This one was a slugfest. I figured with Walter just having done a marathon last week, all I had to do was glom on to him and follow him to his doom, then run the rest of the way on whatever I had left for the overall W. Or maybe let him pull me to a great time within my capability. Or failing that, run a disciplined 4x5:20, followed by 4x5:10, followed by 4x5:30 or until I couldn't hold it any more, followed by a disasterous last mile on the flat to uphill but still enough to do well. It was not to be. First off Scott showed up. Yeek. OK, maybe second. Then Lindsay Dunkley. Yikes. OK, third. Then Zack. Crap. Fourth. That's OK, operation domination is still intact for age group. So off we went to the starting line! I got a little tangled up in the starting crowd, looks like everyone wanted to be like Dave today. But Scott and Zack and Walter were all being a lot more like Dave than Dave wanted to be, in fact, after running with them down the initial big hill at a pace that once dropped to 3:53, I figured that discretion was the better part especially as I was using energy at twice the normal pace to stay in the group. Walter was beyond awesome and clearly completely unaffected by last week's race, and the other two were just plain psycho. So I dropped back but stayed in range, also being passed by Matt and Mike and one more person I believe. The Garmin wasn't working but when I passed mile 2 I saw it was at 10:10 so thank goodness I was running pretty slow, 5:35. Oh crap that's not 5:35 that's 5:05. Math is hard in a race. OK, so now that all three plans are out the window at mile 2 and I am feeling a little tired already from going too fast now what do I do. I go to plan Z, just go to the firewall until you die and hope it's close to the finish line. I am focusing on Hobbler to be the disciplined half anyway, so this will be a good experiment to compare to. My only hope of passing any of these guys was if they accidentally brought laundry soap instead of gu, and the first thing I think of when I see a quivering pile of suds on the side of the road is not that I've passed a leader, so it probably wouldn't help all that much mentally anyway.
At mile 4 I had to stop and tie my shoe. I was shocked that Lindsay hadn't passed me yet. My cold hands moved like frozen noodles and it took me 30 seconds to do the deed. Then I got to chase Lindsay until she drifted out of sight. Now a bunch of 5:10 miles to the mouth of the canyon, just like I planned, ha ha, but Steve Andersen blew by me at+20sec or better near mile 7. Good grief, it's not bad enough to be chicked by somebody who belongs at the OTQ now I have to be beaten by a Steve too :) But he settled in 100 yards in front and I kept gaining. Unfortunately, I hit the little wall at mile 8.5 and had to start walking the uphills. But it was only for a few seconds and he was getting killed on the hills too, especially the one at mile 10. But whenever I started back up again I would still be closing the gap, down to 20 yards at one point. He was like my own personal torture master. He had no mercy. Then the wheels totally fell off and I stopped caring. But I had to finish better than my Hobble Creek Half - I had banked 5:20 of sub-6 time so far and just a little more would put me in the 1:12s which was my goal for the day. Then Skip showed up with a magnificent 5:40 pace and dragged me .3 miles further down the road. I tried to pick it up but the aerobic just wasn't there. Maybe these high mile weeks aren't so good.
Mile 13 was beyond brutal, felt like mile 25 of St George. I really paid for the beginning miles at that point. I stumbled up the street, twisted around the turns, and cruised up the chute which just went on and on and good grief Who's the Comedian? I mean really? Oh, there's the arch. One last burst of speed and I was there. Ran some cooldown with the early arrivals, got my prize and bailed. Now we get to see what a disciplined half will do! Plus I will tie my shoes better. Here's the splits, as good as possible with the G troubles: 4:56,5:14,5:32,5:36 (shoelace)
5:11,5:09,5:20,5:32 6:11 (walk a bit),6:02,6:26 (walk more),5:51 5:47, 5:25 pace for last bit Hey, mile 13 was brutal because I actually ran faster :) OK, that's better.
| 