I met Larry and Jolene at their house then we picked up Wayne and headed to the Provo City Half Marathon and 5K. Larry and Wayne ran the half. Jolene and I ran the 5K. I kept wishing I could run the half, but with a marathon planned for next week I think I chose wisely to just race the 5K. After the 5K I recovered a bit then ran the 1/2 marathon course backwards until I found Larry and Wayne and got in another 7.8 miles. There was a delay in getting the timing chips out to everyone so the races started about 15 minutes or so late. There was a cold wind so I was reluctant to take my jacket off. I finally did shortly before the half marathon started. I then warmed up for a mile or so trying to get the blood flowing. I lined up right at the starting line near the left side. Since there was a left hand turn one block into the race I had good inside position. As I started and ran the first block I couldn't see anyone in front of me or in my peripheral vision until the turn. This was a little unnerving. Shortly after the turn a half a dozen younger runners pulled a head of me. One young woman pulled ahead early and went on to win the race and beat me by about two minutes I think. I hung within striking distance of the rest of the pack through the remainder of the race. The first mile was a downgrade with the wind to our backs. I chose not to look at my watch and just run. I ran the first mile in 6:05. I knew the next two miles would be slower. The second mile looped around the parking lot at the mall then headed back north, with the headwind and the upgrade. It also included climbing the overpass on University Ave over the railroad tracks. I ran the second mile in 6:50. We then continued north, up and into the wind. I thought I was maintaining my pace but ran mile 3 in 7:05. During this mile an old man passed me (old like me). I passed him back, but then he passed me again. I decided to save my next attempt for near the finish, but as we approached 100 East and the final loop around the block he deliberately left the course and stopped running. He didn't seem to be in distress. I can only guess he was a bandit. On the last block north, just before the left hand turn and sprint to the finish, I passed the three young men that had been in front of me for a while. After the turn, one of them (a tall one with long legs) sprinted past me again. I finished in 20:15. I was hoping for sub-20:00, but the upgrade and the headwind the second half of the course got the best of me. I was still very pleased. I won my age division, and the official results had me 4th overall. The age categories of those ahead of me were F 25-29, M Under 19, and M 20-24, and then there was me M 45-49. There was a M 50-54 not far behind me. They didn't have an official masters category, but it felt good to be the fastest old guy. I don't think I've ever done that before. As much as I enjoyed the 5K, I think I enjoyed running back to find Larry and Wayne more. I ran a couple of miles before I saw the leader, a Japanese (I think) runner. He was running well. Sasha turned the corner behind him just after he was out of sight. I told Sasha the leader was only about a block ahead of him. He never caught him, but I could tell Sasha was giving it all he had. It seemed like the gap between Sasha and the 3rd place runner was about a mile. I then started seeing more and more runners. It was kind of fun to greet and cheer them on. It was great to see how friendly everyone was. I saw MichelleL from the blog among the front runners. I was looking for Lybi, who I'd seen at Fazzoli's the night before, but I must have missed her. I came across Wayne first. He was running well. I ran with him for a while then headed back to look for Larry. I found him a little farther back and ran the rest of the way back in with him. I really enjoyed it. I thought he was running well (he was as talkative as ever), but he didn't like how slow he was running (8:57 avg overall) and voiced a commitment to start running more and running faster. Much to his surprise, Wayne won the silver medal for his age division in the half. Larry's wife Jolene and I each won our age divisions in the 5K and received gold medals. Larry joked about being the only one in the car who didn't win a medal, but after nearly 20 marathons and numerous other races, he well understands that it's not all about the medals.
It was a great morning! As I told Larry and Jolene as they dropped me off, the best part about running is sharing the experience with great running buddies. This race day was yet another awesome adventure!
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