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Utah Valley Half Marathon

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Location:

South Weber,UT,

Member Since:

May 09, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Records:

800 Meters 1:50.14 (Track-BYU)

1500 Meters 3:42.07 (Track-Stanford) Likely the best race of my life; converts to a 3:59.85 Mile

5000 Meters 14:20 (Track-Stanford)

8000 Meters 23:53 (Cross Country-Pre Nationals Iowa)

10000 Meters 29:57 (Track-Stanford)

Half Marathon (Mesa-Phoenix Half) 1:05:11

Marathon (St George) 2:16:09

Short-Term Running Goals:

2017 Races:

Mesa-Phoenix Half - 3rd Place 1:05:11 PR

Ogden WRC 10-Miler - 1st Place 55:46

Provo City Half - 1st Place 1:06:33

Ogden Marathon - 2nd Place 2:25:46

Long-Term Running Goals:

My main goal is just to stay healthy.  I was injured every year in my college career except for one.  I would like to reverse that trend and always stay injury-free.

 

Personal:

I am a family man.  I am married to my beautiful wife Amy (who also ran at Weber and is quite the runner).  We have four beautiful daughters named Evelyn (6 years old), Hannah (4 year old), Nora (2 year old), and Iris (5 months).

Twitter handle: @RunnerRiley7

Instagram RunnerRiley7

I am supported by Brooks

I am a Generation Ucan elite athlete

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Salomon Pro Wings 2 Lifetime Miles: 161.10
Brooks PureCadence 5 Lifetime Miles: 101.85
Brooks Adrenaline 17 Lifetime Miles: 161.85
Brooks Transcend 4 Lifetime Miles: 219.45
Brooks Ravenna 8 Lifetime Miles: 225.10
Brooks PureCadence 6 Lifetime Miles: 188.10
Brooks Launch 4 Lifetime Miles: 107.50
Brooks Glycerin 14 Lifetime Miles: 101.47
Brooks Hyperion Lifetime Miles: 92.13
Brooks Caldera Lifetime Miles: 31.10
Race: Utah Valley Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:06:49, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.290.0013.110.0017.40

UTAH VALLEY HALF MARATHON

This is my second time running this half; the first time two years ago was miserable. I was sick and struggled the whole way. Today, was quite the opposite. I felt surprisingly good, despite heavy legs earlier in the week. I really enjoyed the race out there this morning. Temps were perfect, with the whole race being run before the sun hit me. There was also a noticeable tailwind for sections of the first half in the canyon, which was nice.

Before the race my stomach was not too happy, so I didn't get much of a warmup, only 1.4 miles which included a couple half-hearted strides. The field of competitors was loaded up front. Ryan Hall was in the race, but he ended up doing a fartlek of alternating 5:00 miles with 7:00 miles I think. 

At the gun I settled into second behind Brett Hales, who has an OTQ in the half earlier this year. After a tenth of a mile or so Ryan Hall passed me and settled in right behind Brett. After the mile Hall slowed down and I took over second place and stayed there the rest of the race.

I measured the gap from Hales to me a few times and despite some sub-5:00 miles in the middle, he was still increasing his lead. I ran strong the whole way though and actually negative split the course. I did some poor math in my head somehow and thought I could break 1:06 if I ran last four miles at 5:02 pace. So I really went after those miles and then with one mile to go and I did the math again and realized I wasn't really all that close afterall to 1:06 and I think that killed my spirit a bit and I let up the last mile a little.

But overall I'm happy with the result. I was second place in 1:06:49. Brett won in 1:05:44. There were a lot of other great performances out there today. Congrats to everyone that ran. Utah Valley puts on a great race and is very organized with great staff and volunteers. Thanks to all of them!

Garmin Splits: 5:10 5:05 5:15 5:04 4:52 4:53 5:03 4:57 5:01 5:04 5:12 4:57 5:08 and 4:50 pace for the leftover change.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 17.40
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Dave Taylor on Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 16:50:34 from 50.186.108.171

Too bad Ryan didn't really race it - isn't the state record 63 or so?

Excellent work on those last miles! I find math very hard during a race :)

From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 17:23:14 from 192.168.1.1

Riley - congratulations on a solid finish. It took me until now to notice that your family had an addition. Congratulations on that as well.

From Jason D on Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 19:15:09 from 68.80.27.222

Very strong showing on loaded legs and a month out from Ogden.

What are the fall racing plans?

From Rob Murphy on Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 20:27:20 from 74.40.191.3

Solid result. Even better to see you back consistently.

From Lesley on Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 23:20:11 from 45.50.137.10

Congrats! I always enjoy reading your race reports. Glad you had a great run!

From RileyCook on Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 12:34:05 from 73.52.134.194

Thanks everyone. It was a good day out there.

Jason, I may actually come out your way and run Rock n Roll Philly. What are your thoughts? Is it an OTQ type of course?

From Jason D on Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 13:58:43 from 68.80.27.222

That would be cool!

A few things. The course is different this year but not that different (not sure why). The early miles feature some slight changes in Center City (downtown) and it looks like there is a 180 degree turn (just before mile 4) that was not there in the last two years.

It is later this year with the Pope coming and all. That will likely be to an advantage given that last year it was 70 degrees and humid and would not have been a good day to attempt. The year before was pretty ideal (45-50 degrees). Given that it will be Oct 31 I worry that wind might be a factor, but probably not so early in the morning.

Mile 9-13 are slightly downhill to flattish. Not blazing, but helpful at times.

You likely won't have a huge pack to run with. Likely no pack at all unless the new date puts the race on people's radar that wouldn't normally consider it for whatever reason, the trials won't be far off too so this year might be different.

The last three years 10-15 spots have been sub 65 with several "untouchables" (sub-60 guys). Even for guys in my range it gets pretty spaced out, and you will be competing with guys looking to place high, or get some cash or whatever (not sure how deep they award). So unless you have a friend with you it will be difficult to get anyone to work with you I think.

From SlowJoe on Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 14:27:40 from 45.18.50.53

Congrats on a good race! Not many people can say they beat Ryan Hall. You can just leave out the part about him doing a fartlek...what kind of a weird workout is 5:00/7:00 miles anyway?

From steve ash on Sun, Jun 14, 2015 at 16:33:04 from 67.2.66.39

Nice race Riley. Way to bounce back from Ogden.

From Rachelle on Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 14:37:36 from 159.212.71.17

Riley you are on fire and I am absolutely loving it! Fantastic race and awesome negative split. Go after your goals this year and dream big because your comeback has been astonishing to me and the sky is the limit. Don't hold back.

From mikenelson on Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 15:27:33 from 75.169.56.148

Good race, Riley! Impressive time on top of a big week.

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