Well if all the races this year are this fun I'll have a really great year. I took a blanket up on the bus because future me was yelling at current me that it was too freeking cold at the start. Well maybe next time future me can tell current me to take something better than a @$#% blanket. Anyway after a very long wait almost near enough to a fire to feel some heat, and a shorter wait in front of a running schoolbus where some heat was coming through the air intake, the marathoners started off with their slow lopes. How anyone manages to go that slowly at the beginning of a race mystifies me. So they lined the halfers up and we waited three or four minutes while the ladies streamed in from random very odd locations downwind of the start, then we were off. I ran a bit with the leaders, then they seemed to drop back a lot, then it was completely silent. I didn't think I was really going that fast. After passing mile 1 (5:12) Brett finally caught up to me. He was very tall. I don't think he saw me. After mile 2 (5:25) we had come out in the flat part of the canyon and three more guys passed me, looking very strong and intimidating. I tried keeping up a bit but I started to feel a small bit of pain and it was too early in the race for that so I just concentrated on weaving in and out of the marathoners. I was worried about running into bad blockage, but the only places where the trail was completely blocked was around the pacers and they were alert and moved their crowd out of the way. Miles 3-7 passed uneventfully (5:50,33,36,44,52). I could tell I was gradually losing energy so I backed it off ever so slowly. All I needed to do was accumulate 180 seconds of sub-6 time and I had done half of it on the first two miles so I wanted to save a little for the last two miles on the highway. Mile 8 was whacked. Some hot little bobtail job came screaming by at what had to be a 5:20 pace. I had never heard of Kodi before but I had also never been so thoroughly chicked before on a race where I was doing well. (She ended just under 1:13 - insane, almost 5 minutes faster than Kassi's record) I got 5:51. Miles 9 and 10 took me to the 5k start (5:53, 6 flat) where I saw Brandon and Mike. Mile 11 contains the only real uphill in the race but sets you up for the final gentle downhill into down town, I got 6:06, quite respectable! I turned on a little more energy at that point but I was already getting pretty near the limit. I could feel Collin's eyes in my back just like at Leopards though so I just focused and watched the Zions Bank building get closer (5:55,5:54). Not too many marathoners to pass now so the street was totally empty and I burned it in to the line at a 5:20 for the last tenth. Waited around for 5k which Matt took second and Brandon took fifth in but it looked like they were on an easy run so I don't think it counts :) Then waited for prizes but lost patience so I gave my number to Brad and left so I could see Iron Man. Great fun! Now I get home and see that the course only dropped 870 feet or so. Are you serious? I thought it was like 1300. Now I am really happy with my time.
Heyy - this was supposed to be low miles rest week. Not sure how I ended up with 41 but I sure felt rested!
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