Melanie and I drove to Cannonville, UT on Friday afternoon to run the Bryce Canyon 1/2 Marathon on Saturday. We set up our tent at the KOA around 8:00 p.m. and went to bed at 9:00 p.m. It was still light outside, but with the help of 3/4 a simply sleep, a mask over my eyes and ear plugs I was able to go to sleep and actually slept better than I usually do before this race. I also had no expectations of running fast or placing which may have lowered my usual pre-race anxiety level.
We warmed up a mile at the top and I stretched out really well. I was nervous about the tight spot in my hip, that makes my leg feel exhausted and dead like blood isn't circulating to it, bothering me. My calf bothered me a little on the warm up and I rubbed behind my knee and stretched that out really well. Fortunately everything felt pretty good during the race. The little aches, pains and tight spots were finally in the normal range, a little tightness in my calf that went away, minor hamstring fatigue, and a tight spot in my butt at the end.
I was so happy to feel "healthy" and be able to run without stopping. I didn't have a time goal because I wasn't sure I was even going to be able to run the thing without feeling horrible and stopping to stretch multiple times. I got tired and worried I might hit a wall, which kept me from really pushing the pace. I did stop for about 10 or 15 seconds in mile 9 to drink 2 cups of water, bend over to stretch my hamstrings and stretch both quads really quick. This was more because I was just feeling thirsty and tired and less becuse I felt injured. I've only done a few 15 mile runs in the last 4 months, so distance is more of an issue for me right now than it usually is.
Mile splits: 6:46, 6:45, 6:06, 6:07, 6:22, 6:21, 6:34, 6:35, 6:57 (drink/stretch), 6:36, 6:42, 6:40, 6:27, last .1 @ 6:03 pace. Overall average 6:32 pace. This is a downhill course. I finished feeling great. About a minute later I realized I wasn't near as tired as I usually am after that race and should have run faster.
I'm so happy to be able to run again!
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