Went with Paul, Cody, and Dan to the race. I did a short warm up before the race and I realized then that it wasn't going to be a fast one. I was having some major issues with my left calf, and I don't know what it is exactly. It was just achy and numb, a problem that I have had before. I always get a little freaked out when my left leg starts doing weird stuff like going numb, because I got a neuroma in my left foot in 2004 6 weeks before St. George. I ended up taking 5 weeks off and spent a few days on crutches. I was still able to finish St. George that year, but I my hopes of 2:35 that year were dashed. It took me quite a while to get over that injury and the scary thing was it came out of no where. I went from the best Marathon shape of my life to almost a cripple. Enough about old war stories! To put it simply, I didn't feel too hot and probably ran too conservatively because of it. I felt like I needed Dr. Stucky to fix me up. I wasn't sore though, so that was a good thing.
I tried to stay conservative in the race but not get too far behind the guys I should be running with. I ran the first mile with Dan and Cody, then Dan dropped back a bit and Cody and I went the rest of the way down the canyon together. Cody dropped back after the first water stop but I didn't look to see how far. I figured he would come up on me later but never did. I didn't worry about my splits because all of the mile markers seemed off anyways.
I spent the rest of the race trying to catch the pack with Ted, and Scott but never quite got them. I did catch a few guys during the race and in the last half mile. I was pretty consistant in my pace and had the same slower miles that everyone seemed to have. I felt pretty good and felt like I could have run faster but my legs didn't agree. I kept trying to relax my leg and foot. The numbness went away shortly after the first mile but the aching was consistant through race. The worst part of the race was going by the park, still having 1.5 miles to go, and knowing that Paul was probably finished and eating all of the good doughnuts!
I did pick it up a bit in the last mile and ran it in 5:41. I guess that it was a decent run for me, especially for a spring run and my short training season. I was about two minutes slower than I thought that I would be, but everyone else probably had the same kind of a race. Del Sol hammered me a little more than what I felt it did during the week. I just don't recover like Paul does. I figured that he would run under 1:10, and knew that he had a good shot of winning. I was glad to hear that he ran so well and won, the PR was a given!
I thought that the other guys from the Del Sol team (Cody, Dan, and Sasha) ran well too, and probably didn't realize that the relay hammered them either. I know Cody was pretty disappointed that he lost touch with me, but I thought that he ran really good. He and Dan are training great and running awesome, and it has taken me the whole circuit to get so I can run with them again. I am glad that we were able to hook up with them thanks to this blog, they are good guys and great additions to our Logan group, especially since Dave and Ben have moved away. Guys, be happy with your runs, anytime that you PR it is a good race! And Paul, thanks for winning so that I got bumped up from 4th to 3rd in the age group. I actually got an award this race and it was kind of nice.
I cooled down for a couple of miles with Paul, Bob, Dan, and Cody.
1:19:27 for the race 6:04 ave.
(Tangent- 93 miles)
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