BRYCE CANYON HALF MARATHON
So, I didn't decide until Thursday night that I was going to race this. I knew I wanted to race this weekend, I just wasn't quite sure where. I thought I'd do Bryce if I could get someone to head down with me, but I didn't have any takers until Thursday Bret said he'd come with me. This was Bret's first half marathon as a post-collegiate runner and he did well (3rd Place 1:11:50).
So Bret and I headed down Friday afternoon, checked into an old, run-down motel in Panguitch and then went to packet pickup.
At the starting line I realized I would likely win the race. I didn't really see anyone I knew, except for Jason Nance, who ran for Weber the last few years, but has chosen to forego his senior year. Sure enough after a half mile it thinned out quickly. I promised myself I would take the first two miles very, very conservatively. The race starts at 7600 feet and the first two miles are flat. I had no intention of going out too quickly at 7600 feet and paying for it the rest of the race. So, two miles in I was about 10 seconds back from Jason, but right where I wanted to be. Mile 1 5:26 Mile 2 5:28
After two miles the course drops substantially. This is a very aided course, albeit at high elevation. Mile three is easily the quickest and steepest. Right when the downhill started I quickened my pace as planned and flew down mile three. I passed Jason very quickly and just went right on by. Mile 3 4:34
Miles 4-7 are all very decent downhill, although not as steep as mile three. I am not a very good downhill runner, due to my form (arched back). So, I just tried to focus here on getting my shoulders forward and not working against gravity. Mile 4 4:45 Mile 5 4:46 Mile 6 4:48 Mile 7 4:57
Here the race flattens out a bit and even has a minor uphill (how dare they!). I tried to keep the effort up on this stretch. I knew if I could manage decent splits for these next two miles, I'd get some good downhill again after these. Mile 8 5:06 Mile 9 5:07
I knew at this point I had the race in the bag and it was now only a matter of how fast could I finish. The next two miles are still good downhill and I kept the rhythm going. Mile 10 5:03 Mile 11 5:05.
Two miles to go and my legs were aching some from the pounding downhill. Luckily for my legs the course flattens out again to the finish. I kept a good effort here, but let up a bit mentally, which cost me a 1:05:xx. My only regret is not pushing these miles a bit more. But when you have the race in the bag sometimes it's easy to let up a tad. Mile 12 5:13 Mile 13 5:13 and 5:04 for last tenth. Final time of 1:06:15.
I am pretty happy with this effort. It's a PR for me, although it's quite aided. The race starts at 7600 feet and finishes at 5800 feet. So it has a lot of drop to help your pace. But I was happy I still managed pretty decent splits on the flat sections at 6,000+ feet.
I don't think this is my best effort of the year, even though it's my fastest. I still think St. George, Strider's, and SLC halves were more impressive. But this is way better than I've been running since April, so I will certainly take it. I'm also glad I didn't get sucked into a faster pace those first two miles and was able to stick to my race plan (high 5:20s is fast enough for flat miles at 7600 feet).
I was happy for Bret to take third. He trains with us a lot but rarely races, so it was good to get him out in a race.
My legs are going to be sore, I'm certain. So, I may have to take a few easy days at the start of next week. But, after that it'll be back to the grind. I've started my Aerobic Builders again and I've gotten my weight down to 151-ish, so I'm getting back on track and hope I can surpass my spring fitness in a few more weeks.
Oh two more notes. This is the most mileage I've ever had in a week I've raced a half marathon. Also, today I surpassed my total miles last year of 5:30 or faster pace. So, that shows that my quality of training has been much, much better this year.
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