MILE REPEATS
We had a good group to ring in the New Year with early morning mile repeats. Jason, Steve, Bret and I met at Smith's on 42nd and Harrison and warmed up just over three miles over to the tempo loop. The plan was 5xmile with 2:30 jog for rest. I ended up with more like 2:45-3:00 rest since we re-grouped after each one and made sure everyone got their 2:30 jog at least.
The first rep was more laborious than I anticipated. My goal was to average 4:50 and the first one was 4:50 right on the money, but it took a good effort. The second was a bit better in 4:47. Third rep was 4:50 and felt better than the first for the same pace. During the fourth my stomach showed up and slowed me down a tad in the last quarter mile 4:53. Luckily it wasn't quite as bad during the last one and allowed me to finish the workout. I ran 4:47 again for the last one.
With the close of 2013, I decided to do a just-for-fun 2013 Utah road racing awards. These are totally scientific and official ;-) Feel free to disagree with me and share your thoughts too. Just don't anybody take these too seriously if I overlooked somebody.
The criteria is based on racing inside the state's borders only and quality of the performances takes on a bit more weight than quantity of good performances. There are four categories: Best overall runner, Best single race performance, Breakthrough Runner of the Year (this is someone who was good but just jumped up to a whole new level), and finally Comeback of the Year (someone who experienced a setback but came back stronger than before).
So here they are, the Riley Cook Utah Road Racing Awards for 2013:
Runner of the Year: Male - Bryant Jensen Female - Kassi Harmon. This was a tough call for both genders. When looking at a full year of racing results there are several runners that had some great races. But, Bryant had quality victories at the Strider's Half, Ogden Marathon, Utah Valley Marathon, and St. George Marathon. At first glance this makes you think this is a no-brainer. But looking at head-to-head against other top runners in the state makes it a lot less clear. Bryant was 0-3 against Jake in-state (1-0 out of state), 0-2 against Josh McCabe, 3-3 against Riley (1-0 out of state), 1-0 against Jon Kotter, 1-0 against Fritz, and 2-0 against Brett Hales. But, in the end the quality of Bryant's performances versus the rest of the guys puts him on top. Kassi had a crazy amount of first-place finishes, which also made her look like the shoe-in, but looking at head-to-head it got less clear as well. She was 1-1 against Devra, 1-1 against Christina Perrry, 0-1 against Emily, 1-0 against Sariah, 4-0 against Allie, but never faced Amber Green or Rosy Lee, which makes it tough. It was hard to count out Emily as, she only got beat at St. George Marathon I think. It's also hard to count out Amber Green who had wins at Utah Valley and Bryce Canyon and a quality runner-up at STG. But in the end the head-to-head and the quantity of big wins gives the nod to Kassi (who had an impressive non-aided 1:18 at St George Half as well).
Best Single Race Performance: Male - Bryant Jensen Female - Rosy Lee. Once again, a very tough call. Bryant's STG performance was challenged mostly by Miles Batty's Des News 10k. But in the end, the fact that Bryant broke the course record at a race that has deep fields year after year gives him the slight edge. For the women, (which I admittedly am much less knowledgable) Rosy's STG win over elite company in a crazy fast 2:37, beats out Allie's near-course record TOU win in 2:44. I think STG is a lot faster than TOU, but it's hard to say it's 7 minutes faster...like I said feel free to debate this politely. I'm interested in others' thoughts.
Breakthrough Runner- Male - Mike Nelson Female - Marilee Blackham. We knew Mike was a good runner, but knocking that much time off his STG Marathon to run 2:25 was impressive to say the least. Matt Paulsen was also strongly considered for this award, but the Thanksgiving 4-mile race in almost 20-flat put Mike over the top. For the women, it was a tough call between Marilee and Rachelle (there could be others I'm overlooking...fill me in if so), but Marilee really showed she is now a force to be reckoned with. She had good showing at Striders with a 3rd place finish (one ahead of Allie), 3rd at Ogden Marathon, 5th at STG, and 2nd to Kassi at Hobble Creek.
Comeback Runner of the Year: Male - Ben Van Beekum Female - Emily Jameson. It came down to Fritz and Ben in my mind. Both came back for PRs in the marathon at STG. But Ben's PR improvement was larger than Fritz's and he also PR-ed in the half. So very close call here and both very impressive comebacks, but nod to Ben. For women, yes I am counting pregnancy as a setback. That has to be hard to get back in shape from and Emily made it look easy with a win at Des News Half and 3rd at STG Marathon (next year the clear frontrunner right now looks to be Andrea).
So there you have it. Feel free to argue and enlighten me! But please like I said don't anyone get offended or take this too seriously. It was just for fun and I came up with it on one run without a ton of analysis.
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