SOUTHERN UTAH HALF MARATHON
I had a great time down at the Southern Utah Half Marathon. It rained the night before the race and started again for the start of the race thru mile 4, and then it was cloudy and low 50s with slightest of headwinds. The course starts up at Highland Park in Washington overlooking Corral Canyon and drops a TON the first three miles down to the Virgin River. After that you take the Virgin River Trail (paved parkway) all the way to Bloomington for the finish. So you drop about 550+ feet in first three miles and then hit the parkway which, although has soft rollers the whole way, drops another 150 feet over the last ten miles. The water on the parkway made for a slippery surface for those final ten miles, especially thru miles 6-10 it seemed; your foot would slip back just slightly on each step as you pushed off. The scenery, especially with the rain was fantastic as was the fresh smell of rain most of the way.
I was warming up and I saw a fast looking couple. The girl, eventually female winner, was sporting the same Brooks jacket as me. So I knew she was likely sponsored and fast, but her boyfriend also looked legit. Turns out he was my competition on the day. At the gun I took off at what I thought was a reasonable pace, but turns out it was a 4:49 and he was right on my tail drafting. He stuck with me for another half mile and then within 10-15 feet until mile two, but then I put a pretty good gap on him as I flew down the Cottonwood Wash on mile three! Mile 2 4:45 Mile 3 4:47.
Although the first few miles felt relatively ok cardio-wise they took their toll on my legs. I never did hit the paces I wanted for the rest of the race. I was hoping for 5:10s or so and just couldn't hit those on a consistent basis. The downhill fast start definitely slowed my later miles. My plan was to take it easy on those first few steep drops but that kid made me anxious I guess. So after I gapped him at mile three I felt dumb for having pushed the pace since it had tired my legs pretty good. But once the race was over and I found out I only beat him by 53 seconds, in hindsight maybe it was good I got the gap early. After the race he told me it was his first half marathon and that he's a 5k runner who lives in Phoenix. He's running the Payton Jordan Invite at Stanford next Saturday hoping for a 13:30 5k. I hope his legs recover in time from those screaming downhill miles!
Miles 4-13 were quite uneventful. I got too comfortable with my lead in mile 9 and started giving in to a slower pace, but luckily scolded myself after that slower split and got moving a tiny bit better to the finish. As I came into the park to finish, I gave my daughter Evelyn a high-five and seeing the clock and realizing I couldn't get under 1:07, just coasted in.
Splits: 4:49 4:45 4:47 5:12 5:14 5:17 5:05 5:11 5:21 5:12 5:14 5:17 5:17 and 5:06 pace for last tenth.
I'm pretty happy with the end result, but not with how I executed it. I would've liked those last ten miles to be quicker. But the slickness of the path also played a 1-2 second per mile role I think. It's certainly progress, but I still need to keep working; I got a ways to go still. I need more speed endurance to keep miles 9-13 faster, more builders I suppose in the next few weeks.
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