I had no idea what to expect from this race. It was a nice cool morning for Havasu, 52 degrees with a fairly stiff wind out of the south. I just ran by feel. Looking back at my mile splits, I was a bit fast on the first mile, 6:40, but made up for that with a slow second mile, 7:10. Then I found a nice groove and was running everything in the mid 6:50s until I hit 10 miles. The last 4+ mile were pretty much straight into the wind and I was running with a small group which was helping. I took a gu at the 10 mile aid station and then went to get a cup of water. The volunteer pulled his hand back right as I went to grab the water and I missed. after passing the station by a good 10 yards I decided I better go back and get some water since I'd just taken some gu. By the time I got headed in the right direction again, I was all alone with no one around me. I was ticked off and running into the wind. I kind of quit for the next 2 miles and ran 7:54, 7:46. I must have gotten over it by the last mile though, cause I finished strong with my fastest mile of the race, 6:38. My final time was 1:32:08 (AP 7:02) which I was pleased with since I haven't been running much due to my calf injury. The best news is that my calf is feeling pretty good here a couple days later. It will be interesting to see if I'm able to get my mileage up enough to run a good UVM in 8 weeks.
| 