Top Of Utah Half Marathon
The plan for the day was to PR. I don't win many races, or even get close so what does it matter what place I get? All I have is my time. Of course, that is all relative since my Half Marathon PR is run on an aided course, so even with my time (all I have) I must put an astrick by it since it is on a cheater course. So, my goal, well, it was to PR. So, how did it go? Well, I tied. Yep, my chip time was the same as last year (current PR). Where is the love? That said, I am actually pretty happy with today's result. Sure, I was hoping to PR, but with my lack of training this summer I was not going to be suprised to run a 1:17. I was able to put it all out there and give it a go. Here are the details... Adam stayed the night with us last night and that gave me an opportunity to pull out the race reports from last year. I never miss an opportunity to get psyched up for a race. That opportunity gave me an idea of my game plan. That plan was simple. Run 5:3x until you can't, then run 5:4x until you can't then run 5:5x... you get the idea. Adam and I picked up Paul and we shuffled with the masses onto a bus. Paul kept me entertained the bus ride up which was a nice change from starting out the window and wondering what I was thinking doing another race. As we approached the starting area I had a brilliant thought. Are the 2 "permanent" port-o-pots still in the same location as they usually are? Yep, I spotted them hiding behind the 50 race specific POPs. Ha, perfect. Our own elite bathrooms. I could only imagine what the 300 people waiting in line thought as we wandered behind the POPs numerous times to do our buisness. Yep, no lines, no waiting. Forget the race, this was the highlight of the day. Once they finally got the race going, (they struggled to get 2200+ people off the busses and behind the starting line for over 20 mins) I quickly settled into my death march. I was soon left in the dust by the true elites (Paul, Taren, Alexander, Seth....). I decided to stick to my plan and run my race. That meant that for the most part I would be running by myself (except when I got passed). The canyon went well and I attacked it the best I could. - Mile 1 - 5:28 (166 ave HR)
- Mile 2 - 5:39 (179)
- Mile 3 - 5:41 (179)
- Mile 4 - 5:42 (178)
- Mile 5 - 5:32 (178)
- Mile 6 - 5:32 (178)
- Mile 7 - 5:35 (177)
Once I exited the canyon, I immediately missed the nice downhill along with the ~10mph tailwind. From now on, things would get interesting. I caught my last glimpse of Jon on Hollow road on his way to a great race. Adam and Walter were near each other, but they were still pulling away. Once again, run by myself and try to hold on. The highlight during hollow road was seeing the family tailgating while cheering on everyone running by.
- Mile 8 - 5:55 (176) Things are not looking great....
- Mile 9 - 5:58 (175)
- Mile 10 - 6:05 (173)
The legs are now shot and no way to get them to go faster. The body seemed to be shutting down slowly. Keep it together and the PR is still possible. 5K left. 2 miles of uphill, followed by 1.1 of good downhill.
- Mile 11 - 6:12 (175)
- Mile 12 - 6:25 (176)
- Mile 13 - 5:40 (181)
- Finish - :31 (184)
Watch time was 1:15:58 but I started it early and ended late, so I had to wait until the official results came in for my chip time. Turns out it was a tie. 1:15:56. For the cooldown, we visited the course again. Twice. For the first trip, we ran back to mile 12 were we saw Marci coming in. We decided to harrass her to the finish line as a group. She ran great and earned a huge PR. The second time, it just to harass the other runners as they finished. Saw lots of neighbors and friends running. 5.4 miles (warmup was about 2 total). Congrats to the hundreds of runners today. I do love the TOU half. Why? I don't know, but I do. Some seriously good times and places posted today with the stiff competition. Now, to prepare for the TOU marathon...
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