Salt Lake Half Marathon - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

Runner Coug · 04-21-2008, 07:42 PM

Ran it on Saturday. It turned out ok. My plan after my disastrous half two weeks ago was just to come in under 2 hours this time.

I should have lined up farther back at the start, because I got caught up in the wave, and found myself running a 7:45/mile pace for the first three miles. I have no business running that fast for anything over a 5k, and I definitely paid for it later. I was good until about 9 miles, my overall pace was about 8:19/mile, and then I hit the wall.

I've never had to walk during a half marathon, but I had to take brief walk breaks starting at about mile 9. So my pace kept getting slower and slower. With about 3/4 mile left in the race, I was pretty much spent. I was walking a lot, and all of a sudden someone slapped me really hard on the back, which woke me up from my funk. I looked over and it was a girl from my office. So I started running with her, and we did the 3/4 mile at a 7:50 pace. She really helped me out a ton. She's a good runner, she finished in the top 6% of all women in the half.

Anyway, I finished in 1:53. Six minutes slower than last year, which kind of bugs me, but I was much better about running through the winter in '06 than I was last year. This was also a good lesson about not starting out too fast. I tried to hang on the last 4 miles, but just couldn't do it. Gotta get in better shape.

MikeWaters · 04-21-2008, 07:48 PM

Some day you will be faster than my almost 66 year old mom.

Runner Coug · 04-21-2008, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Some day you will be faster than my almost 66 year old mom.

I doubt it.

SteelBlue · 04-21-2008, 08:33 PM

Way to gut it out man. It seems to be a real art to pace oneself in such a long race. I wonder if anyone ever really gets it down.

bluegoose · 04-21-2008, 08:35 PM

Nice work, RC. 1:53 is a very respectable time, regardless of whether or not you walked. How was the weather this weekend?

Runner Coug · 04-21-2008, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Way to gut it out man. It seems to be a real art to pace oneself in such a long race. I wonder if anyone ever really gets it down.

No kidding. I totally suck at it. I definitely need to work on it though, because I've tried racing by starting fast and holding on, and starting slow and speeding up, and they both give me basically the same results. I think I'd do better with an even effort throughout.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluegoose

Nice work, RC. 1:53 is a very respectable time, regardless of whether or not you walked. How was the weather this weekend?

Weather was fine. It was pretty windy, but it was at our backs as much as it was in our faces, so I can't complain.

SteelBlue · 04-25-2008, 02:30 PM

I was just perusing the results page and I recognized 4 people from Redding. The guy that finished 8th overall is a kid that bluegoose and I have raced against many times in the summer and winter 4 mile race series here (when I say raced against I use the term loosely, we started at the same starting line). The other Reddingites are now from Highland; I see my old bishop ran a 6:57 pace at age 46. I didn't realize how big that race is.

04-21-2008, 07:42 PM	#1
Runner Coug Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 945	Salt Lake Half Marathon Ran it on Saturday. It turned out ok. My plan after my disastrous half two weeks ago was just to come in under 2 hours this time. I should have lined up farther back at the start, because I got caught up in the wave, and found myself running a 7:45/mile pace for the first three miles. I have no business running that fast for anything over a 5k, and I definitely paid for it later. I was good until about 9 miles, my overall pace was about 8:19/mile, and then I hit the wall. I've never had to walk during a half marathon, but I had to take brief walk breaks starting at about mile 9. So my pace kept getting slower and slower. With about 3/4 mile left in the race, I was pretty much spent. I was walking a lot, and all of a sudden someone slapped me really hard on the back, which woke me up from my funk. I looked over and it was a girl from my office. So I started running with her, and we did the 3/4 mile at a 7:50 pace. She really helped me out a ton. She's a good runner, she finished in the top 6% of all women in the half. Anyway, I finished in 1:53. Six minutes slower than last year, which kind of bugs me, but I was much better about running through the winter in '06 than I was last year. This was also a good lesson about not starting out too fast. I tried to hang on the last 4 miles, but just couldn't do it. Gotta get in better shape.

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04-21-2008, 07:48 PM	#2
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	Some day you will be faster than my almost 66 year old mom.

04-21-2008, 08:33 PM	#4
SteelBlue Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Norcal Posts: 5,821	Way to gut it out man. It seems to be a real art to pace oneself in such a long race. I wonder if anyone ever really gets it down.

04-21-2008, 08:35 PM	#5
bluegoose Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Northern California Posts: 2,919	Nice work, RC. 1:53 is a very respectable time, regardless of whether or not you walked. How was the weather this weekend?

04-25-2008, 02:30 PM	#7
SteelBlue Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Norcal Posts: 5,821	I was just perusing the results page and I recognized 4 people from Redding. The guy that finished 8th overall is a kid that bluegoose and I have raced against many times in the summer and winter 4 mile race series here (when I say raced against I use the term loosely, we started at the same starting line). The other Reddingites are now from Highland; I see my old bishop ran a 6:57 pace at age 46. I didn't realize how big that race is.