64f at my house @ 4:40 a.m before I left 56 f at a gas station sign in Veyo on the bus ride up
High of 91 f this afternoon
Not very often do I sit down and write a race report where I'm totally happy. Today I'm thrilled with the outcome. Not that I PR'd or won the race but I did exceed expectations big time. No one really knows how crappy I've felt the last month. Not just my ankle. Sickness, fatigue, achy sore muscles, joints and bones. Honestly if I would have found out I had some terminal illness it wouldn't have surprised me at all. And after my last 3 Saturday long runs I honestly though breaking 3 hours would be a big stretch. I know after running a 2:35 today that sounds farfetched but I just was out of it physically.
But the last 3-4 days my body rallied and started to come around. I got the shot of cortisone in my ankle on Tuesday and then other things started to fall inline too. Just had a pounding headache and mild fever the night before the race but I was way better than I had been.
We got up to the start in the traditional manor. Leaving the rec center at 5 a.m, bus ride, porta potties... At the start I felt really optimistic. Dave said you should just come out with me and I said maybe I'd try a mile if it wasn't too fast and then go from there. We didn't get the cold temps that had been forecast but there was a good tailwind for the first half or so. I didn't notice it much after the half.
First half in 1:16:20ish
We hit the first mile in 5:55 then worked down to some 40's and even a couple 30's coming into Veyo. I felt pretty good. Kind of worried about the faster pace because it's been 3 months since I did any run fast and longer. Went up Veyo relaxed at 6:17 then basically 6 min pace up the Dameron hills miles. I was blown away at how fast I got to the halfway point. I hadn't been watching the clock so I didn't really know where I was. At Veyo Ben and Dave pulled away from me about a min up- I was suprised I was so close to them because I thought there was no way I'd hit the half any faster than 1:20. But when I got there and realized I could go sub 2:36 with 6 min pace on the way in that's what I did.
From the half to the finish I worked. It wasn't EZ but there was no big wall. I just kept grinding out 5:57's other than the Winchester mile and mile 26 that were about 6:13. But even the fast Snow Canyon miles or the other downhill miles from 19-23 I just couldn't go any faster than5:55 or so. But I was doing it. One mile after another they just kept coming to me. Ankle was holding up too. Yeah it hurt but no sharp (kill me now) pain. My calves seemed way too tight the whole race but I think that's from running with a messed up ankle and compesating my stride. Didn't have any goals as far as placing so when I'd get passed it didn't stress me out like in a normal race. I'd just stick to my own business and keep grinding my 6 min miles. It worked. 2:35:32! Really, really blessed and lucky to have it come together like it did... because this day could have been so bad.
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