What a beautiful day for a race! This is not the easiest course but a good one to test you. I went out this morning with the hopes of being around 1:40. I went out with a good fast pace and then backed off a bit as I got into Hell's Canyon.The hills come at you after 6+ miles and they haunt you until around 2 or so miles to go. I felt really good today on those last couple of miles and was able to keep a good solid pace, fighting off the negative thoughts and tried to catch a few people in those miles....I was able to catch several and that felt great. My push to the finish for the last couple of blocks was at 5:15 pace, so I still had something left in me. SPLITS: 6:37/ 6:50/ 7:39 taking in fluids at the first aid station/ 7:14/ 7:47/ 7:42/ 8:17 heading up Damn Road/ 7:00/ 8:06 getting tired/ 9:06 fighting to get over Majestic and Noble drives....lost of walking here/ 7:40/ 7:20 trying to bring the pace down and catch some runners/ 7:19 holding on for dear life...lol 7:35 average pace. For a course that has several up hill portions I felt like I accomplished what I needed to, could I have run faster, of course, but I also wasn't trying to break any records. I wanted a solid effort and i feel I got that- I will wait until American Fork Half to go for the big PR!
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