May has been a training month for me, a rare month when I haven’t run in any ultra races. I’ve been trying to maintain a 10 mile per day average, even when only running 5 days per week. To do this, I have resorted to doing 3-hour runs before work. My wife thinks I’m nuts getting up at 2:30 a.m. several times per week in order to hit the trail before 3:00 a.m. I’ve enjoyed the mornings and pass the time listening to sports radio, catching up on the events from the day before. This morning, at a whim, I decided to go run a half-marathon to get in some speed work and to test my left calf to see if it can take faster paces now.
I went and signed up for the Homestead Resort half-marathon. This race starts at the finish-point of the Wasatch Front 100. The course heads to Soldier Hollow, the location of the cross-country skiing venue for the 2002 Olympics. From there it heads west above the Deer Creek Reservoir, on a dirt road above the railroad used by the Heber Creeper. It then returns back to the start on the same route. About half of the course is on soft dirt/gravel road, making it enjoyable for me.
I’ve only run in one other half marathon, so I had no idea if this was a difficult course. But I listened to road-runners at the finish and they were all talking about how tough the course was.
There were about 80 runners in the race. For the first mile, I ran with the front four runners. The pace didn’t seem blistering, so I hung with the young guys for awhile as we decended a paved cart path through the golf course and spilled out onto a residential road in Midway, Utah. The young fast guys eased forward and I eased back into a comfortable pace after two miles. I really didn’t intend to push the pace much.
The morning was wonderful. Cool and sunny. I was passed by a fit young runner before the two-mile mark and then by a very tall runner with a long stride around mile three. He commented about the stiff headwind we were running into. He hoped it was still blowing this direction on our return trip. I was in 6th place. A little before the four-mile mark, we reached Soldier Hollow and jumped onto the dirt/gravel road. It was soft from :the recent rains.
My pace was pretty good. My first four miles were: 6:28, 6:38, 7:08, 7:19. For the next six miles we would be on dirt. I was pleased. That would play into my strengths. I was very surprised to see the road ahead making some good climbs. I could see this wouldn’t be an easy course. As the road winded above the shores of Deer Creek Reservoir, I could look behind and see that I was over a quarter-mile ahead of the next runner. The headwind was pretty fierce at times as I rounded corners. I had to hang onto my hat in order to keep it from blowing away. My left lower calf started to tighten up and giving me pain. That was discouraging. I had hoped that it had healed. But since I don’t train running this fast sustained pace, I wasn’t surprised. I did my best to alter my stride and foot-placement. That seemed to help. I also eased the pace back.
At the turn-around I was less than a mile behind the leader and still hanging onto 6th place. A runner behind wearing yellow was getting closer to me. It was fun to see all the runners behind, and I picked up the pace with a good tail-wind and pushed pretty hard on the uphills. On the downhills, I really flew. It was great fun.
We returned to Soldier Hollow and only had four miles to go. My pace on the dirt road was: 8:26, 8:08, 8:00, 7:37, and, 7:29. My goal was to finish sub-1:40, but I didn’t know if this was possible on this slow course.
Now it was just pavement pounding to the finish. I felt good, but didn’t really push it too hard. I did hope to keep my 6th place position, which I had held for the last seven miles. I could see the tall guy about a half mile ahead. I didn’t think I could catch him. With just over one mile to go, the guy in yellow caught up with me. I realized that I was being lazy, so I decided to hang with him. I knew the last several hundred yards of the race was uphill. If I still had gas in the tank, I planned to engage a kick and pass him before the finish. My last three miles were: 7:15, 7:26, and 7:30.
As we made a turn on the cart path up into the golf course, I dug deep and pushed hard. I quickly caught up and passed the yellow guy. At the top of the hill I tried my best to hang on as the finish approached. I finished about five seconds ahead of the yellow dude. My finish time was 1:38:15. I was pleased. It was a PR for me. I was 6th overall and placed 2nd in the 40-49 age-group. (I’m 49). I felt good and had a good race. Runners were talking about the “tough, tough course” with the stiff wind. It makes me wonder how fast I could do on an easy course.
The calf was a little sore at the finish, but not bad. I won a $20 gift certificate at a local running store, and got a nice 2nd place glass medallion. The race director loved to say, “Davy Crockett.”
That certainly is a great time for a half. Congratulations. I wish I could join you at Boston but I can’t shave the time off the qualifying runs.