I guess the week long rest was helpful - even with 10 percent less descent I still only was 9 seconds slower than last week, and this course was actually the full 13.1 instead of just 13.
They didn't have enough buses for the half but I didn't care - nicer to wait in the warm valley. When we got up there it was way colder at the start than I expected, so I was glad for the space blanket. I was also happy to find gloves in the portapotty, thanks going out to some wonderful forgetful person.
I hung out with Johnny at the start all alone, waiting for everyone to walk out of the starting area and get there. Really well set up. I still couldn't see anybody except Brett who could beat me, so it was looking like Podium day! Well only one way to find out. They started the race at 7:25 and I slammed it to max right away, garmin says I hit 17.5 MPH! Oops. Still I didn't get caught by Brett until .75 in, but then two more guys passed me. Crap, fourth gets nothing in this race. All I could do is grind away and hope for the best. Mile 1 seemed slow at 5:16, and mile 2 was also 5:16. Even worse mile 3 was 5:27 and I was wondering if Nebo had killed me.
Then I came around a corner and the road disappeared off a cliff. I had forgotten that BC has its dip in the middle and not at the beginning. Mile 4 was 5:14 and 5 got down to a blistering 4:49! At this point Brett was still in sight and the other two guys were drifing back, so I figured I was doing pretty good. Mile 6 was a 4:58 and somewhere in those two I pulled off a 4:45, which is my new mile PR. Crazy. The 5K was 15:28 and the 10K was 31:40, all in the middle and not using the first two miles. Pretty close to PR pace there too.
Craig Hudman, the number 3 guy, was starting to send off vulnerability vibes by mile 7 so I was getting my hopes up. But I was only gaining 10 yards per mile or so on him and he was 300 yards ahead. Miles 7-11 were 5:17, 5:02, 5:14, 5:28, and 5:50 with that nasty slight uphill out of the canyon. And I got to see Toni at the mouth of the canyon. He is looking even stronger than before, if it were possible. Anyway the third place guy was still about 200 yards ahead though so it looked grim for me. But as I passed aid station K I saw somebody sitting in the middle of the road by the workers, covered in sweat! I wasn't sure if it was him but then the spectators were suddenly yelling "third!" instead of "fourth!" as I passed! So now I couldn't slack off, because I just knew he was going to jump up and catch me as he saw me pass.
But it was not to be. I figured as long as I maintained the punishing pace I would still gain 20 yards per mile on him and there was only 1.5 to go. I redlined all the way to the finish chute for a 5:23 and 5:46, then went to black at 5:13 for the last tenth. Ow. I didn't realize the Pepi was the other guy who had passed me, and since he was born within a very few days of me he can always knock me out of the division and masters. I had never met him before today - he's totally cool. And small. I think I will call him Piccolo Pepi :) No wonder he smokes me so bad. So Brett beat Pepi by 3 and a half, commenting that it was a nice tempo run (he is going to Rock and Roll and so he didn't want to push it) and Pepi beat me by 2 and a half, then I beat Craig by 2. Well worth the trip!
Wait! I just read Craig's report and the guy that was sitting wasn't him! OK, nowI am wondering what ended up happening. Nice race Craig :)
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