It ain't Chinese algebra!

Pretty fun run.  My thoughts, as best as I can remember:

We drove to Bryce yesterday and saw some sights.  Andrea had never been to Bryce Canyon before.  Most of it was just drive and look, but we went walking down a few trails as well.  Around 2 we went for a little hike and 2 miles into it I was regretting the decision.  I wanted to save juice for my legs, so we turned around and called it a day.  Pasta dinner at the park, stayed at some random motel.

First ever half marathon, so I was very nervous.  How much to eat, when to eat, when do I get up, etc.  I slept okay and got up around 4:30 and ate 1/2 of a banana and drank some water.  We took the shuttle to the start and I jogged just under 1 mile to warm up.  We were on the first shuttle, which I'm glad.  We had plenty of time to warm up and relax at the start.  I wasn't sure what to do; go out fast or slow.  I wanted to run around 6:00 min/mile for my first one, then let the downhill take me at whatever pace felt good.  First mile was 5:57 and I found myself in 12th or so, including one female, Devra Vierkant, winner of last years S.G. Marathon.

I hate downhill running, so I think I resisted it during mile 2 (5:54), but then I just relaxed and went with the flow (5:30's next 6 miles).  I slowly picked people off, 1 or 2 per mile, until I caught the female around mile 9.  I was feeling good and passed Devra as we went through Tropic.  At this point I was in 5th overall.  I kept pushing, although my times slowed the last 3 miles, and passed 2 more guys, finishing in 3rd place overall.

I was very pleased with the race, especially with it being my first ever race longer than a 10k and first race in 20 months (not counting the 2 dinky 5k's in Iraq).  I didn't drink at any of the aid stations.  Maybe if I had I wouldn't have slowed as much at the end?  Also, I ran in my trainers, not racing flats of any kind.  May look into some lighter shoes for even the half marathon distance.  Here are my garmin splits:

• 5:57
• 5:54  (11:51)
  
• 5:21  (17:12)
  
• 5:43  (22:55)
  
• 5:33  (28:28)
  
• 5:19  (33:47)
  
• 5:24  (39:11)
  
• 5:29  (44:40)
• 5:45  (50:25)
  
• 5:36  (56:02)
  
• 5:40  (1:01:41)
  
• 5:50  (1:07:32)
  
• 5:55  (1:13:27)