What a fun, crazy race! Getting ready for this race was among the most challenging from nightmares about missing the race, loosing my keys, to being stuck in Utah County traffic right before packet pickup closing. All turned out well, and at least I got my nerves out early on:)
Woke up at 6:10 and put on my referee outfit. Left out the door and caught the buses by 7:00. I rode on the bus with a guy named Vijac who is working here from India and running his first race ever! When we got off the buses, it was COLD! Thank goodness for heated tents! It was weird being there by myself. I stood in a large crowed tent thinking, "this is so fun!" It really doesn't take much.
After a 1.5 warm-up with stretches, headed to the start. It was strange; the start was about 8 feet wide, I was sure someone was going to die. But no one did.
I stood in the front when the gun went off. I realized I my watch was having issues, but recovered on time. However being so concerned with my watch, I didn't get out very fast and let two girls sprint way ahead of me. My plan for this race was a little different than usual. I have wanted to start branching out and trying to win races (but don't we all?) I haven't ever given that a concerted effort, but have always wanted to place high overall with a good PR. Today I wanted to win...or at least give a good effort. Since the first 5 miles were pretty downhill, I decided to push down these hills and hang on for the last half. Normally, I don't think this is the best approach, however, having trained on more hills than flat; this was the plan for today.
Miles 1-3 (5:42, 5:29, 5:18) Right from the start, the first place girl was a good 20 seconds ahead. The second girl was only 10 seconds ahead. I passed the second girl who wore a pair of underwear on the outside reading, "I love to toot. I was going to "toot" when I passed her, but it was early. I then set my sights on first girl who wore bright pink spandex. I knew I would eventually catch up, I just wasn't sure what to do after that:) These miles were comfortable but steep. 5k was right around around 17 minutes....cause it was downhill.
Miles 4-6 (5:32, 6:08, 6:38) Approaching mile 4 (3.5mi) I passed girl number 1 and held it for a few miles. It sort of freaked me out so I sprinted past her to look cool and in control. Inside I knew I was cool, just not in control. I looked down at Garmin around mile 4 and knew I was going too fast, but also knew I would be much slower on the flat area coming up. I took a caffeinated GU at mile 4 and continued to feel comfortable. Half way at the 10K my time was 36:08 a PR, a very heavily aided PR:)
Miles 7-9 (6:50, 6:40, 6:38) Hill is done. I felt it leave around mile 5 but for some reason thought it was supposed to stick around till mile 8. Big oversight. No, I guess according to the map, it is either flat or slight rolling and maybe dropping. It felt all up hill to me. Why? Because I sprinted 6 miles and paid for it here. It cost me first place. She looked pretty cool passing me at mile 7ish. I wasn't dying here, but obviously the pace was quite different and I felt like I was crawling in comparison. First girl took off and I let her because I had to. Around mile 7 I was joined by my sister and niece who ran a couple minutes with me. I turned off my IPod and realized I was breathing like a maniac, so I turned up the volume and kept on going! I would say these were the hardest miles, but they weren't. I kept trying to do the math in my head of how many miles were left, but apparently, 8-13=? I never did come to an answer, so I just kept on running:)
Miles 10-13 (6:47. 6:58, 6:47 6:57) Tired. I played lots of games trying to look ahead, with mantras (today's mantra was Shalane Flanagan, don't ask me why), and self talk...they helped somewhat. I really, really missed the hills. Pretty sure we were still going down slightly all the way to the end, but if felt more like rolling to me. At one point I thought about how I had ran a marathon just a month ago and how running a half, especially during that moment, made me never want to run a full again. I got over it. The last .5 was mentally the most difficult, I knew I looked pretty bad coming in, but tried to "appear cool" this time.
First place went to Mary Ann S. She finished around 1:21:20 (unofficial). I finished second with a time of 1:22:34. A 1:11 PR for me:) Third place finished in 1:22:58ish.
Received a square glass trophy filled with Halloween candy, a cool finishers medal, and a very cool, but very small tech t-shirt! Great race, great day!
Lessons learned: Going out aggressive will make you pay in the end but may also give you a PR. Good? Bad? This time I say good. Next time, maybe not. | 
