Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Easy run did 6.20 miles.  Did an easy run after yesterday's tempo run to get ready for the Half Marathon. Nothing special just taking it easy and enjoying the morning.

Easy run to get the legs greased up for tomorrow's Half Marathon.  4.31 miles in 32 minutes

Great race.   I felt this was a break-through for my recovery and just in general that maybe after my accident of being hit two years ago the recovery process of how hard I've worked to come back with God's Grace is here.  We don't give God the glory enough when the little steps add up to something tremendous in our lives.

Morning:
Race started at 10:13am so I slept in till after 8am I didn't here my alarm.  I needed the sleep though with work just being so busy my sleep for the last few weeks has been less than 5 hours a night.  My daughter was also running the Half Marathon (she finished at 1:36) and got up as well and we ate breakfast.  I had half a bowl of oatmeal and a granola bar.

Race.
My daughter and I hopped on a bus and headed up to the course.  It was about 30 degrees but was going to get in the 50's so I wore a nike green singlet and shorts and my CEP2 compression socks.  I did a little warm-up and a couple 100 meter strides.

Ok gun off... at the time I didn't realize it but I was running with Taylor Farnsworth who runs for BYU.  He was doing this for training and wasn't signed up for it.

5:33 -  (Steep Downhill)   Taylor helped me start out faster on this downhill mile which I probably would not have.
5:49 -   (More Downhill)  Still downhill and feeling good.  I really was thinking of just trying to do 6:10's but the pace felt good.
6:12 -  (More of the same) Started talking to Taylor and the young kid from Idaho Falls on this Mile and just think we lost the pace here.  Dan Buner a friend was out in front and the young kid really wanted to chase him down.
6:09 -  (Downhill and flat) The young kid decided he wanted to caught the lead runner so Taylor and I stayed together.  He was not pushing it because he was going to have to run for BYU in 6 days at regionals.  
6:00 -  (Downhill and flat) Good mile and just kept talking to Taylor.  I definitely didn't train the Tempo runs for this pace in my training.  I was worried I might suffer in the later miles.
6:12 (Downhill slighty and rolling)  Felt good just trying to manage the pace.  I thought looking at the split this is what I originally was going to run.
6:22 (Hilly)  This mile I felt a little fatigue and had some negative thoughts that I might have over-paced because I never felt this fatigue going uphill in the training on this part.  But than again I was running faster than I planned too.
6:02 (flat) I recovered from the slower mile and I just felt I've worked too hard to let anything make me die and I just let the fitness part take over.  Taylor left me on this mile and wanted to try and caught the leader for a good tempo pace for this the awesome BYU runner.  Took a Gel at this point but I missed the water handle and dropped the cup at the aid station.
5:57 - (flat)  This point I was right behind the second place runner and knew I would caught him.  I was feeling good on the flat portion heading into Indian Hills.
5:59 - Caught the second plan runner and just keep moving.  Luckily my mom was driving her van down the course so I asked her if she had water and to pull off to the side of the road ahead of me and I would grab the bottle.  I needed a drink to wash down the Blueberry Gel I took.  This worked excellent.
6:08  (Rolling)  Feeling good just moving along and managing the pace.  
6:02 (Rolling)  More of the same and I was far ahead of the third place runner and was insight of the first place runner but there's no way of catching him.  He was way ahead.  In training I always loved these last two miles and their the hardest on the course.
6:10 (Rolling)  Finished strong at 1:19:04 .  Then I ran back to find my daughter and ran with her the last mile.  She finished at 1:36.

Coming away from this race I've learned a few things since my recovery.
1.  I did well going beyond the pace I thought I could run.
2.  Sometimes it's good to head off with the leaders, because you just never know when all the cards fall your way in a particular race.
3.  I need to trust myself in running faster.
4. It's amazing when you run above your expectations.  Sometimes don't have any and just go for it.

Bill Mandler awesome race he did the full going up and back  and I believe finished in second place. Nice job Bill!