I ran the Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon on Saturday. When I registered for this race in April after not being able to run December thru March I thought it would be a miracle if I ran it as fast as last year, 1:24:48. I printed off my splits from last year on an old bib number and put it on my wrist. This was my goal and having each mile written down to look at was very helpful. I ran every split faster or the same as last year except the last mile, which was 6 seconds slower.
I felt ok for most of the race and seemed to kept pretty even effort splits, considering the hills. As I drove the course in the car the night before I thought, "These hills are not near as big as I remember them," but during the race they were as big as I remembered them again.
At about mile 8 I started to feel fatigued. This is also where the "flat uphill" is. I also felt very hot and thirsty. For the last several miles I felt like I couldn't get enough water and stopped at the water stations to drink multiple cups and dump some on my head. Every mile I looked at my split from last year and thought, "I can do that." Mile 8 was also the point I slowed down last year. At mile 11.5 going up a hill that doesn't look like much in the car I felt like I might cry. But I kept on running and obviously made it to the finish in 1:23:48. A whole minute faster than last year! I was pleased with my time and the $200 for placing 4th was an added bonus. I didn't think I had much of a chance to win anything.
My splits were: 6:32 (mile 1), 6:32 (mile 2), 5:56 (mile 3), 5:59 (mile 4), 6:10 (mile 5), 6:10 (mile 6), 6:15 (mile 7), 6:25 (mile 8), 6:44 (mile 9), 6:26 (mile 10), 6:43 (mile 11), 6:46 (mile 12), 6:37 (mile 13), 36 sec (last .1). Average 6:24 | 