Wow, this run was definitely a good one. Good sarcastically for the uphill PLUS horrible winds, and good honestly for the downhill paces I was able to keep afterward. A very good confidence builder for me. Met Becca, Annette, Cal and Ryan at the Riverton Hospital, then began our trek up...up...up. It was SO nice to hit some of those hills at the beginning of a run instead of at the end like I normally have to do! Then, we finished up Yellow Fork Canyon. Once we hit the cove it was like a hurricane pushing you back, even the downhills felt like effort. I was SO glad to have that over and done with at 8.5 miles! Turned and came down and my goal was to hit some MP miles on the downhill to see how it felt to carry that pace after a long hard push on the legs. It didn't feel too bad, but by the end I was done. Looking at my splits I'm very happy with the consistent effort I held over the 8.5 back down. That pace isn't necessarily EASY for me, but it's not hard. Which after topping a nearly 50 mile week is a good sign that I can hold it in a full, right? (yes...I'm asking for encouragement here). Feeling good and not too sore - after an ice bath :) I'm really looking forward to the next two weeks of tapering along with the full, only 14 more days!! YIPEE!! Thanks all for joining me in my crazy run this morning, and a special thanks to Cal for the water stops. Garmin has it at just over 1000 ft of elevation gain, which Cal figured was about 2.5% average grade over the 8.5 miles (how he does that while running, I have NO idea!!). A great final effort to top off an amazing whirlwind training after baby! Sweet thing is 3 months on the 22nd, oh how time flies. AP: 8:52 uphill splits: 9:31, 8:56, 9:05, 9:16, 9:02, 9:34, 10:02, 10:16 - holy cow. Seriously that canyon with the wind took it out of me!! Other than those last two I feel really good about those uphill splits, and honestly those last two I do feel good about, because I know the effort that was put into those 10mm!! Downhill splits: 9:09 (1/2 of this was up), 8:06, 8:05, 8:02, 8:18, 8:08, 8:25, 8:15, 8:31 - I blame the higher 8:31 on the last mile from having to go up and over Bangerter on the bridge, it messes with the Garmin on those tight turns. So, my AP for the 8 full downhill was 8:13....right on target.
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