I used this race as a long run for Ogden. I struggle doing long runs by myself and none of my running buddies are training for anything long right now so I've been on my own. It's also nice to not worry about access to water/gatorade/gu. I haven't felt great this week, so I was worried about this run. I decided that I would run slow and try to enjoy it and finish strong if I could. Things actually went really close to plan. My garmin recorded 18.76 miles for an average pace of 9:36 (It's hard to run the tangents on this course because it is not closed to traffic). I stopped several times to use the bathroom and walked through each aid station to drink. Sometime after mile 15, I realized that I felt pretty good. My breathing was under control and my legs felt ok, so I increased the effort and tried to pass as many people as possible. Only one person passed me in that stretch and I reeled her back in right before the finish line. My last 2 miles were sub-9. I don't think I've ever finished a long run strong like that so I am happy. The run overall was a bit faster than my usual long run pace (9:45-10:15), but I felt much better during and after than I usually do.
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