Snow Canyon Half
Not very high expectations after a big summer of racing and completing the Rocky Mountain Slam. I feel like I'm dragging thick mountain legs and have lost some speed. Suffering from fatigue but had a good few weeks off of racing.
With an aided course, even with low expectations I thought I might grab a PR since I've only ever run an honest half marathon course St. George (Jan.) at 1:27:22.
Good gradual uphill start (I got a bit annoyed having to weave around several runners who had no business being that far up front that early--I need to chill). 6:46, 6:53, 6:41 for the first three. I felt good. I knew I needed to be in the sub 6:40 range for a PR so the 6:53 concerned me a bit. Dropping into the canyon I dropped a 6:13, 6:02, 6:10. 6:02!! Whoops. I thought how ridiculous that would look on the blog....6:53, 6:02. So many of the elites seem to keep their splits within seconds of each other and I'm all over the place. With a good DH section though, I took full-advantage and hammered it...and then paid for it.
Next three miles at the bottom of and coming out of the canyon were 6:36, 6:57, 6:46--fighting a stiff head-wind.
Back on the streets and really pushing into the wind I could only muster 6:50, 7:03, 6:56 for the next 3 miles. I was losing my PR and stuggling to keep a good pace. I've become better at zero'ing in on and going to my "un"-happy place, really focusing on a quick turn-over and pushing the pace. My legs were shot.
I managed to stay focused and push the pace a bit, passing quite a few runners in the last mile and ending up with a 6:36 mile twelve finishing at 1:27:33--11 seconds off my PR. Happy to win my AD with a really cool trophy and a neat backpack for finishing top 50.
Wish I could have and probably should have got a PR on that course but it just wasn't meant to be. Good times down in St. George and a nice hike to Angel's Landing on Sunday.
2 mile warm-up--beautiful sunrise/ 1 mile cool-down around track.
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