I ran the Bryce Canyon 1/2 Marathon today. My goal was to be as fast as last year, 1:23:43. I was pleased with that time a year ago. I've done enough long runs that I didn't think the distance would be a problem, but I haven't done any speed work in almost a year so I wasn't confident I would be able to pick up my pace. We camped in a tent with our kids. They fell asleep in about a minute and I laid there forever. I think I have a sleeping problem. It took me a long time to go to sleep then I drempt a lot and woke up at least every hour. I heard some wild cats fighting and growling outside the tent, and had a hard time going back to sleep after that. For how little sleep I got I felt surprizingly well. I printed off my splits on an old bib number and put it around my arm. I stuck right on those for the first four miles and let the main pack of women go out ahead. I didn't want to start too fast and make my lungs burn. I was in 7th the first 2 miles then passed two people, including Kim, around mile 5 to move into 4th. After mile 4 I started running my splits faster than last year. It took me a long time to catch Melanie B. We were together for a while around mile 8 and 9. I could also see the first two ladies along here. But at mile 11 they picked it up more than me and got out farther ahead. I finished 3rd, barely holding off Melanie and Kim. We were all in the 122's. My splits were: 6:32,6:32,5:55,5:59,6:02,5:59,6:13,6:17,6:37,6:27,6:21,6:41,last .1 @6:26 pace. I was pleased with my time. I got $300 and a good old fashioned trophy, gold with stone and columns and a statue of a girl running on top. You don't see those much any more. After the race we hiked out to a waterfall and I iced my legs in the river. That felt really good! | 