Coming into this race I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it. Seven weeks earlier my heel started hurting and I didn't know what it was (now I think it was bursitis). I cut my mileage down for two weeks hoping it would go away before the Emigration Canyon Half but it flared up during the race. For the next five weeks I hardly ran any miles. So during my whole training cycle I only got on 20 mile run it and next to nothing for the last five weeks. My goal for the race was to DNF if my heel started hurting and to just finish if it didn't hurt.
I entered the lottery with my friend, Brent, from elementary school and a few of his friends that I didn't know. We all rode the bus to the starting line together. When the bus stopped at about 6:00 AM we saw the flags at the starting line blowing in a nice tailwind for the race and were glad that it wasn't too cold. We didn't even try to get close to the line and stayed back near the 4:15 pace group before the race started. For some reason the race was delayed by about 15 minutes and when we crossed the starting line we were about 6 minutes behind the gun.
Not 30 seconds after I crossed the starting line I stepped on a discarded trashbag that was caught on the foot of a lady in front of me. She tripped and then went down to the ground. I apologized and helped her up. She may have gotten a little road burn, but didn't seem hurt. Now it was just me and Brent's friend Ben. I stayed with Ben for a couple of miles and then picked up the pace.
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Splits
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Avg Pace
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Elev Gain
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Elev Loss
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Comments
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1
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9:38
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--
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86
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Stayed with a friend for the 1st 2 mi, testing out my heel.
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2
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9:14
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27
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23
|
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3
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7:32
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--
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110
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Sped up at a reasonable pace. Not too fast. Still trying not to inflame my heel.
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5k
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27:16
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4
|
7:35
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--
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119
|
|
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5
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7:18
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--
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84
|
|
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6
|
7:06
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--
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191
|
|
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10k
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49:50
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7
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7:10
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--
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205
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Quick bathroom break. Took a Gu and some water.
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8
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8:27
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202
|
101
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Veyo hill. Felt good and kept a nice conservative pace.
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9
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7:57
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89
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30
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Rolling hills slowed me a little. Took some Gu at 11.
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10
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8:01
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--
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16
|
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11
|
8:14
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88
|
--
|
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12
|
7:54
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26
|
14
|
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13
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8:32
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--
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90
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Not sure why I ran this mile slow. I was still feeling good.
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13.1
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1:45:49
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14
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7:43
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--
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75
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Started running with the 3:35 pace group about now.
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15
|
7:20
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--
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166
|
|
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16
|
7:37
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--
|
258
|
|
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17
|
7:51
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--
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136
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Calves started getting tight. Walked for just a bit.
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18
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8:11
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--
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183
|
Quads started getting tight. First big cramp on the inside of my right calf and had to massage it out.
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30k
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2:28:41
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19
|
9:11
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23
|
48
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Lost the 3:35 pace group. More walking.
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20
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9:35
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--
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104
|
|
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21
|
8:29
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--
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289
|
|
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22
|
11:33
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--
|
72
|
Bowel problems. Had to walk a lot. Maybe the Gu disagreed with me.
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23
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12:16
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--
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200
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Made it to a port-a-potty. Saw my family at Snow Canyon Parkway and they really boosted my morale.
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24
|
8:10
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--
|
184
|
|
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25
|
9:21
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--
|
111
|
|
|
26
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9:46
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--
|
110
|
Stopped to massage cramp in calf.
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27
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8:36
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--
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--
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Tried to speed up a little for the last 0.2 mi.
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26.2
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3:44:22
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Summary
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8:34
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455
|
3,005
|
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Luckily, my heel never started hurting throughout the race. Unfortunately, the multiple weeks without long, downhill runs really hurt my performance. But at least I was able to finish. The last few miles were extremely difficult with legs that were not accustomed to the long miles and elevation drop. I just did not anticipate it being as difficult as it was. For some reason I thought if my heel didn't hurt I could just continue at a moderate pace fairly easily. 26 miles is a long way for a beginner. But I had a lot of fun and would do it again.
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