My goal for this race was to break 1:50:00, I had come close at Ogden with 1:50:12. I was not sure if I could make it thought because I had not been training of Hobble Creek but for St. George
I learned a lot from this race. The two most important things I learned were: 1) Kim and I are a good team 2) I can run faster than I think I can...or I am physically stronger than I am mentally. When Kim and I set out to run this race our plan was to use the down hill and run as fast as we could for the first six miles and then just hold on for all its worth until the end. I forgot to turn the auto pause off on my Garmin so my split for mile three is off because of the potty stop but other than they they should be about right. The splits for the first six are as follows: 8:14, 7:55, 7:14, 8:04, 7:55, 7:56 At this point you come out of the canyon and start to run on the paved trail. At mile 7 Kim started to fade but she made me promise before the race that I would keep going so I did. Miles 7,8, and 9 seemed to go pretty good. there splits are: 8:31, 8:29, 8:06 At the 9.5 mile point I was DONE I hit the wall. I remembered I had not taken any gu so I ate two gel thingies that Kim had given me. At that point she caught up to me and passed me. I kept saying to my self "I can't let Rhett be right, Kim can't take me" So I kept her in my sights and by mile 11 I had caught back up to her. I just kept saying in my head only two miles to go and you can still PR. The splits for miles 10 and 11 were the only two miles over marathon pace and we walked up one of the hills so I still feel pretty good about those miles. splits: 9:09, 9:05 At mile 12 Kim started to fad again but caught up to me at the 13 mile mark. With .1 mile to go she said "Don't go too strong with the pace here" I thought she said "Lets do a strong pace here" So I started to speed up. She thought I was trying to beat her and she hurried and crossed the finish line first...So Rhett was right she could take me! Last splits are:
8:35, 8:33 This race I think gave both Kim and I the confidence that we needed. I really think we can BQ this year!
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