So today I ran the Hurricane Half Marathon. I was hoping to break 1:20:00 but quickly realized at mile 5 that i would be lucky to to even finish.
Mile 1 6:01 - Running with Dustin kind of chatting a back and forth, he was giving me the low down on everybody that was n front of us. I felt comfortable on this mile, but was thinking to myself that I probably needed to slow down and save some energy for the upcoming hills. Mile 2 - 5:56 - Slight downhill on this section, still running with Dustin and still telling myself that I needed to slow down. Dustin and I pick off a guy on this mile, just like Dustin said we would. Mile 3 - 6:04 - There was a little uphill on this part, Dustin pulled away on this mile and was looking way strong. I decided that I would just try and run my own race and try and run the hills strong. Mile 4 - 6:24 - Starting to feel a side ache coming on, nothing to strong yet but I am trying to focus on getting up the hills at a good pace so that I could hit the downhills hard. Mile 5 6:22 - Side ache is still there and starting to get more intense. I am trying to push my fist into my side trying to push it out. I am concentrating on my breathing, but with every breath in the pain gets stronger. Mile 6 - 6:30 - Some good climbing on this mile, Nate is catching me pretty quick, I knew that he would be passing by at any time. Stomach is cramped pretty tight, and I am now thinking that I just might not finish the dang race. I knew that I needed to finish so that I could get into the Marathon. I starting thinking that at least I would only have to walk 7 miles and not the whole race. Mile 7 - 7:08 - You can tell by this mile split that I was starting to hurt real bad. I had to stop and walk right before the aid station and this is where Nate passed me. He asked if I was ok, I said NO not really. I walked to the aid station and got a good drink of gatorade and then hit the downhill section of the course.
Mile 8 - 6:28 - Stomach was still hurting, but it was easier to run downhill because I didn't have to breathe in as much for air. Nate was still in sight and the rest of the field was a good .5 or more ahead of me. I was glad that I could still see Nate, it kind of gave me something to chase after.
Mile 9 5:40 - I was trying to make up as much ground on the next 2 miles, because I knew that the course would flatten back out again and that there was some more hills ahead. Nate is still with in reach but he is looking strong.
Mile 10 5:49 - Starting feel a little better. I am glad that there is only a 5k left, and that I have made it to mile 10. I never really looked at my watch for overall time, I was mostly watching it for overall pace. I really need to get better at paying more attention to my watch as I get closer to the end of a race.
Mile 11 6:26 - I see Steve H at this mile, he is videoing some of the runners, and waiting for his wife to come by. He said you look good, how are you feeling? I asked how to get rid of a side ache? He laughed and said just keep going? Stomach pain is still there, but not as bad as mile 7. I really had concentrate on my breathing, I couldn't breathe in real deep or the pain would come real sharp.
Mile 12 6:46 - I hit this mile and I see Dustin STOP? And he waits for me to catch up and I asked if he was ok? He said that his hip was hurting, we chatted for a bit and he said you could still have a good time so go ahead and take off. I passed another guy on this mile and was still chasing Nate and the 3rd place guy was with in sight as well. I was hoping that Nate would catch him.
Mile 13 6:06 - This mile I told myself that no matter how bad it hurt that I was going to try and close the gap on Nate. I knew that I wouldn't beat him, but I wanted to try and make up some ground on him. When nate turned the corner on the grass to finish around the track, I thought for sure he would pass the 3rd place guy, but I found out after that Nate was thinking we would run around the track and that he would catch him there. But the race finished just as you left the grass again. He ran smart today, he went out slower that most of us and made up time on the second half of the course. I was glad to finally hit the grass and really excited to see my dad and friend there waiting by the finish line. I could finally see the clock and tried to kick to the finish so that I could maybe stay under 1:21:00. But I missed it by 9 seconds. Nate ended up finishing 18 seconds in front of me and the 3rd place guy finished just 7 seconds in front of Nate. He almost had him.
So today I learned a lot about myself. I was glad that I was able to hold it together and finish the race. I kept on telling myself, Tyler you need to keep running through the pain, you are learning to adjust to things that happen in races. Every race can't be perfect, there will always be things to blame a bad race on. But you have to adjust your body, pace and etc and just keep on going if possible. So even though I didn't break 1:20:00 I still feel like I had a great race. I also learned some things that I need to change in my training and dieting. THis race gave me hope for the Ogden half in 2 weeks. I think that I will be able to shave 2 minutes off of this time if the stars line up for me and the body cooperates. We left the race and headed for the Bear Paw and had breakfast. I had a large bowl of their fat free oatmeal?? jk it is far from fat free. We went back to the house and I showered and my friend and I went golfing while my dad went mothers day shopping. Finished up at the golf course and then headed to In and Out and had some really good food and then to St. George Running Center to pick up my shoes that I ordered from Steve. I can't wait to race in them at Ogden. Hurricane City does a great job on this race, and I don't know who told me that this was an easy course, BUT IT IS NOT!!!! This is a great half that throws everything at you, uphill, downhill, flat and some good rolling hills too.
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