Great day for a race! I started in the back of the corral and quickly hooked up with some people I recognized from the Provo 1/2. They were aiming for a sub-3, so I decided to stay with them as long as I could. We came through the half at about 1:33. Veyo was no problem. I decided that a 3:10 was easily within reach, so I began to focus on sub-3:05. At mile 14, I began to develop a blister on my right heel. The doctor as the finish line first aid commented it was the biggest of the day. He called all his assistants over to come watch him drain the blood. Unfortunately, the blister caused me to alter my stride. It was very uncomfortable down hill. I tried not to focus on it. At mile 16 we began to lose some of our 3:00 hour group. I calculated we were going to be very close, so I adjusted my goal to 3:00 and began to make a little push. Things were going great until about mile 23. My foot started to really hurt. My stride was adjusted to land more on my toes, but the steep downhill caused my heel to make a hard strike with each stride. I realized that 3:00 was probably not going to be possible, so I slowed down to sub 8:00 pace and enjoyed the crowd. My training partner, Craig Green, had offered to pace me at a sub-3 the night before, but I declined. I should have attempted it, but I was still very pleased with the results... a PR! The sub-3 will have to be next year!
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