It was time to see what my legs had in them with a half-marathon time trail just a few weeks out from the Ogden Marathon. My time last year was 1:37:08. I was fairly confident I could hit 1:30 today. I made the huge mistake of working in the garden last night. I borrowed a neighbor’s tool to help till the garden. It was one of those tools where you put it in the dirt and twist. Well the garden got tilled and some delicious vegies got planted; however, when I woke up my back was a wreck from all the twisting. I knew just from trying to roll over it would not be my day.
My wife Laurel planned on going with me on her bike to pace and be a rolling aid station as I was going to do this by myself. We drove out to Cedar Fort and I attempted to do a 1.5 mile warm up. My back was very stiff and I stopped about every .25 to stretch and try to loosen it up. Got done with the warm up and stretched some more. Just from the pain on the warm up I decided to go easy the first half or so and see if my back eased up and would let me get into a good rhythm. I decided to treat it more like a tempo run then a time trial.
Got off to a good start with the first mile coming in at 7:03, I couldn't get into a good rhythm my back felt like it would seize up at any moment. I had to take almost baby steps because if I opened up my stride too much it would cramp up. I decided to just go with what I could do the next few miles as they were mostly flat, uphill. next miles were as follows: 7:14,7:18,7:19,7:22,7:10,7:15,7:12, my legs were feeling great and my breathing was under control, decided to open it up a bit as the pain in my back was easing up a bit. Last miles were as follows: 7:01,6:51,6:46,6:43,last .1 6:03 pace. Finished in 1:32:46 this is a new PR for me. For running solo and with my back acting the way it did, I know I can break 1:30 sometime this year. Got home and ran a 1.5 mile cool down with my son Spencer. As a plus my legs feel great now, as it was mostly a long tempo run. Hopefully my back loosens up soon and I will be back in action next week. At least I didn't pay an entry fee and feel like I had to race with the pain. Ice and Ibuprofen will be my friends. Sounds like the Salt Lake Marathon and Half were nice this morning.
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