I slept at Bonnie's home and woke up at 4:20 for the 6am start of the Deseret News 10k. Bonnie was supposed to wake up at 4am but her alarm didn't go off, so she had to get ready in record time. We still got to the start with an hour to go. We ran about 2.5 together and stretched. Then I switched into my racers and did some strides and jogging. The start was about 10 minutes late. I saw a girl in bummies and Lindsey was there so there went first and second place. I lined up just behind Chad and AdamRW. It was nice to get to know them better. My goals were 1- be under 36:30, 2 - break 36, 3 - break 35:48 (college pr), and of course, then 4 - break 35:30, which Sasha said was within the realm of possibilities. I also wanted to place top 5 since that's where the money is, but I had less control over that than my time. 35:30 was about 5:45 pace overall, but should have had the first two splits of 5:38 and 5:36 1 - 5:18 The race starts out fast!!!! Tons of girls and guys starting sub 5:00 pace even though the first .25 was flat, then we turn and head down on a steep downhill. I start out too fast, but gradually slow and hold back and try to stay relaxed and not worry that there are 15 girls ahead of me. 2 - 5:23 I try not to panic when I see the 5:18 first split and focus on running a good second split 3 - 5:45 This mile starts flat and my watch is registering slower than 6 min pace, at 2.5 the course turns downhill and I start to reel in the two mormontimes.com girls ahead of me, Michelle Simonaitis is right behind me so lots of people who didn't know me were cheering for our local masters celebrity 4 - 5:48 Still downhill but not as steep, there still hasn't been any water and I am sure wanting some 5 - 5:40 Similar to mile 4, I am feeling good still, and I know I am on target for 35 minutes 6 - 6:07 This mile stunk, first generally flat then slight uphill for the second half. I am dying but I use my watch to try to motivate myself, trying to keep the pace below 6:00, which didn't quite happen but I think the game helped me by 5-10 seconds, a girl passes me with about .5 to go and I don't feel like going for her nor the two other girls that are theoretically in reach .2 - ? Cody cheers me on at about the 6 mile mark and out of embarrassment I decide to try to pick off the girls. I use my recent 400m repeats as confidence and turn on the burners and pass two of the three girls. The girl right ahead of me that I wasn't able to snag turned out to be Carre Joyce, who won the Ogden marathon. I got 8th place but with 35:02, I can't complain. I would guess that this race is about 1 minute faster than flat sea level (two minutes faster because of downhill but one minute credit back because of altitude). I did weaken a bit in mile 6, but I felt much stronger than the 4th of July 10k I just did. I jogged backwards on the course until I saw Bonnie and cheered her in. She ran a great race, close to a PR. I chatted with Chad and Adam, and then Bonnie's husband Dean, then met Emily Jameson and we ran almost 6 miles together. It was much faster than my normal cool down's but it was great to catch up with her and learn from her. I have felt so sick since the race. I have the runs and stomach issues. I am just starting to feel better, though my bed is calling to me to lay down. I have to wait until naptime.
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