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)
My garmin had me at 13.0 miles, so not sure about that. Short course or tangents?
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