Provo Half marathon this morning. I have not run this race since 2007, so I was excited to try the course again. At the start, there was a DEER walking up to every runner. It was crazy. I've never seen a deer that unafraid of people. I met up with Coach Bill, Cindy, Craig and Marie at the top and we did a very short warm up.
The race started just a few minutes late, but overall it is one of the better organized Provo Half I've run in...kudos to Curt. Craig and I both had a 1:18 goal, so we decided to alternate the lead every mile. This was a mistake. Craig was running really strong and around mile 6 I had to let him go. He ran a 1:16:xx, so I probably slowed him down too much the first half. Below are my splits: Mile 1: 5:42. Big drop and comfortable pace. Talking to the other runners. I take the first mile and was hoping to be around 5:55. I apologized, but Craig didn't seem to mind. Mile 2: 5:42. More dropping and comfortable. Craig is out front leading the pace. Mile 3: 5:48. I tried to slow down a little, but you probably need to take advantage of the drop when you feel good. Mile 4: 5:38. Big drop out of the canyon and Craig has kicked it up a notch. I keep contact for my next turn. Mile 5: 6:06. I'm not sure if this split is correct. We did take hydration and meet some friends on the course (Jeremy, Andrea and Travis). Mile 6: 5:50. Craig gaps me here and I can not keep up. I tell him to leave me and get the 1:16. Mile 7: 6:19. Uphill part of the race. Not too bad sense I am running by myself. Mile 8: 6:34. Steeper uphill and I see the leaders. They are about 0.5 mile ahead of me. Nice to see Sasha running strong in Crocs. Mile 9: 6:01. I try to get my pace back on the trail, but he hill zapped my legs. There is no one around me so I begin to think about holding my place instead of speeding up. Mile 10: 6:06. The comfortable pace is gone and now I'm just trying not to get passed the last 5K. I do the math and know I missed my 1:18. Mile 11: 6:14. The sun is out strong at the bottom. I was disappointed I could not find the gear to get back to 5:55 pace. I can no longer see Craig or Michelle. Mile 12: 6:17. I run into Travis again. He ran a little ways with Craig and then came to pick me up. He gave me some motiviation to get under 1:20 and finish strong. Mile 13: 6:19. I'm done! I didn't hit my goal, but still a course PR.
At the finish talked with Water and Matt from the blog. I was surprised to learn I was 4th in my age group and would have been 5th if Sasha had not won! I need to get older so I can get out of this grouping (or they do)! Had some pancakes, picked up my shirt then spent 15 minutes looking for my bag. Good job to the race director, Curt, this year. It's never smooth sailing at Provo, but this was one of the better ones!
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