The WRC half was a cold one to start. 16 degrees at the beginning of the race was a little much for the beginning of April. But as we got running it was actually perfect running weather. For me this was one of my "A" races for the year leading up to the Ogden Marathon. After this weekend there is only 5 more weeks of tough training. So good timing to evaluate and adjust my training schedule accordingly if I needed to. So beginning of the race it was nice to talk to people from the Blog. Talk to Steve Anderson for a little bit, we were saying for some reason this race always blows us up but I think both of us today can say we were happy with our results. Warm up was 1.70 miles, the buses were running late so the warmup was shorter than I wanted. Mile splits- 1-5:15- Riley and I were saying lets take the first mile easy to get warm and then go from there. Both of us didn't take heed to our advice. 2-5:18- Race was seperated down to Riley, Alfred, and I. 3-5:16- Legs are feeling good and getting into a rhythm. Still the 3 amigos together 4- 5:15- Still feeling good now just sown to Riley and I. I told Riley at this mile, both of us a re going to have a killer race or we are slowly digging our graves. 5- 5:18- Both of are still Rocking it. Riley told me that my head looked 10 times bigger than his in our shadow because of my long hair. Made me laugh!! 6-5:23- little slow but not bad. Got a drink at this mile and made sure I got all the fluids down. 7- 5:19 8- 5:17- still feeling good, but the rolling hills are coming and for some reason I don't do to well and mentally they get to me. So here we go!! 9-5:41- And the first one got to me. Riley pulled ahead by about 10 seconds. So his split was a bit slower also. 10-12. 5:32; 5:46; 5:45. Legs are feeling great I just couldn't attack the uphills on the rollers today. By now Riley had about a 300 meter lead. And I was in no mans land. Trying to stay positive and finish strong. 13- 5:41 .11- 34 seconds Finishing time was 1:11:24. Good race to everyone. Want to say Congrats to Riley on his great race!! Want to wish Steve the best of luck in Boston next week!! Steve you will tear it up!!
Evaluating this race I think I attacked it smart. Felt comfortable the whole run, never felt winded and tired. Hitting the rollers in the valley got to me again. But during a Marathon those would be great splits to maintain so I am really not that bummed about it. I will go to the Valley in the next couple of weeks and hit some long paced tempo runs on the rollers to get my confidence going. On the positive. Running a 1:11 in April for me is great, hit some good sub 5:20 splits for almost 9 miles. I think with a little more volume on the legs I can manage that for a entire half before the year is over with. Lastly I know training is going well, going to stick to my upcoming training schedule. I know that sub 2:25 is reachable!! One more race to go to finish off the Series!!!
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