I was not really sure what was going to happen with this race but I wanted to do well. I guess I did alright because I surprisingly ended up taking first place. The race started at 9:00 AM so I slept in on a race day! I woke up and did a 3 mile warm-up around my parent's house with a few pickups to get the legs moving. Katey, my dad, and me then headed over to the race.
I got there and it was fun seeing all the Fast Running Bloggers with all of the singlets and warm-up gear. It got me really excited for the race. Sasha, Nick McCombs, Dave Holt, Little Bad Legs, and Karl Wilcock (16 year old from Hurricane) went out and traded quarters for the first 5 miles. I have never really done that before but everybody stayed relaxed and helped each other out. Nick started to push the pace and I decided to go with him to see if I could stay with him. We came upon the first bridge and it was still a little icy and Nick slipped bad and fell. He hollered for me to slow down so I did but ended up slipping and falling on my hip. It left a nasty raspberry. We both got up and kept going. It threw off our rhythm a little but we got back on track. We talked a little bit and were pushing each other. Nick threw in a couple surges and I think he was trying to drop me. I kept right up with him and we were really moving. We looped back around and got on the trail again. I didn't like this part of the race because we were running in and out of people still coming out on their initial loop. Runners were clapping and cheering but we both wanted them to get out of the way. Nick slowed a little bit at about mile 10 and told me to go for it. I wanted him to come with me because we were pushing it together. I waited until about mile 12 and then really kicked it in. I heard Katey and my dad cheering from on top of the mountiain and they told me to go for it. I came around the corner and stayed on the trail but needed to continue going straight. I had to stop and come back in order to finish. I crossed the line and felt awesome. Nick really pushed me this race and it was a huge confidence builder. This was probably one of my best races ever. The course is truly honest with hardly any downhill and a fair amount of slight uphill in it. The problem was that it was a little short and the times were all off. They had me running a 1:07:42 which was way off. It is okay. I did a cooldown of 2 miles with Dave and then another 1.5 miles with James and some of the other Fast Running Bloggers.
Here are my splits:
1- 5:33
2- 5:33
3- 5:20
4- 5:22
5- 5:28
6- 5:08
7- 5:17
8- 5:15
9- 5:21
10- 5:06
11- 5:20
12- 5:21
.92- 5:30
I received a free pair of shoes at the St. George Running Center for my win (thanks Steve!)and also a cool diamond that glows in the dark. Sweet! This is a good confidence builder for me to really get rocking and rolling for the year. Great job to all who ran and keep up the great work. Thanks once again for all the support Katey. You are the best! | 