Summer Running

In June, my friend Janae asked me to help coach at a running retreat she was holding in Park City.  We spent two nights at a beautiful house in Deer Valley.  We enjoyed some breathtaking views on trail runs and enjoyed a couple days of speakers with tons of information.  It was a lot of fun to meet runners from all over with varying experience levels in running.  It was fun to make some new friends and spend a couple days with some old friends.  The highlight of the lectures was having Jared Ward who qualified to run in the Olympic marathon this year come talk to us.  He was a very down to earth guy and it was fun to chat with him about our experiences at the Olympic Trials even though his was vastly different than mine. The last morning of the retreat we all participated in the Park City Trail Series 5k.  I don't feel like I'm a great trail racer and my friend Angie and I decided to take the race easy and just run it for fun.  We did that the first mile and watched a lot of women race ahead of us.  Cynthia was way ahead of everyone. We hit the first mile pretty slow, around 7 minutes and started catching the runners that had gone out too fast.  Then the competitive side of me kicked in when I realized there were a lot of the runners ahead of me I could catch.  I picked it up a bit and caught most of them still running at a pretty comfortable pace.  Janae, Alyssa and Cynthia were still ahead so I finally kicked it into race mode for the last mile and was able to catch everyone but Cynthia right before the finish.  It was a fun race having the girls from the retreat pretty much sweep the awards.

I hadn't been doing a lot of racing in the summer.  I felt burnt out after what I felt like were failed attempts at the Olympic Trials and the Ogden Marathon. My uncle convinced Andrew to run Farmington Days with his family and I decided that I could use a fun easy race for a change so I signed the whole family up.  Jason ran the 10k and Andrew, Jared, Kaitlyn and I ran the 5k.  My aunt was nice enough to keep an eye on Skyler while we all ran.  When we were all lining up for the race Kaitlyn decided she had to go to the bathroom right now. We ran off to find one and I really thought we might miss the start.  Maybe this is one reason I don't usually race with the kids... We made it back just in time.  There weren't any women up close enough to race against.  Jason was just ahead of me until the 10k course separated from the 5k.  Then I started passing up a lot of the men.  Andrew was up close to the lead and it was so fun watching his race from behind.  The last half mile I watched him catching the guy in front of him who he out kicked for the win.  I didn't push too much out of my comfort zone with no women there to race.  It was Andrew's first road race win and a lot of fun to get a win with him.

By late July I was ready to try to race hard again.  I always like to run the Deseret News 10k but this year I decided to try to run the half marathon instead.  The Deseret News races are always competitive with good prize money so I figured I probably wouldn't win but my goal was to run a good time.  I wanted a 1:17 and thought maybe if my race went perfect a 1:16.  I met my friend Jasmine Sessions when we caught the bus and was glad to have someone to run with.  At the starting line I was surprised to see there weren't very many competitive women.  It looked like it would be between Jasmine and me.  I knew Jasmine was running really well and I could never count her out.  However, I knew I'd beaten her before and I started to be hopeful I could win this race.  The beginning of the race was down Emigration Canyon. The race was going almost the way I wanted with most of our mile splits around 5:50.  One of the men we were running with asked what we were aiming for.  At the same time I replied 1:17 and Jasmine said 1:18.  I really started to think I had a good chance to win.  I had actually been hoping for splits closer to 5:45 down the canyon.  I noticed Jasmine kept getting half a step behind me.  I wondered if I picked up the pace just a bit she would drop back and I would take the lead for good.  Near the bottom of the canyon I decided to risk it.  We hit a steep downhill section and I took off.  It seemed to be working.  Jasmine started to fall behind.  I was aiming for 5:45 but instead hit that mile in 5:35.  Looking back it was a mistake but I wanted to win this race and I decided to take the gamble.  After two miles in the 5:30s we turned onto Foothill Blvd.  My legs started to tire after those blazing fast miles.  I had the lead but Jasmine hadn't disappeared.  She was still close and it worried me.  I worked the downhill section by the football stadium but I couldn't shake her.  We hit the uphill stretch on 13th East and she was starting to catch me.  By the time we made the turn onto South Temple she was right on my shoulder again.  I stayed with her until the 10 mile marker but my legs had taken such a beating from the fast downhill they just wouldn't go anymore.  I watched her slowly pull away, ironically the same place I watched Melody pull away in the 10 last year.  I remembered last year though and kept pushing as hard as I could so no one would catch me from behind.  It was a struggle to get through those last few miles but I fought hard for my goal time.  I finished in 1:17:25, right on my goal pace and my second fastest half marathon ever.  Jasmine finished in 1:16:33, well ahead of me and a huge PR for her.  She killed those last three miles.  I was disappointed to miss the win again but happy for Jasmine to have such a perfect race.  My average pace was 5:55 which was only a few seconds slower than the pace I ran last year in the 10k.  In retrospect I might have been able to take a few more seconds off my time if I hadn't been so aggressive in the middle of the race and saved more for the end.  I don't think I would have beaten Jasmine though. I think I still would have been a low 1:17.  I was happy to meet my goal time and still make the podium and walk away with $500 cash.  I'd still love to win that race someday so I'll keep working.

Photos from the Deseret News. Caption on that bottom picture should say, "Are you really taking my picture right now?"