I really like this race! The Dam2Dam is and small. I
believe there were about 250 runners. The course is around a strange, off-river
reservoir in the middle of the desert, surrounded by red rock and sand dunes.
The course is a mix of dirt and gravel (and paved?) road and dams. The shuttle to the start
consists of volunteers, some of whom ran the race, in their personal vehicles.
Friday night the forecast was calling for rain mixed with snow in the
morning..... But the weather was nearly ideal, just a bit of wind.
I achieved both my goals
for this race, 1- Don't get hurt and 2- finish and thus complete the Runner's
Series for entry into St. George.
The race started as advertised, right
on time! I lined up in the second row but when we started the guys in front of
me weren't moving much so I pulled ahead of them. Jose shot out ahead of the pack. But I was with the pack behind him. What a strange feeling to be so near the front. This worried me but my pace seemed OK. It only lasted about 1/2 mile, then
two runners left me behind and started to track down Jose. Sometime there after
a lady passed me as well (her report is on the Fast Running Blog also), but I tucked in behind and drafted her (thanks).
She
made a crack about doing all the work in our pack of 4? or so runners, so I took
a short turn in front. But she quickly passed me again. I held on pretty good for 3 miles but started to struggle
during mile 4 when she and some dude pulled ahead. By the 5th mile we were
pretty spread out and it was just a chug to the finish.
So, I finished
6th over all. But the 5 runners ahead of me were young uns and I won the
master's division. Aren't small races great! 
Garmin splits:
1- 6:22, 167 bpm
2- 6:22, 177 bpm
3- 6:25,
180 bpm
4- 6:32, 179 bpm
5- 6:29, 178 bpm
Finish time- 32:10
Ave
pace- 6:26 (this is faster than my 5k pr pace) I wanted to put in more miles to make this a long run but I was greeted at the finish by my wife and kids and thus happily spent time with them playing on the beach and rocks.
| 