Ran the First Dam Run this morning down in Logan. When I got up this morning it was 25 deg and had snowed during the night. I figured if the roads weren't slick and the wind wasn't blowing it wouldn't be too bad. As we left home the road was a bit slick but down in Logan [even though we're in the same valley] it's usually always around 5 deg warmer. Down at the race it was about 30 deg. There was a couple of inches of snow on the grass but the snow was gone from the blacktop and there was no wind and just a light snow falling. Real pretty morning and overall nice conditions. I ran a little over 2 miles to warm up.
Mile 1- 6:15 The race starts out with the whole first mile going uphill. I hit this mile in 6:15 which I didn't feel too bad about given the climb. Mile 2- 6:12 Just after the end of mile one you turn the corner and start downhill giving back pretty much all of the elevation you gain in the first mile. This mile should be much faster than the first mile but I just couldn't get my legs to move any faster. I would check my pace for the mile and I would be around 6:12 so I would pick it up a bit until I would be at around 6:07 and heading down but after not checking my pace for a while it would be back up to 6:12 again which is what I finished mile 2 in. I was running alone from about 1.25 miles to the end and for some reason wasn't staying focused. I needed somebody to be chasing or at least pacing off of. Mile 3- 6:03 from the end of the 2nd mile to the finish there are some gradual uphill and downhill but the net elevation gain is about even. Right away after I saw the 6:12 at the end of mile 2 I started too pick up the pace and was able to maintain closer to what I thought I could average for the whole race and finished in 6:03. Last .1- :29 sec [4:51 pace] this course is supposed to be quite accurate and my Garmin came out exactly 3.1. I though I could kick it in and get under 19 min but my official time came up at 19:00.10. I guess I left way too much out there on mile 2 [like a good 15 to 20 seconds]. Overall I didn't feel too bad about my time and is is actually a course PR for me by 15 seconds. I've only run it 2 other times but was pacing my son on one of those. I also beat the time I ran last week by 33 seconds and last week's race was a faster course. After the race I ran the 10K course with Paul from the blog. He had smoked the 10k in 31:55 and it's not a fast course. Amazing! The snow had quit falling and it was a perfect morning to be running. I shortcut to the start line and missed the last mile to make it back before they had the drawing for 2 treadmills. I thought with 2 of them and a smaller turnout because of the weather [they missed out on a beautiful morning] I might have a chance. No such luck. Cool down run ended up at 5.25 miles at 7:08/mile which gave me a pretty good workout. A jog in the park for Paul.
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