my makeup may be flaking

Ridiculous opening note: Striders WRC 10K is HARDER than SLCTC 10K in 4 inches of snow, just saying...

For the second week in the row I met someone new by hitching a ride to the race. This time Walter Brown agreed to drag my ride mooching behind up to Ogden. We met up with Cody and Jon Allen and did a two mile warmup.

The ringer (Trevor Ball) was back. He said he was going to run 5:40 pace or whatever it took to win. We started out kind of slow in a large pack. I knew Trevor was going to beat me and I decided that I wanted to make it an honest effort for myself. I knew that there were alot of strength guys in the race and I didn't want them to be close to me before the hill. I took off on my own half a mile in running 5:29 then 5:05 (big downhill), but I didn't yet have a solid gap. In fact, during the third mile Braden Perry (Kyle's little bro?) took the lead from me briefly. The third mile was 5:27 and I was feeling fine, but I knew the terrain was about to change dramatically. Trevor Ball passed us both in the fourth mile and Jason Schoenfeld followed him. I was willing to let Trevor go but I didn't know who Jason was at this point (see my entry for the Salt Lake Half in August) so I wanted to keep him in sight. I finally dropped Braden at this point (hey at 16 he has great speed, but this 10K requires alot of strength he was a minute closer to me than Garrett Jones was last week, Garrett was 3rd in 5A this year as a Jr, Braden was 20th in 4a as a So...so nice work Braden) and I focused on catching Jason. I got to 4 miles in 21:48, so only a 5:47 4th mile and the real hill hadn't started yet. Jason was strong up the hill and he started to open up the lead. I was sure that I could get to him on the final downhill if I kept it close. I picked it up cresting the hill but so did he. We rounded a corner and I saw the 6 mile mark, I had greatly misjudged the amount of race left! I got on my toes and kicked like mad over the icy parking and probably closed in by a good 7-8 seconds on the last quarter but he eluded me. I was quite annoyed at myself for not working hard enough on the hill, but that's what happens when you don't know the terrain. Next year I'll be ready. No disrespect to Jason, if I had come up, I'm sure he would have responded, but I could have made it a sprint finish at least..pfff.

Anyway now for the good news! I was only 4 seconds behing Jason Schoenfeld, just 6 months ago he beat me by ....wait for it...6 minutes in a half marathon! I DID lose two minutes to the bathroom in that race, but still, he was way out of my league then and now I'm competitive with him. Also let's look at the race from two years ago (Paul Petersen 34:47 Simonaitis 35:47, Sasha 36:07) So my 35:51 looks pretty good to me right now. So back to back 35 minute 10ks, but two very good results.

Next up, my fourth race in four weeks: SLCTC 15K. My bold prediction? 51 flat

We cooled down doing the entire course again. I felt very good, normally I would definitely bonk on these runs. It's a sign that I kind of wussed out on the hill I think, it didn't seem so bad doing it again at 8min pace. I added on a bit after to make it an even 15. I told Walter I didn't need a ride home. Then I found the locker room for the track team and took a shower, it was very nice and I didn't think I was supposed to be there but I acted like I belonged. Seriously though, nice facility.