Canyonlands Half Marathon. This was my 6th stab at this race. My previous results were 1:16:59 ('03), 1:17:35 ('04), 1:16:21 ('05), 1:18:14 ('06), and DNS ('08). Interestingly, these are my 5 worst-ever half marathon results. So my history with this race is a little cursed. I wanted to bust out a big one this year, as I was actually healthy and in shape (2 of the 3 things that kept me from running well the other years). However, this year ended up being cursed again, largely due to weather (the 3rd thing that tends to blow up this race). But at least I am in shape enough to get a 4-minute course best and 4-position placing best, so I need to count my blessings. And I can honestly say it was my best Canyonlands Half in 6 attempts! I'll try to keep this short, as I have better things to do than waste time on the computer (ie - my family loves me, and I love them). Temps for this race were good, upper 50s, low 60s and overcast. However, we were pummeled by a headwind for most of the race. At times in the canyon it would swirl or temporarily go away, but it was present for most of the canyon, and of course the last two miles in town were sheer hell. It was very very similar to 2006. I had wanted to try to run a PR, but threw that out when I saw (and felt) the wind. I think that was my mistake. I should have just shrugged my shoulders and put the pedal to the medal anyway. Yeah, it wouldn't have turned out great, but at least I would have been in a racing mindset. The problem was that I just tucked in for a few miles (about a pack of 6 of us), and dinked around with 5:30-5:40 for most of the first half. It was easy and kind of fun, but was feeling more like a workout than anything. It was running strategic without a strategy.
Eventually everyone dropped off the pack except for myself, Josh Stephen, and Bryant Jensen. We then dropped Josh...temporarily...as he always seemed to find his way back. But the pace was pretty easy and we were keeping conversation. Finally dropped Josh for good around Mile 9 or so.
During the 10th mile is the only real hill of the course. Bryant and I went up it, and it didn't feel too bad, the pace was still easy. But then Bryant pushed the downhill and dropped me a little. I wasn't in the mood to run real hard (kind of the problem for the race), and figured I'd catch him on the flat. The problem was that he kept pushing, the wind kept blowing, and I couldn't shift gears into race mode. Instead, after 10 miles was feeling pretty easy, my legs got really heavy feeling, and I couldn't get out of my pace. And suddenly everything went from feeling easy to feeling hard. I held a somewhat close 20m gap to him for over a mile, but on the US-191 section during Mile 12, he increased the gap to about 100m. I ended up finishing 22s back from Bryant, with a 1:12:10. I was right in thinking before the race that it would be tactical, and would require a slow start, but where I erred was in not having any actual tactics to play. I realized that when I got to Mile 7 or so, when it was just down to Bryant and I. We had dropped everyone else just by continuing a set pace, no moves needed. But I knew that Bryant was too good of a runner to beat with a bunch of 5:30s into the wind; it would require some sort of decisive move. And I hadn't really considered or visualized what move to make, and was feeling to lazy and lethargic to actually make one on the fly. So it was Bryant who made the move, and kudos to him since he actually showed up to race and did what was needed to win. I give credit where credit is due. Definitely not my best race, either physically (legs of lead at the end) or emotionally (too loose, no edge). Oh well. I try to find the good in everything. Again, the conditions were very similar in 2006, when I ran 1:18:14 and finished something like 11th. Today, on the same course and same weather, I ran 1:12:10 and was runner-up. It was a Canyonlands-best for me, and raises the benchmark a little bit. I'll just have to come back another year! Mile splits were 5:34, 5:35, 5:32, 5:39, 5:20, 11:07 (2-mile), 5:26, 5:17, 5:22, 5:24, 5:44, 5:33, 0:32.
Our whole family had a lot of fun in Moab. Got to hike around, enjoy warmer weather, and eat too much food. It's always a fun trip out here, and a nice mini-vacation.
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