4 is better than 2

I was not quite sure how I would feel based on the last couple weeks of training, but I was committed to try and go run the first 4 miles at a conservative pace, hit the canyon hard, and then survive the final 3.

I ran the first mile with a group that had Matt Harmer, Kyle and Chris, but I quickly dropped off the pace on the second mile climb. I did not think I had slowed that considerably, but my 6:13 split proved otherwise. I decided I should probably run a little harder and try to bring the pace back down. Travis caught me around the second mile and we ran together for the next several miles. It was good to have him there because the pace stabilized at 5:55 for the next couple miles. As we crossed the dam I knew I wanted to accelerate down the canyon and try to make up some time. I was starting to feel much better at this point, but my splits were all over the place. I put a gap on Travis around mile 6 and ended up in no-man's land for the remainder of the race. I came through 10 miles on target in 57:50 and thought I had 1:15 in the bag, wrong! I started to fall apart in the middle of the 11th mile and suffered into 12. I did feel surprising well in the last mile and my pace dipped back down a bit. I could hear the announcer with about a half mile to go, and I heard him say the first woman was in sight - I was offended!!! It turns out, the first woman was closing quickly and he was not referring to me. Mentally I snapped at 11 and pretty much shut down, I am not sure why, but I need to change my mind set to finish strong. I feel good about the effort, but I also know that if I had just focused for the last 2 miles I would have been in the 1:16's and accomplished my goal.

Splits: 

 

Mile 1	5:40	5:40
Mile 2	6:13	11:53
Mile 3	5:55	17:48
Mile 4	5:55	23:43
Mile 5	5:34	29:17
Mile 6	5:52	35:10
Mile 7	5:35	40:46
Mile 8	5:45	46:31
Mile 9	5:48	52:19
Mile 10	5:32	57:51
Mile 11	5:54	1:03:46
Mile 12	6:22	1:10:08
Mile 13	6:14	1:16:23
.1	1:00	1:17:24