TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON
I was pretty excited for this race. The previous two times I've run it ('12 & '13) I PR-ed. I thought maybe I was ready to hit another PR. It would take a huge effort, since two years ago I ran 1:05:16. I felt fresh and ready to really put down a good race going into this.
Ben, Jon, and Jon's brother Kory stayed with Ben's cousin, Todd in Logan. It's always great to have a place to stay up in the valley so you don't have to drive or book a hotel. We met Ken at the buses. I mentioned to Ben on the way up that the trees did not appear to be swaying at all from wind at the mouth of the canyon; I said we may not have the wind today. We got up there and ran into Jason at the start area along with Mike Hardy (an All-American this spring from Weber State in the steeplechase). We warmed up just over two miles and did a few strides.
The starting line had a large quantity of really good runners. It was great to say hi to everyone and chat a bit before the start. The gun went off and Jason and I took the lead, running side-by-side. I could tell early in those first two miles that it probably wasn't going to be a PR day. The effort I was putting in for the splits I was getting was greater than I needed it to be if I wanted to run a low-1:05. But it was still early and maybe I'd warm up more and ease into faster paces as I went. Miles 1-2 were 4:57, 5:00
Jason started breathing a bit heavier during mile 3 and just after that split he started to slowly lose a few steps. I was trying to focus on my form on run efficiently in these middle miles. I got through mile 5 and was hoping the tailwind would show up soon. For those that haven't run this race, it's famous for a strong tailwind from miles 5-8; it literally feels like someone is lightly pushing you on the back. But, this year it just wasn't there. I think usually that tailwind is worth 30 seconds. I looked down at the halfway point on my watch, 6.55 miles, and saw 32:27. I knew there was no way I was PR-ing today, with the second half being substantially slower than the first half. Miles 3-8 4:56 4:59 4:51 4:52 4:54 5:00
Now I'm running North on Hollow Road and there's a few people here and there cheering. I passed Jason's entourage and they were kind enough to cheer for me, despite Jason being only 20 or so seconds back. There was the lightest of winds coming from the North; not enough to slow you down but nice enough to cool you off a bit, so that was kind of nice here. My brother Denver was at mile 8 or so waiting for our cousin to run the last five with him. He cheered for me and told me I had 20-30 second gap. I kept pushing and got to the hills in miles 11-12 with some still left in the tank. Miles 9-10 5:07, 5:05.
Mile 11 is slight downhill for half mile and decent uphill the second half. I powered up it quite well though, I think about as well as two years ago. I split a 5:09. Mile 12 however I'm certain was a tad slower than previous years in 5:22. It has the most uphill and is uphill the whole way.
One mile to go and I had a pretty good lead, but the air quality was really poor and I had a huge buildup of mucous in my esophagus that was now causing me to gag. I tried to spit it out, but couldn't really get it out. So the last mile was me just trying not to allow the gagging to turn into vomitting. I still managed a decent split though on this last mile, which is pretty good downhill. I ran a 5:02. And the I was elated to be done and win another TOU Half! I ran 4:48 pace for the last tenth and finished 1st in 1:06:03. They didn't have a clock up and I thought I was closer to 1:06:15, but had I known I was that close to sub-1:06 I probably could've shaved 3 seconds. But it doesn't really matter.
Jason finished second, Mike Hardy third, Ben fourth, and Fritz fifth.
After the race Ken, Denver, Ben, and I ran 6+ miles of cooldown.
All in all it wasn't as fast as I wanted. Some of that was the course being a tad slower today and some was not having someone up with me after three miles (in '13 Jake and I were competing side-by-side for 10+ miles, which definitely makes it easier to run faster than being way out in front alone). But some is probably also, me not quite being as fit as I had hoped. I will keep pushing and training and hope I can shave another minute off. I ran 1:05:21 at Des News Half last month, but that has three times as much downhill as today (1800 vs 600), so I still think this is my best effort of the year, even if it's not a seasonal best.
Top of Utah is a top notch race. If you've never run it and live in the area, you really should add it to your list next year.
Here's another photo and the newspaper article in the Herald Journal:
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