Here goes the report. To begin the day, I made sure to not make the same mistake as last year and run on an empty stomach. I ate a bagel and banana about 2 1/2 hours before the race began, got in the car and made my way to St. George. I warmed up with only 1 mile of light jogging. It was right around 30 degrees, so I ended up wearing a t-shirt, shorts, gloves and beanie. I wanted to run a PR, so anything under 1:13:36 would have made me happy. The race started and I went out faster than I ever had for a half marathon. Right away I met up with Sasha, Dave, Nick, Logan and Karl. We ran as a group, taking turns with the lead every .25 miles. It was a lot of fun to share the workload and run as a group, something that is very foreign to me. I've pretty much ran solo my entire life, even while running in high school and college....just the way things worked out. Anyway, we ran together until mile 4 when I got left in the dust! I have always thought of myself as a strong hill runner, but these guys made me look like I was walking as we left the trail system and ran through a park. After the climb ended, and for the next 2 miles or so, I was able to keep the gap between the myself and the lead group to about 15-20 feet. By the time we I crossed the bridge and started towards Bloomington, the gap was easily 75 meters to Sasha and Dave. I was in no-mans land from here until the finish. For me, the Bloomington loop is pure misery. Every time I run it, it feels as if it's twice the length it is. Back on the trail and heading towards the finish line, I was on pace for a great time. According to my garmin, I came through mile 10 @ 53:53, so I was confident I could hold on for a few more miles. I didn't feel as though I had slowed down, but I would look down at my watch and see my pace in the high 5's and even low 6's. I would re-commit and push harder, or so it felt, but nothing changed. I just fell apart and I'm not sure why. For the last 2 miles, right after leaving the golf course "net" area, my vision went haywire. I could see people's bodies, but none of their features. Everything was blurry. I'd blink and hope to clear things up, but nothing changed until I was walking through the finishers shoot and having my number scanned. I've never experienced anything like that, so who knows..... I'm sure it's nothing. My garmin had me at 13.18, but I hear that the majority of people were more like 12.95-12.98, so who knows. I hesitate to put my splits as they must be in-accurate, but here they are anyway: - 5:34
- 5:27
- 5:16
- 5:27
- 5:31 (27:18 @ 5)
- 5:05
- 5:00
- 5:46
- 5:24
- 5:19 (53:53 @ 10)
- 5:37 (slowing...)
- 5:47 (slowing even more....)
- 6:04 (WOW! I've fallen apart.....)
- 5:22 (for final .18 on my garmin)
Like I said, I'm sure it's not that my garmin is accurate and 100+ others are off. Mine is goofed up somehow. Does that make all my previous distances wrong? Who knows.... So when it's all said and done, I guess I can't say, with confidence, that I ran a PR given the short course. However, I will say that I'd take this time on this course any day over my current half pr on Bryce Canyon's downhill course. Oh yeah, I guess I can't complain...last year I ran Painter's in 1:15:47, so short course or not, I improved by 3:26. Anyway, I ran 2 miles to cool down. I raced in my Sinisters. Never again. I'll use them for tempo's under 10 miles. My right achillies was sore something fierce Saturday and Sunday. Sinister (58) | 