Woke up at 6:30 to get to the buses that would take us to the starting line. it was supposed to leave at 7:15, but it ended up leaving at 7:50! i wish i just had my mom drop me off so i could've slept in more. looking around at the start i saw logan fielding and 2 other guys that looked fast, so my goal was top 4, at 5:45 pace. (and no miles over 6!)
race started and it was pretty much all down hill for the first 2 miles. first one i felt good and smooth 5:32. second mile (batman fell off) i was in the second group and logan and them were 15 feet ahead, still feeling good, coach told us to slow down a bit so we did...5:47. next mile was a bit uphill then down into a canyon that was like a rollercoaster of ups and downs, 5:40. still lots of rollercoasters but slightly downhill, focusing on my form here 5:23.
mile 5 had a tad uphill here as we came out of the canyon, a bit of wind but i still feel like i could handle it. i was lucky enough to have my teamate casey kimzey and rodney who runs for dixie state college running with me this whole time and we kind of took turns leading it. we passed one of the guys ahead of us so now i was shooting for 3rd 5:35. mile 6 was a big increase in uphill and i didn't hit it as well, i tried pushing it hard but it was ugly 5:55. next mile was about the same, all three of us weren't running hot, and logan got away on these two miles 5:54.
next mile i passed an aid station that had a lot of people i knew, and this got me moving again and i made bit of a push before the next uphill around the mountain 5:39. this hill i hit much better and even under my goal pace which is good cause it was even steeper (but not as long) then i evened it down more with the down hill after, also i started leading a bit more here 5:44. then the third and final big hill came and this is where i was worried i would go over 6min/mile. i hit it pushing hard and got up the first part thinking i was done, then i turned the corner and found out i only did half of it. then i cleared the top and tried to get moving again on the down hill, my legs started getting really tight here. casey and rodney fell off here and i was alone 5:58.
coach holt joined me here and helped me finish the last three miles. he really helped me get going again 5:37. i could feel i was almost there and i started pushing harder, coach paced me very good 5:29. then last .9 i hit in 4:46 (5:25 pace) Placing 3rd place! Also my average pace was 5:40!!!! thats what i do every wednesday! i was very pleased and i still felt very good once i finished. cooled down 1.5miles.
i was sad that the course was .2 short. but nothing i could do. i figured my time would've been 1:14: 09 if i continued at 5:25 pace so i'm very pleased with that. Good week, good half, now i can just focus on track! miles next week will be easy to recover from this | 