Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Mt Sneffels Half Marathon

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Location:

Fort Collins,CO,

Member Since:

May 15, 2003

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided PR's:
5K: 14:48 (Track - 2001)
10K: 30:45 (Track - 2001)
10K: 31:32 (Bolder Boulder - 2013)
Half Marathon: 1:06:09 (Duluth - 2013)
Marathon: 2:17:54 (Grandma's) - 2014)
Marathon: 2:19:47 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2013)
Marathon: 2:19:49 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2010)

Aided PR's:
10K: 29:38 (Des News - 2011)
Half Marathon: 1:05:30 (TOU Half - 2011)
Marathon: 2:18:09 (St George - 2007)
Marathon: 2:17:35 (Boston - 2011)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.

Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.

Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.

Personal:

1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00
Saucony Trail Shoe Lifetime Miles:						247.50
Hoka Clifton Lifetime Miles:						491.50
Saucony Type A6 Lifetime Miles:						186.50
Saucony Zealot Lifetime Miles:						478.75
Saucony Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles:						433.50
Saucony Kinvara 6-2 Lifetime Miles:						358.75
Brooks Pure Connect Blue Lifetime Miles:						337.25
New Balance Trainers Lifetime Miles:						314.50
New Balance 1400 Racers Lifetime Miles:						65.00
Brook Pureflow Lifetime Miles:						99.50

Sat, Aug 11, 2012

Race: Mt Sneffels Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:10:50, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Crosstraining miles	Total Miles
3.90	0.00	13.10	0.00	0.00	17.00

Ran 1:10:50 at the Mt Sneffels half, which also served as the CO USATF championships. Good field, and I fell a little short, placing one spot out of the money. In a nutshell, I went out too hard the first 4 miles, hung on to 4th place until mile 8, stayed in contact until Mile 11, but then was crushed by the last hill to finish about 25s back from 4th. Bummer. I think I underestimated both the toughness of the course, and also the effect of racing at 7500' altitude. The legs were just bricks the whole way. Beautiful course though, gorgeous area of Colorado.

Mile splits were

11:07 (2-mile split. Uphill, then downhill, then uphill, then downhill. Really tough start. Running with the leaders)
5:09 (drop to 4th)
5:04
5:19
5:13
5:23
5:23 (get passed into 5th place at Mile 8 marker)
5:12
5:18
5:52 (last big uphill)
5:35
5:31
40s

www.coloradorunnermag.com for race details and pics.

Saucony Type A Miles: 15.00	Brooks Launch (4) Miles: 2.00

Comments

From JamesH on Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 22:06:03 from 208.117.127.7

Great race as always. Congrats!

From Jake K on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 08:16:20 from 155.100.226.54

Couple quick thoughts after looking at that article...

That's former U of A superstar Robert Cheseret that won the race? He's Bernard Lagat's brother.

Cool race bibs.

I hope you beat the guy who the giant beard!

Who does money 4 deep? It should be 3 or 5!

From Paul on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 08:40:10 from 207.224.39.118

Jake - yeah, 4-deep is a little odd. I think it was originally 3-deep, but usatf finagled some more money.

The guy with the beard is Peter Maksimow, a pretty good trail runner. I did beat him, but he can grow a better beard, so we are even.

No, I don't feel too bad about getting beat by Robert Cheseret, who has a 5K/10K PR of 13:13 and 28:20. Actually, I don't feel too bad about getting beat by any of these people. Top 3 were way out of my league, and the guy just ahead of me in 4th has half marathon and marathon PRs almost identical to mine, so maybe I'm in better shape than I thought. The top guys were about 4 minutes slower (or more) than their half marathon PRs, so I guess this goes to show that that not all downhill courses are cheater courses.

From Jake K on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 08:42:15 from 155.100.226.54

I think sub 1:11 is a pretty good effort on that course... that elevation is tough!

There is never any shame in getting beat by Robert Cheseret or any other members of Lagat's family! :-)

From Hamdog Alum on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 14:04:40 from 71.90.5.18

Nice race on your 1st attempt at the course.

From Jon on Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 19:52:34 from 98.84.73.233

Yeah, even your beard in all it's glory (back in the day) couldn't compare to that guy's beard. Maybe growing it again will move you up a few spots. Either that, or shave/buzz your hair like 4 of the guys in the top photos. After all, finishing position has nothing to do with running and training, but everything to do with hair.

From Adam RW on Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:12:12 from 128.110.236.168

Nice race against stiff competition.

From Jason D on Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 22:29:30 from 74.75.190.42

Strong race, Paul. I think your retirement (I think that was your term) mileage is still allowing you to run strong. 7500' is a good deal higher than the Indiana elevation you group up running at. Say, multiply it by 10!

From Superfly on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 13:26:34 from 74.211.21.81

Oy! 7500' sounds horrible. I don't like mowing my grandmas lawn at 7000' but running a 1:10 half sounds like a nightmare. Good job man. That's really really good at that elevation with hills too.

From Paul on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 13:32:50 from 207.224.39.118

I guess I didn't mention in the report that the course had a 700' net drop. But it didn't feel like it. Lot of uphill the first two miles, as the route went up into downtown Ouray and back, and the up and back (again). Kind of like running up and down old Main St in Park City. Then from Mile 3 to the end, it was downhill, but not as much as I was hoping for. I guess similar to how the first half of Utah Valley Marathon is downhill, but it doesn't always feel like it.

From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 14:15:23 from 69.28.149.29

Congratulations on a solid time!

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