This makes two years in a row we found out after I committed to run
the Spectrum 10K as part of the St. George Runner Series that it
conflicted with one of our daughters dancing at the BYU Marriott
Center. With Karen's encouragement and my daughter's approval, I
decided to go ahead and run the race this year, but I've decided I will
skip this race next year if it conflicts again. My plans for
getting to and from St. George, and my sleeping arrangements while
there, were more fluid than I normally like, but it all turned out
well. I ended up riding down with Larry, Jolene, and their grandson
Becket. I was planning to sleep at Jolene's parents' home, but we found
out Wayne's wife was ill and Wayne was coming down alone. He was
staying at a friend's condo and there was an extra room so I stayed
with him. It was a really nice condo. I felt like I was staying at a 5
star hotel. Since both Larry and Wayne were originally planning to stay
past Saturday, Kerry and his family had agreed to give me a ride back
home. With Wayne's wife being ill and not coming down, he decided to
head back Saturday so I rode with him so he wouldn't be alone and to
allow Kerry's family to have a little more space. It's great having
such generous and kind running buddies (and their families). Like most
things in life, who you're with has a large impact on how much you
enjoy what you are doing. We had picked up our numbers the night before, but Wayne and I still got up and got to the start early
enough to have plenty of time to warm up and hit the portapotties. The
last bus in the first wave left just as Larry and company arrived. The
second wave seemed slow getting back. We ended up being nearly the last
people getting on the last bus. It's good I had warmed up well
and got my bathroom stops in. Just after we got off the bus they
announced two minutes to the start of the race, and two minutes later
we were racing down Snow Canyon. I had been looking forward to
this race for weeks. I've been increasing my mileage the past month or
so, but I've been reluctant to push the pace because of the Achilles
tendonitis I've been trying to get healed up all winter. It's been
feeling pretty good and I hadn't wanted to push too soon and have it
flare up again. But today I had decided to put it to the test. I was
actually looking forward to the discomfort and challenge of race pacerunning and seeing just where my fitness is. Given my lackluster training this winter until the last month or so, I knew the sub-40 time of last year was beyond my reach. My goals for today were 1) sub-42, 2) sub-7:00 pace, or 3) sub-45. I managed to average a 6:49/mi pace, but missed the sub-42, finishing in 42:22. Despite the fact that I finished 5th in my AD this year vs. 2nd last year, I feel really good about the results. My splits were: 6:06, 7:00, 6;30, 7:04, 7:22, 7:20, 6:24/mi for the last 0.2.
The weather was perfect, the scenery beautiful, and I really enjoyed the run. The first half of the run down the canyon I decided to let the brakes off but not push too hard. I averaged about 6:32/mi for the first 5K (20:15-ish) which I think was about right. I felt like I took advantage of the downhill while still retaining enough energy to not die on the uphill sections during the second half of the race. Once I set my effort level fairly early in the race I think I held it pretty steady the whole race, evidenced by only passing a few runners and having only a few pass me. There were a few that passed me multiple times, but I think my steady pace outlasted most if not all of them. One of the runners that passed me once and who I never passed back was Hal Amos. He passed about 3.5 miles into the race. I could see him the rest of the race, and closed the gap a couple of times, but he finished about 30 seconds ahead of me. Larry's niece Jesse finished only 15 seconds behind me. Immediately after finishing I headed back on the route. Wayne was a few minutes behind, with Larry a little farther back, with Jolene right on his heels. I kept going until I met up with Kerry and Laureen and their daughter Amelia (12). I finished well ahead of Kerry, but I would have traded him in a heart beat to be able to be running with my wife and one of my children. What a great family activity. Amelia has nice running form and showed some real toughness in this race. During the awards I asked if she might do it again and she smiled and nodded her head. It seemed to me that she was experiencing that satisfaction that comes from pushing your limits and enduring well.
I enjoyed everything about going to St. George for this race...the weather, my running buddies, the results...except that Karen wasn't there and I missed my daughter's performance. She earned a gold medal in the elementary school ballroom dance team match and survived 3 or 4 elimination rounds to make it to the quarter finals in the Newcomer Swing competition. As I said, next year I will be more careful in my calendaring. Maybe I'll drop the Spectrum 10K (even though I like it a lot) and try the Snow Canyon or Hurricane half marathon instead.
| 