Bluh. This was kind of a miserable race for me. I really let the headwind and heat bother me more than I should have and felt like I kind of gave up around the 10 mile mark. After looking at my splits, I guess it wasn't going that bad, but then I felt like I fell apart when I started not feeling as good.
This year's splits: 5:56, 5:58, 5:59, 6:08, 6:17, 6:12, 5:59, 6:05, 5:53, 6:21, 6:48 (uh oh), 6:27, 7:15 (haha), 0:57 (7:06)
Last year's splits: 5:57, 6:01, 6:00, 6:07, 6:05, 6:02, 5:59, 6:11, 5:56, 6:09, 5:59, 5:58, 6:10, 0:57 for 1:19:30
I felt like I could beat my last year's time as I feel like my training has been going well lately and I felt like I was in better shape than last year. In all honesty, I thought I could dip down to around 1:18:30 if things went well. I decided I would run with James and John from the blog as they were planning on 5:50s down the canyon, which is right around where I wanted to be. Really, we were right on track early on in the race up until around miles 4-6, which is when it felt like our effort was the same as before but the pace crept up a bit due to the wind. It was hot and I was discouraged with the wind. Right around the mouth of the canyon I gapped John and James, but I kept waiting for them to pass me back later on in the race (James eventually did on the last stretch). In all honesty it was great running with them and made the first part of the race much more enjoyable, eventhough we weren't talking much. Kind of died a slow death beginning at mile 10, but like I mentioned before, looking at my splits I was actually holding on better than I thought I was. I gave in and stopped at the aid station by 10 and the next one at about mile 12. Just kind of gave in to the pain and heat. Glad this is over and was almost wishing I was at work. Looking forward to getting back into training and making things better. Hopefully I ran slow enough than I'm not too sore in the next few days. Was really glad I wasn't running the marathon.
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