Snow Canyon 1/2. Put this on my racing schedule, but then realized how steep the race was, and consulted with my coach about whether to skip the race, start from the bottom and run up til I met AmberG, then run her in, or race it. He suggested doing the race as a workout. Plan: hang onto tails of the leading lady for the first three miles, back off to 6:45-7:15 pace, depending on what pace it took to not get hammered, allowing "everyone to pass" me, coach said it would be character building, then ease into marathon pace (6:20-6:30) through the remainder of the race, slowly reeling in those I passed. Here's how it went. So nice to not have pre-race jitters since it was not a high risk event. Still had three stars before toeing the line. Warmed up 3.32 miles. Met up with Marcie and AmberG. And we are off. Mile 1 5:58 Amber takes off like, well, you know. It took all I had to keep in touch for the first half mile, but then pace mellows a bit Mile 2 6:07 A girl in a sports bra joins the front pack of girls (AmberG, me and Marcie), and takes the lead, I pull into second by the end of this mile. Mile 3 5:50 serious downhills starts. Bra girl is chatting it up with a couple of guys ahead of me, I just hang on--not conversational for me! Mile 4 6:21 I change gears but didn't go slow enough (I thought I only had to go 6:30 or slower, but in looking back at McMillans email, it was supposed to be 6:45 or slower--ooops!), AmberG is first one to pass me, several pass per mile Mile 5 6:25 still in don't trash the quads mode, Marcie I think passes me in here, snow canyon is so beautiful. I chat with a guy who's pr is 1:29 in here, his name is Craig, he was going conservative too through this part. He had a St. G red shirt. Mile 6 6:36 more like it, taking it easy, a lady in a very fashionable purple plaid passes me in this mile, I can't let such race-fashionability stand. In these three miles of serious holding back, 18 people in all passed me, and I went from 2nd lady to 6th lady. Mile 7 6:09 still really steep, so I go into marathon pace gear, but with some trepidation and still holding a bit back Mile 8 6:24 49:50ish for first 8, I make a calculation at the end of this mile that I needed to keep a 6:20 pace til the end to easily get under 1:22. Too bad I forgot about the .1 mile in the 13.1 mile race Mile 9 6:08 catch up to Craig in this mile, encourage him to come with me, I've passed two ladies and Marcie is in sight. Mile 10 6:24 at the very, very beginning of this mile I hit a portapotty. Unfortunately noone has prepped this pot like I did one in TOU, still it was a quick pitstop as evidenced by my time, pass Marcie at end of this mile or beginning of 11 Mile 11 6:22, starting to get rough, with lots of neighborhood turns, at the end of this mile I start to see AmberG ahead, but know she's way far ahead Mile 12 6:22, pace is hard but managable Mile 13 6:11, wanting to finish strong, see glimpes of Amber at times but she is still far ahead .14 in 48 sec (5:55 pace). Thinking how crazy it is to have to go around the track--the end of this race seemed so long. Measured 3.18, must have not done tangents that well 1:22:13 official results. 3rd place woman. Passed 11 of the 18 back. Bummed to not be under 1:22, but it was a good workout, and I ran it faster than I was supposed to (6:14 ave pace for end). I am sore today but not as sore as I would have been if I raced it, so there's another victory. Won a fancy heart monitor watch. My mom and her boyfriend came and watched the race, it was great to have them there.
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