Friday night Andy asked if I would be willing to pace 1:40 instead of 1:50. I understood it was a downhill course and figured I'd been feeling good this week so I'd go for it. But, I was hesitant. When I got there early Saturday morning I told Andy if he wanted a cheerleader pacer to put me at 1:50, but if he just wanted a warm body to finish in 1:40 I knew I could do it. Since the other pacers weren't comfortable or confident to take the faster spot for the sick pacer I stepped in. Kelli Davey was going to keep up with me and keep me on pace!
This race was unique in the fact that they had the girls start 30 min ahead of all the boys and the goal was to get in before any of the boys. If you did you got an extra medal. A fun concept for a race, but there were only 2 buses of people total at the start. The rain started gently falling just before the womens start.
The first mile I was supposed to pace 8:23...but it was CRAZY uphill! I'd say a good 8% incline and the mile was truly at the crest of the last hill. My mile timed in at 9:56! What the Heck?!? I was alredy 90 seconds off pace and it was only the first mile. I decided then and there that I was going to push until mile 4 and check time there. Until that point there were some downs, but also rollers, which meant uphills to again slow me. But by mile 4 I was on time again. I knew the course flattened out again the last 4 miles and with the downhill in the middle my legs would be toast, so I knew I needed a bit more of a bank to take on the last four.
I was in 4th place for the females as I pulled up to my first runner. She told me she had horrible blisters on her feet, and afterward I saw she really did! It was her first half and I worked with her for a bit until she stopped at and aid station. I kept just heading downhill to get a few more seconds.
Mile 9 you come out of the canyon and that flat finally hits. After a 7% downhill grade those flat rollers are tough on your legs. I was now in 3rd place and I was a little leery. Finally around mile 10 another woman caught me and I told her I had about 45 seconds in the bank and so she would be finishing under 1:40 if she kept her strong pace. I was honestly happy I wasn't in the top 3 any more.
After a couple of killer rollers that sucked the life out of me (seriously, this race was tough) then I came to the last crest and I could see the finish line. I had 2.5 minutes to get to the end. I had no idea how far I had to go and if I'd really make it in time or not. So I picked up the pace. I shouldn't have, but the mile markers were way off of my garmin and I didn't know what to trust. I crossed in 1:39:11 which wasn't too bad given not really knowing the course or accruacy of mile markers.
The rain was constant the whole time and we got awfully cold at the end. I and most of the other pacers passed on our AG placing awards. When I stepped down from the 1st place position the 4th place girl that stepped up to the podium had such a happy look on her face! It was totally worth giving up the medal (even though I worked HARD for it!) just to see how happy she was for working so hard.
A great race and an amazing exerperience with Kelli Davy driving up and back. Another early morning and drive to Ogden...
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