Hurt so good.

Top of Utah Half Marathon 2013

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Location:

North Ogden,UT,U.S.

Member Since:

May 23, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

5K- 14:58, 10K- 31:05, 1/2- 1:06:47 Marathon- 2:23:29

3rd- Park City Marathon 2008

3rd and 4th Ogden Marathon 2010; 12'

5th, 3rd, and 7th- Utah Valley Marathon 2011;14'; 16'

9th, 3rd,11th, 8th, 5th, 8th St. George Marathon 2010, 11',13',14',15'16'

2nd- Deseret News Marathon 2015

1st- SandHollow Marathon- 2016 (CR***)

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

2024 POTENTIAL RACES

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

                                                                          -Helen Keller

              

 

Personal:

Married to Nikki we have 4 children. Jaerdan, Korver, Grady and Lyla McKell

Head XC/Track Coach at Weber High

Graduated from Weber State with a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Athletic Therapy.

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 257.46
Race: Top of Utah Half Marathon 2013 (13.14 Miles) 01:10:57, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.350.0013.140.0020.49

Alright so its a couple days late on the entry so I hope I can be as accurate as possible and honest as possible on how I felt during the race.

So ended up staying the night in Logan which was a great idea, allowed for about another hour to hour and a half of sleep. Ended up sleeping in the same bed as Spencer. I told him I like to cuddle and spoon and since my wife wasnt there as asked him if he was up for the task. He politely declined. 

Well at the race I managed to get 3 miles in for a warm. I wanted 4 miles just because it seems to feels better on my knee the longer I can go before pushing the pace a little. 

Anyways at the beginning I wished everybody good luck on there races and was praying that I would just have a decent race. Goal was to run faster then Des News Half and just keep progressing forward towards 100% fitness.

Alright so as the race got going it actually was a pretty boring race. My goal was to take the first couple miles slow and progressively work into a rhythem and just zone out. For the first 3 miles I was with one of my running partners Jon Heslop and we worked together to catch up to Sasha and then I saw Walter up ahead and started shooting the gap to catch him. By now I was running solo. I caught walter around mile 5 or so and then saw another kid in the distance I briefly asked Walter if he knew who the guy was and he didnt know. Around mile 6.5 I managed to catch this kid and wished him good luck for the rest of the race and took off from there. From mile 7 to 10 I wanted to keep sub 5:20 pace and hope that I could take that pace into the hills toward the end and have a strong finish. Anyway around mile 9 this guy came up on his bike and started biking next to me and finally after about a minute I realized it was my Father in Law. Suprised me because he is from Draper and didnt know he was making the trip up to Logan to watch the race. It was great to have him next to me for the last 4 miles.

As I got into the hills my pace slowed more then I wanted and by mile 12 thought I was going to cost in for the finish but my legs came back a little and managed okay for the last split. Overall the race was a positive step forward in getting back to normal. Last year as was 1:08:55 for the race, this year I was 2 minutes back. So really not bad with how much time I had off and plus for my second race for the year I will take it. Also looking at my last splits for the race I think just with more volume in the upcoming months those splits will be lower and should be able to maintain to the end.

Great to see everyone up at the race. Super happy for Riley and Jake for both setting a high standard in the state and showing us all how to get business done. Both super impressive times.

Wishing Spencer, Scott, Jason, Bryant, Jon, Walter, Steve A. nothing but positive vibes from my end for a great rest of the year.

Here are my splits:

5:32.60; 5:25.64; 5:24.26:5:22.29; 5:14.23; 5:14.31; 5:11.11; 5:17.43; 5:22.73; 5:20.61; 5:33.03; 5:55.00; 5:28.06 and 00:43.40 for the last .14

ended up doing 4.35 solo for a cooldown.

    

Couple pics at the race. The one of Riley and I. I asked Riley what his time was and I was like screw my time that is amazing, way stoked for his breakout race.

LunaRacer (black) Miles: 20.49
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Brandon on Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 09:56:45 from 67.214.231.170

Great race Ben! Pretty significant improvement from Des News, which says that what you're doing is working. Keep it up :)!

From jtshad on Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 10:03:23 from 141.221.191.225

Great race, you are making an awesome comeback. Keep runinng strong.

From RileyCook on Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 10:17:01 from 132.3.57.82

You're making very solid progress. This was a great effort. It seems the pace is there, you just need another month or so of volume to keep those last few miles on pace. It will come. St. George will be perfect timing for you.

From SpencerSimpson on Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 13:08:43 from 63.82.19.2

great race report bunk buddy. Really fun time like always. You're doing just fine. Make it Happen. Look forward to more...

From Trevor Baker on Sun, Sep 01, 2013 at 16:24:06 from 216.83.66.20

can't believe I didn't comment on this! Excellent progression... St. George will be a great performance. looking forward to seeing everything come together for you!

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