It was a short but sweet trip to St. George to run in the Spectrum 10K. I rode down and back with Wayne and we stayed with Larry and Jolene at her parents' house. They were excellent hosts and made us feel very welcome. The weather was perfect...a little chilly at the start and warm but not hot at the end. I started with Wayne and Nathan, and near Gene, a 58 year old moustached runner from St. George I always seem to bump into in St. George races. We didn't stay together long. Nathan and I went out fast, with Wayne and Gene a little behind. I ran the first downhill mile in 5:38, with Nathan about 10 seconds ahead of me. During mile 2 he pulled ahead and I didn't see him again. He went on to finish in 38:06 (6:08/mi), finishing 19th overall and 3rd in his division. My heel was just a little sore before the race, and shortly into the race I quit thinking about it at all. I did notice some unexpected tightness in my quads during the fast first downhill mile, but it too went away and wasn't a problem. Mile two was 6:52, significantly slower than mile one. I didn't feel like I'd overrun mile one. This was a flatter mile with some rolling washes and I didn't want too push too hard. I was passed by a few runners, but not many. Mile three was 6:43. There was more downhill than mile two. I was trying to keep the pace up while keeping in mind to save just a little for the tough uphills yet to come. At the midpoint I had averaged 6:24/mi. Some quick math told me I would have to average 7:36/mi for the second half to meet my goal of averaging 7:00/mi. Knowing how tough the second half is, I knew it would be a challenge. Gene passed me around the mile three marker. I saw him gradually pull away during the next couple of miles and he went on to finish in 41:39 and win the 55-59 age division.
Mile four, in 7:12, had some downhill but also included a little uphill into the first neighborhood loop. I was mentally prepared for the uphill to be hard, and it was. Miles five and six, in 7:41 and 7:49, were even harder. I watched the overall average pace climb from 6:24/mi at the midpoint to 6:59/mi just before the last downhill with about 1/2 mile to go. I was thrilled to see it drop to 6:58 on the downhill. I finished officially in 42:55 (6:55/mi), 42:57 (6:57/mi) on my Garmin, 55 of 734 overall, and 7 of 27 in my age division. I feel very good about the effort and the results. Wayne also had a good run. He met his goal of breaking 45:00, finishing in 44:10 (7:07/mi), also 7th in his division. Larry also ran well, finishing in 53:07 (8:33/mi), but Jolene ran even better finishing in 51:43 (8:20/mi). Larry attributes it to him running the race heavier than he ever has, Jolene running it lighter then ever before. I think he may have something there. Lyle also did well, finishing in 54:25 (8:46/mi).
It was a every enjoyable trip all around. I very much enjoyed it.
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