Bryce Canyon Half Marathon, started out with a mile warm-up before the race, then barely made it up to the starting area on time, the shuttle bus we took was a little slow and they started the race not too long after we got off. As always I looked over the competition and knew it would be pretty good. Started out at a pretty good pace and feeling much better than the start of my 10K race in Provo last week. 1 mile- 6:02, not too far behind Clyde 2 mile-6:06 (12:08) feeling pretty good and back in about 14th or 15th place (there's a good pack of about six guys about 10 seconds apart) 3 mile-5:18 (17:27) this is where we hit the steep downhill 4 mile-5:30 (22:57) feeling good passed a few guys here 5 mile-5:41 (28:39) running with Mike Schramm, and Ryan Neumann 6 mile-5:42 (34:22) Of course having the downhill makes a huge difference, but at this point pace wise I am way ahead of any of my more recent 10K times, Mike takes off during this mile as I remember 7 mile-5:55 (40:18) not quite the steep hills anymore, Ryan and I are both surging back and forth 8 mile-6:12 (46:30) lose Ryan on this mile 9 mile-6:18 (52:49) passed a younger runner, which was the same kid I passed at about the same mile marker during the Hurricane Half. 10 mile- 6:11 (59:00) Cheston Slater comes flying by me, looking really strong. At this point I'm not feeling quite as good as before, legs are starting to cramp up and I was feeling sore especially in my calves, which surprised me I thought it would be more my thighs that took the beating from the downhill section. 11 mile-6:16 (1:05.17) still moving along Steve Olsen is quite a ways ahead of me, but looks like he is slowing down, but even as I'm trying to pick up the pace, it doesn't seem like I am gaining any on him. mile 12- 6:25 (1:11:42) struggling a little here Jose Martinez flys by me, he was on the shuttle bus with Clyde and I, but had to change and started the race about a 1:30 or 2:00 minutes behind everybody else. (I felt bad for Jose, but he has done this a time or two) mile 13 and the .1 6:43 (1:18.25) picked it up pretty good the last mile and almost caught Steve Olsen at the finish. Overall, I was very pleased finished 11th out of the men and 3rd in my age group. I was more happy with my time rather than the place 1:18:25 was a 2:30 min personal best, and I felt pretty strong through most of the race. Right now I am pretty pleased with how my training is going and I am expecting good things this fall at St. George. Glad my performance was better today than up in Provo on the 4th of July. | 