Here's the long-awaited race report: Woke up on the perfect Moab morning to run: cloudy skies, chilly but not too cold, Ben not making the upstairs stink too much. I was pretty excited. We headed up on the bus and were dropped off way early in true Moab 1/2 fashion. Cody, Ben and I and another friend hung around for awhile, then finally stripped down 30 minutes before the gun and jogged up to the start. I was wearing the FRB jayvee team jersey (the t-shirt instead of the singlet). The start was more crowded than I remember in the past, no room to really warm up. So the jog to the start was really it. We had a tailwind so I figured the first mile would get my legs in gear. They needed it after freezing up at the start. With the threat of altitude effects I planned to go out conservatively but stay in striking distance of 1:25. I felt confident I'd be under that and had that race plan in my head. Finally, we were off. Splits, and a little analysis: 6:13 -- First mile is downhill and with that tailwind, so I knew I'd be fast. 300 yards in I was warmed up, and glad I hadn't kept any extra clothing on. The Brian Sell mustache was plenty. I hit that split and eased up a bit. 6:34, 6:34, 6:34 -- Three remarkably consistent miles, if a few seconds slow. I would rather have been under 6:30, but like I said I was running conservatively. Those three clicked right by though, hardly even felt them and passed a lot of people. I think that kept me from pushing, since with little effort I was moving through the pack. 6:23, 6:31 -- Better miles here, I was still feeling fast and kept moving up. I was pretty pleased at this point, especially since at miles 6 (the 6:31, I had hit my watch a few steps after the mile marker). 6:13 -- This mile was a few seconds short, but it was also one with a slight hill. I had two people in sight on the hill so I caught them and left them. It was ambitious, but I like to do that to people who start too fast. Makes me feel like a big man. I was feeling good about the 1:25 goal at this point. 6:23, 6:21, 6:20 -- Now I knew I had locked in a 1:25, and had thoughts in my head of really turning it on for the last third of the race. I really felt good going up the hill around mile 8.5 or whatever, especially remembering how it had killed me in Moab races past. It was a blessing not to deal with the sun or heat at this point. Like I said, couldn't have asked for a better day. I thought through whether or not 1:20 was possible, but decided not to burn it at that point. I felt good, but just wasn't confident enough of my fitness to take a risk like that. 6:35, 6:39 -- Miles 11 and 12 are why I'm glad I didn't surge too early. I caught the women's leader and tracked her for awhile here, thinking I'd draft and then take off the last mile. But she really held me off and my legs were dead at that point. I wasn't exhausted, but didn't have much get up left. By the 12 marker I felt like I was just holding steady, especially since it's on that mentally draining stretch of highway into town. 6:48 -- The last mile-point-one wasn't too bad, considering my legs (especially the quads) were beat down by that point. I held a steady pace, extended the kick into nearly the full last mile and even moved up one more place. The women's leader had pulled away by 150 yards or so, I lost touch with her and couldn't make it up. Maybe if I would have actually heard Paul yell "Mustache it in" at me I could have done it. Even though I still don't know what that means. Final chip time of 1:24:15, and I was pretty pleased with that. Great day to run, my best experience at Moab. I'm afraid to go back because my expectations are so high. But a wonderful time, good to run with Cody/Ben/Paul and meet a few other bloggers, and that half time gives me real confidence a sub-1:20 is on the way this season. Oh, and we ate brugers afterward. Oh did we eat brugers.
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