Goal was to finish in 1:22:00. This race takes the cake for worst bus ride experience. Started late as well. Annoying, but I’m glad I’m not the person directing the race. I was going to try and kill it coming out of the canyon, and then just hold on to the finish. Lots of fast women in this race as well, especially compared to the Provo ½ a couple weeks ago.
1-5:51 I ran with two ladies for about the first 5-6 miles. Mel (one of the crack o’ dawn girls and another lady who I see at the gym in Lehi). I dropped them around the six mile mark.
2-6:15
3-6:29
4-5:34
5-6:27
6-6:14
7-6:11 Coming out of the canyon and feeling really good. Concentrating on slowly reeling in the groups ahead of me. Found a good rhythm in these middle miles.
8-6:07
9-6:22
10-6:06 I passed Mary Ann right around the end of this mile. I had her in my sights for the last couple miles and slowly reeled her in.
11-6:52 This mile has the hill. It’s not that long, but it worked me over pretty good. After the hill, I was able to reel in about 3 other guys who were fading.
12-6:19
13-6:33 Right after the 12.5 mark I caught and passed the skinny guy in the black tights. I told him to run with me, and he stuck with me for a bit, but then faded and finished a few seconds behind me.
.1-0:37
Overall, this was one of the best races that I’ve raced. I didn’t get passed after about mile 6, and I was able to pass a descent number of people the rest of the way. I finished pretty strong, and I think I’m learning how to race better in the fact that I’m able to work through the hard times in the race and recover and relax.
In all honesty, I don’t know how I’m going to get faster than this. Will the speed just come gradual as I put the miles in? And how will these half marathon results translate to the St. George Marathon? | 