A.M. Salt Lake Half Marathon, 1:10:53 (likely short course, not certified, 12.96 on my and Ted's Garmins), 1st place. Warmed up 2.53 with Ted, Mike Kirk joined us for a bit, really slow, slower than 8:00 average. Saw Neal Gassmann, invited him to participate in our taking leads every quarter plan. Took the first quarter, then called out for Neal to take the second, but he was too far behind, so Mike took it. Then Darrell (or maybe it was Brad, I still get them confused, they look so much alike), who was running the relay, volunteered to take the third. Then I took the fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on up to 52nd. Course mile markers were somewhat believable, always ahead of the GPS somewhat randomly, but not painted on the road - bad sign, and positioned randomly enough to where based on effort and leg turnover, I was more likely to believe the GPS than the course mile markers. That is bad, I do not put a lot of faith in the GPS. So I'll give my splits by the GPS. The course starts at the Little Dell Bridge (around 5500 feet) near the East Canyon exit on I-80, goes towards the East/Emigration Canyon junction, a little bit past it, then 180 turn, back to the junction, then up the Little Mountain (about 6300 feet), then down the Emigration Canyon, past the Hogle Zoo and finishes slightly uphill (about 1%grade) near University Marriott (around 5000 feet). So you get a net elevation drop of about 500 feet, but you climb 800 feet in 4 miles first.
First mile was 6:06, followed by 6:33 (steepest uphill), then 6:08 (flatter), 6:14 (up Little Mountain). After that the slowest complete mile was 5:15, the fastest was 4:54, and the rest were spread fairly even in between. No quarters slower than 1:20 until the final uphill, where I saw a 1:26 quarter. Was not surprised to have finished a bit earlier than 13.11, was actually expecting it. I've seen the times on that course from other runners in the past, did the math as to what kind of shape they were in, then did the math on what time I was going to finish 13.11 in, evaluated the profile of the course, evaluated the gap on the competition in this race (I had a good idea after the turnaround), and figured that if the course were not short we were running a different course then. Neal Gassmann finished second with 1:12:44. Being a master he was tired from the 100 mile week and the speed workout on Tuesday. Mike Kirk was third with 1:13:47. Ted did a training run in 1:19. It felt good to run with police escort and nobody else most of the race and through the finish line. This has great psychological benefits. It's been a while since I've done this, I think last time was Top of Utah 2003. P.M. Ran 0.5 with Julia in 5:10, then 1.5 with Benjamin and Jenny. Jenny and I finished together in 13:58, while Benjamin picked it up a bit on the last quarter and ran 13:50. Pushed Jacob and Joseph in the stroller. Then ran to meet the Fast Running Mommy while pushing the stroller with Jacob and Joseph, 2.05 in 14:51. Ran back with Sarah, we stopped at the swing for a bit, rode it, let Joseph ride it, finished with a warm kiss, and continued. I ended up with 36:51 for 4.1. New life time mileage record this week - 121.
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