The race went better than I expected. A PR for this race by over 4 minutes but not a 10K PR, and it did feel more like a tempo/training run at times rather than a race, but that was the plan and I stuck to it. The good news is that I was still able to run sub-39 with no taper and on a not-so-PR-ish type course. So perhaps this 3-4 month slump I've been in is finally starting to fade and the 70+ mile weeks will start to work some magic.
Kim did a super job and got a huge PR and broke the magic 50 minute threshold with a time of 49:57, good enough for 2nd in her AG. Good job KIM!!! I think maybe only in Spanish Fork can I run a sub-39 10K in a local race and still not place in the top 3 in AG. Top 2 in AG of course were my neighborhood nemeses Carl Hanson and Darin Cable. I didn't have a prayer against those guys as I think Carl ran 35 something (4th overall) and Darin ran around 37:30. Perhaps on my very, very best, tapered day I could stay close to Darin. The biggest downer of the race was that 3rd place in my AG was a guy from Payson I don't know who beat me by only 3 seconds!!! Dang if could have just kicked like Tyler S (who ran most of the last 1/2 of the race with me then had a massive kick at the end) I would have caught the guy! I just had no kick in me today. This was however the first time I've ever beaten lost sheep Pat Loss or Kent Wing. But man those 2 sure run great for being in their mid-50s. Tyler S (also a recent lost sheep?) also is running great and has great speed, I think once he gets a little mileage base and endurance he will be running marathons in the 2:45-2:55 range. Sub-3 this year should be pretty doable for him I think. I went out a little conservative and drafted of Tyler, Pat, Kent and Scott N for much of the first 1/2 the race. Thanks for the lift guys! At that point Tyler and I went ahead and just tried to hold the pace around 6:15-6:20 until the last 1/2 mile then we picked it up. I measured the race at 6.15 but others measured 6.2 so I think the length is pretty close to true.
Splits were 6:47 (all uphill comes during this mile), 6:08, 6:15, 6:21, 6:19, 6:03, :58 (.2) It was also good to see Paul T at the finish and see that he ran a great race right at 41 minutes (he was shooting for 42), beating Hal A by just a few seconds. Was planning on doing a cooldown run with Paul but lost track of him. Ended up finding Hal doing his cooldown run so I joined him for a mile or so.
After cooldown and picking up Kim's 2nd place medal we relaxed by watching the Fiesta Days parade. Jansen was looking pretty snazzy in the Icelandic outfit, albeit a bit warm. Looking forward to another couple days off from work today and tomorrow.
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