Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

AM - ran the dog for a mile.

PM - ran the Canal Trail to First Dam (7.25 miles). Averaged  7:27/mile.

Did a workout with Jon and Cody. Warmed up for about 2.5 miles, then 8 miles of tempo, capped off by 1.5 miles of cooldown. We did the Millville Hill Loop backwards (although Cody considers it forward). I think I still like my way better, because it feels more brutal, but this variation certainly had its charm.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	6:58	All uphill. Hardest part of the tempo
2	6:12	Mixed uphill and downhill
3	5:56	Rolling, then downhill
4	5:30	All downhill
5	5:38	1/4 down, 3/4 uphill. This is the hill of the TOU Half, so I was stoked to hit this split
6	5:54	Up, flat, then slight down; feeling spent after the last mile
7	5:50	Mostly downhill. Hit a much-needed water stop
8	5:53	Flat, rolling

I was surprised to hit some of these splits, but for the most part it felt great, especially given that we were running in the evening heat. Mile 5 definitely wiped me out, but the water stop rejuvenated me enough to finish the workout. And fortunately we got some cloud cover, which helped. I felt pretty beat during the cooldown, but I guess I should since the last time I did a workout like this, it was 2007 and I was running 90-100 mpw.

But the work is done for the week, so now it's just a matter of resting up for the TOU Half. 6:36/mile average pace for the run. 

AM - ran the dog around the block

PM - started down the River Trail, but had to turn back early on because of construction. On the way back, I bumped into Jon (small pond here in Logan...), and we ended up running on the Bonneville Trail to Green Canyon. It was a bit longer, harder, and hotter than I originally intended, but so be it. Legs pretty tired from yesterday, but not sore or anything. My foot felt pretty good. 8:02/mile average pace.

Planned day off today. My legs are tired from the last two days, so I will enjoy resting today, and an easy few miles tomorrow morning.

Ran the dog around the block, then ran the Planet Walk, all real easy. Nice morning.

Raced the TOU Half today. I've been looking forward to this for a while, and was excited to run hard and compete against myself and others. Initial goals were to run in the 1:12 range. I thought sub-1:12 was possible, if everything fired. My other goals were to beat Walter, Jon, and perhaps Sasha (if he had an off day), and I was also hoping for an outside chance of Top 3. In some ways it would be an uphill battle on a downhill course. My running mileage since May 1 has been 6, 1, 4, 0, 0, 11, 18, 13, 22, 31, 35, 45, 50, 50. Although I've been feeling good, I was a bit concerned about my endurance. I expected to run strong and fast for about 10 miles, and then have the wheels fall off the last few.

I slept okay the night before (couldn't fall asleep for awhile). Warmed up for a couple miles and got the bare minimum of required pit stops (only a 2-Star race today). Fortunately, my bowels cooperated during the race, so no issues. Saw two moose on the warmup and decided that was a good omen. How many half marathons out there can you see a moose along the course?

They started the race 15 minutes late, due to crowds and getting buses through those crowds. The race has tripled in size over the last couple years, so it is experiencing some growing pains. Other than that, though, it is very well managed, and I recommend it to anyone.

I wore my sports watch rather than the Garmin today, as I trust the mile markers on this course.

Mile	Split	Overall	Comment......................................................
1	5:34	5:34	Feel really sluggish, and discouraged by the split. 5:34 should not feel this hard going downhill during the first mile. Hoping things magically get easier. I'm right with Jon and Walter, in 6th/7th place.
2	5:28	11:02	5:28 should not feel this hard this early into a downhill race. Really laboring and breathing hard. Still with Jon and Walter
3	5:23	16:26	Still laboring hard, but a little happier with the split. Jon starts running faster, and I can't / won't match it. This is plenty fast. Walter still on my heels. Hoping for a big tailwind later on to bail me out, otherwise it could get ugly.
4	5:27	21:53	Things magically get better once I let Jon go. Hit a nice split, while breathing gets easier. Jon about 5 seconds ahead, and Walter right behind me.
5	5:21	27:15	Starting to feel more relaxed and sure of myself. Get a little tailwind starting here, but wind was swirling for most of the canyon, including some headwind. Not even close to the favorable wind we got last year.
6	5:22	32:37	Still in the canyon, and still rolling. It sounds like I dropped Walter, but Jon still about 10s ahead. Catchable, but not if he keeps running sub-5:20 splits. I'm really happy with the pace I'm running right now and hoping to maintain until the uphill.
7	5:22	37:59	Last mile in the canyon. Nice downhill and nice tailwind. Thinking how I'm about halfway, and just need to repeat what I just did one more time. uggh. Jon still running incredibly strong. Sasha and Josh about 1 minute up. They look to be running very strong as well. Teren and Seth are way the heck out there.
8	5:29	43:29	Hollow Road, still a gentle downhill and a favorable wind.
9	5:31	49:00	Another solid split on Hollow Rd. Jon seems to have looked the same distance away for quite some time.
10	5:31	54:32	Still feeling strong and happy with the pace. The hard part is coming up.
11	5:39	1:00:11	On Hwy 165. Pretty much flat, then uphill the second half. Others complained of a headwind, but I didn't notice. Tried increasing my turnover to keep the pace. Happy with the split, given the difficult stretch.
12	5:59	1:06:11	This mile is all uphill, but I knew there was nice downhill after. Stopped and walked for gatorade for a few seconds at an aid station, hoping refueling would help for the longer haul. Not the mile I was looking for, and Jon pulled away a bit, pretty much checkmating me. No one behind me though.
13	5:29	1:11:40	I knew with a couple miles to go that sub-1:12 would be possible. With 1.1 mile to go, I figured if I could burn a 5-minute mile or close to it, I would have it. I did this last year, and also have done it in training runs on this road. However, this year is not last year. Not enough pop in my stride, but all in all I was happy to get back under 5:30 to finish out the race.
13.1	0:32	1:12:12	Low 1:12. I can dig it.

After I finished, I grabbed a drink and an orange, and then watched Cody nab his much sought-after PR. Then we all cooled down for 2 miles.

So I consider this to be a very good race, given the winter, spring, and summer I've had. Looking at the big picture, my PR two years ago was 1:12:55, and I beat that. I think this was actually the 4th fastest half I've ran, and all of the faster ones were last year. Although I wanted to beat Jon, he just flat out ran a great race, so I'm pretty happy for him (although I'm sick of looking at his green-shorted rear end). Definitely a breakthrough for him. I thought I ran a really solid race, and did well with pacing. I expected myself to feel better early on, and terrible at the end, and for some reason it was the opposite; I couldn't get going at the beginning, but ran solid splits throughout the race. Hopefully a good sign for things to come.

My next races will be the Top of Utah 5K in September, probably The Moab Other Half in October, and our local First Dam Run 10K in November. One race a month is enough to keep it fun and interested. I'll probably keep building mileage, but not looking to do anything like last year. I'm still not as healthy as I'd like to be (foot and neck are still sore), plus I just don't have the time or desire to run twice a day. But just doing what I'm doing now over extended time will give me plenty of ROI.