Seventeen minutes after the clock struck midnight and 2010 became officially official; two brothers, three nephews, and I set out from Mutual Dell (up American Fork Canyon) for what has become an annual tradition: the Freeze Your *** Off Run.
Not as cold as I planned on it being so I shed a layer early on and was still pretty toasty. The road conditions were great and, aside from a bit of after-party traffic, the run was perfect! I ended up finishing first.
11.56 miles, 1:45:41, 9:09 pace. Actual time running was closer to 1:38:ish so my pace was closer to 8:30.
Anybody who would like to join us next year is more than welcome!
Psyched myself up for this all day long. Seems to have paid off--I got in 7 miles and it didn't feel all that miserable. Yay! I really need to get into the habit of doing this every day, either before or after work.
3.1 miles in 31 minutes on the treadmill. Repositioned the treadmill, set up the old TV and DVD player, pushed play on 50 First Dates, and managed 3 miles before I ran out of gas. Blah! So much for my 90 minute run.
St. George Half (13.1 Miles) 01:49:20, Place overall: 330, Place in age division: 27
Slow miles
Fast miles
Total Distance
0.00
13.10
13.10
Will post a report later, but I'm pleased with the
results. I expected worse.
I had low expectations coming into
this race--I registered late not knowing for sure if I really wanted to do
it. I knew a sub-2-hour race was well within the realm of possibility,
but I didn’t know how far under I could go. I didn’t even know if I wanted
to push for much under.
My recent struggles on the
dreadmill, while discouraging, were offset by the one successful outdoor run I
had on Monday. I felt fairly confident I could maintain a 9-minute-mile
average pace--so I started the run with that as my goal.
Mile 1 – 8:45
Mile 2 – 8:30
Mile 3 – 8:14
Mile 4 – 8:07
Mile 5 – 8:42
Mile 6 – 8:39
Mile 7 – 8:11
Mile 8 – 8:37
Mile 9 – 8:25
Mile 10 – 8:18
Mile 11 – 8:21
Mile 12 – 8:21
Mile 13 – 7:53
Mile 13.1 – 0:12 (the Garmin has
me running a total distance of 13.03 miles…)
So I ended up running an 8:27
average pace, much better than anticipated, and I finished with a chip time of
1:49:20.4. Sold!
I’ve run the St. George Half 6 of
the past 7 years, and while I enjoy the course and the challenges it presents;
I think the real reason I keep coming down are the people that I get to
associate with--and I think that’s probably true for just about every other
race I run as well.