First
off I want to give God the glory. I ran this race for God today because
of the miracle he did for me. I've been able to comeback from this injury
and run a good smart race with new bionic hardware in my leg. Thank you
Lord!
I
felt wonderful for the Pocatello Half Marathon and ran better than I
expected. Finishing at 1:34:59 when I was shooting just for a 1:40.
That's what my expectations were for the rehab on the titanium leg.
Quite
Note on friends results:
Jeff
did excellent after running a marathon last week what potential he will have
for STG marathon.
Bill
Mandler did awesome fighting through his soreness and coming out with a great
time.
First off I got up at 5:30am because the race started at 8am. I ate 1/2 cup of oatmeal with some coffee and drink a glass of water. Then went a couple times to the bathroom to get the pipes clean. My wife was taking me to the bus' so she got up and we did our morning spiritual devotion together and prayed.
My
strategy was to have not strategy for this race. I was running for
the Lord and knew I wanted to take it easy. To just be careful the first
few miles just to see how I felt then decide what to do from there. To be
completely honest with you... this was so easy I could have kept going and
believe I could have finished under a 1:30. I'm so humbled by that.
I can't think of one mile the whole race I struggled not even up Century
Hill near the Gap area around mile 8. I was passing Half Marathon runners
right-and-left who barreled out from the start.
Okay
one strategy I thought of before the race really was what happened. If I
felt good I wanted to try and run the last 3 miles at around a six something
minute pace. Didn't matter what exact pace just in the 6 minute range.
Well that's exactly what happened expect it was the last four miles I did
that.
While
I ran the course runners and spectators recognized me and cheered me on.
I even slowed down to shake hands. I gave my son high-fives three
times during the course as my wife drove to three different points during the
race along with my wonderful friend Ken Cush.
I
believe just running so easy in the beginning allowed me to really pick it up.
At mile 9 I could have ran those last four miles faster if I knew what
my ability was. I really was going into this race not knowing what I
could do . My longest run up to that point was one 10 mile run.
Being cautious and taking it easy was a very smart approach, and I'm glad
I didn't try to do anything else.
One
thing that was interesting I never warmed up the whole race I was cold the
whole time. I only drank at two aid stations and only sipped on a little
bit of GU. Only about 1/4 of the package.
Splits:
7:44
- Just taking it easy on a slight downhill. Felt cold at the
start.
7:51
- Same as the course goes flat and still cold.
7:30
- Enter into the town of Inkom I see my wife and my buddy Ken Cush who
came up just to watch me. What a great guy. (still cold and
probably close to 60 degrees).
7:41
- First little hill... I ran passed my dentist who's a runner.
He was doing the full marathon so I slowed down a bit and encouraged him.
(The full marathon starts at 6:15 and the cours is the same last half as the
half marathon which starts at 8:00am)
7:17
- Feeling great and left my dentist friend and decided to pick it up.
7:16
- Same... feeling really good and no struggles. Still feeling
somewhat cold.
7:14
- Really feeling in control and started passing Marathoner's and
Half Marathoner's
7:39
- Century Hill which goes up for a half mile to a flat straightway the
rest of the course. This was so easy, and I passed a lot of runners.
I was feeling like the old Kory again. I remember thanking the Lord
and praying at this point for what he has done in my life.
7:16
- Feeling good with the crowd cheering me on and me thanking them.
6:57
- Took a sip of GU and through the rest of it away. I didn't need
it. Started to think it's time to turn it on a bit in the legs.
6:46
- Passed my daughter at the Poky High School aid station that she
was volunteering for at mile 23 of the course. I was really feeling good
at this point and was motivated to keep it going. This really is my
favorite part of the course when I ran the full marathon in the years passed.
6:38
- More of the same trying to lower the pace even more and the titanium
leg seemed to feel fine. I felt my mechanics and stride were all good
going faster. That's something I can build upon now.
