick. I had my old poop problem for awhile after the race, so I hung out in the bathroom while Eric (who got 2nd) and Amy ate hamburgers. But by the time we were halfway home, everyone was feeling better. *After viewing results: I was 5/53 woman, 25/114 person. The two women ahead of me were about 3.5 minutes faster. And the awesome girl runner who chicked all but two guys was Morgan Haws.
I wonder how I could have done if I would have tried harder, but I'm happy about my 19-minute improvement over last year. Last year and this year: 
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