2 mile warm up
10 mile race
3 mile cool down
I won.
I finally have time to write up a decent report--it takes too much effort to make a lengthy entry on my phone. My grandparents live in Bountiful and this weekend they celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. As such, my wife and two kids loaded into the car on Thursday night and made the long drive to Utah for today's festivities. A quick search on-line and this was the closest run I could find.
The weather was perfect for any race. I wore a t-shirt and shorts but for the final 5 miles I was wishing I was wearing a singlet. So it goes. After looking over previous years race reports, it looks like we lucked out when it comes to weather. I didn't know any of the other commpetitors, as expected, but I figured there would be some quick competition. From the gun there were 4-5 guys that made a little group through 800 meters and then from there it was down to 3 of us. I hung back in third, content to let the first couple miles play out as they may. I didn't drive the course before the race so I was pretty clueless as to the layout. I knew there would be some hills but I wasn't sure when, how long, steep, etc. I realized at the first mile that I had forgotten to start my watch--bummer. Oh well.
Through the first couple miles it remained a group of 3 for the lead. It's the same story as always for me--I'm not a strong downhill runner so I just have to hang on and hope that the other guys don't get too far ahead and that I get a chance to catch up when the uphill comes. At miles 3 and 4 (about where we turned back South) I was sitting well behind in 3rd place. It's the furthest thing from a 'mindset of a champion' but at this point I began to think of all the reasons I belonged here and would do no better than 3rd; I hate downhill races & I'm already too far behind, I live at sea-level and this elevation would be too difficult to overcome, it's flat where I live with very few hills (up or down) to train on, etc. Shortly after begining our climb around mile 4 I noticed that I was gaining on the 2nd place runner and yet I didn't feel like I had increased my pace. On the flipside of being a weak downhill runner, I feel one of my greatest strengths is that of an uphill runner. I moved into 2nd place and a short time later caught 1st place as well.
From mile 5 to the finish it was just me and the cop car as we continued to wind through the streets of Ogden. Or at least I think it was Ogden. Who knows? All I know is that we kept climbing and climbing which was fine by me. I figured the longer we did that, the better shot I had at staying in the lead. I didn't love the downhill back to campus (is there a pattern with this post? Uphill good, downhill bad...) but the flat section between 8-9 was enjoyable. I thought before the race that a sub-58 would be ok by me, especially with running at altitude. I was very surprised to see 56:XX as I approached the finish line. Anyway I'll take a 56:21 on a very tough course, possibly one of the hardest races I've ever run. I'm certain that I could have ran sub-56 if I would have focused a little better during that final 3-4 miles or been fighting for the lead. So it goes.
In-N-Out burger for lunch. Almost makes me want to move to Utah, but not quite. ;) | 