my makeup may be flaking

This race was primarily to see how I responded to "Des News" type conditions. I had initially hoped to run sub 1:12 and I thought that a sub 1:10 was in play. I had all but ruled out those possibilities before the race even started however.

I got up at 4am and sat on my couch eating artisan bread with hummus and watching South Park while drinking water (traditional pre race routine). Something was not right however, I was parched. I needed to keep drinking water to stop myself from getting cotton mouth and I felt like there was no realistic way to drink enough water before the start.

I left my house at 5:25am and I remember thinking how HOT it was. I jogged through salt lake city to get to the start and I could feel my body overheating, I was not sweating at all, there was nothing to sweat out. We were bussed to the start line and I remember wishing that I wasn't decked head to foot in the Union Jack. I wanted to ask another runner if I could have some water as I was desperate.

At the starting line up the canyon it was still a little warm but it was cooler and there seemed to be very little sun. I looked around for some water but...no luck. I kind of threw my prerace plan out of the window and decided I would take it easy until the last 5k.

There were quite a few good runners there that I recognised from this summer but from talking to them I had the impression that they were making their half marathon debuts. "I want to hit 5:40s and come in under 1:20" one said. Does not compute. There was a general consensus of taking it easy at the start because it would be hot. I advised to hit the last 4 miles hard because it was a downhill finish...damn my good advice.

Anyway, after the 1st mile it was just me and one other guy at 5:34 and I was feeling very relaxed. In the 2nd mile I opened a little lead and so I started throwing in some short bursts to shake him entirely. Thanks to the surges, that mile was 5:13. I relaxed a little running 5:26 for the third mile. I looked back and could see that I had already had about a 30 second lead built up and I was starting to feel pretty confident. Mile 4 was only 5:44 as I slowed down a little to drink some water but I looked back and saw he was now close to a minute back and almost out of sight. I decided to see what I could do on the next mile and have it still feel "sensible". That turned out to be a 5:20 and at this point I was sure that the race was over. I was not cramping up badly and I had a rapidly expanding lead.

In the last canyon mile I started to become aware of the heat and my own thirst. I slowed to take water again and ran 5:41 for the 6th mile and I was on about 1:12 pace halfway through. It was at this point that I noticed the race was departing from the course map. Instead of going through this is the place we ran down sunnyside a way. I had a good idea of what was coming next, a long climb up to the shoreline trail and I was right. Suffering from the heat I climbed the hills fairly conservatively and I was certain that my pace had veered over 6 minute pace. I didn't take another split until mile 9. That was 17:19 for the 3 miles uphill which seemed plausible but I was certain I had been slower.

I climbed the little switchback on the shoreline trail that represented the last hill and now I could see a runner in blue moving very fast at the base of the climb. He couldn't have been much more than a minute behind me and he had been nowhere in sight before. I knew that, even accounting for the hills, my pace had slowed dramatically but there didn't seem to be much I could do about it. I just kind of hoped that I would be able to hit the last couple of miles fast enough that he wouldn't catch me.

Unfortunately miles 10 and 11 combined were only 12:04 despite what I perceived to be high effort. (Afterwards I thought the course might have been long, but it also might have been due to my fatigue). I still held the lead as I turned on to the final loop around city creek. It was a downhill finish and looking back I couldn't see the guy in blue anymore. Then, right as we the course doubled back I saw him about 10 seconds behind my closing very fast. We had about a mile to go and I was weakening but not completely. I found a little bit of extra juice to hold on to those final few seconds but he caught me right as we came in sight of the Capitol Building.

NOOOO! A voice yelled in my head, you cannot let this happen again! My legs were burning but I asked them "can you kick?" and they responded "just tell me when". I should add that as the guy in blue passed he gave me a nonchalant "good job". Please, don't ever do that to someone who you are about to pass in the last mile of a half marathon. It's kind of a dick thing to do, although I'm sure he meant well.

Anyway I stayed close enough and finally turned on the afterburners in the 100meters. I blew by him and then almost fell going around the final turn before sprinting again to get the win by 2 seconds. Very tough race, my first ever half marathon win.

Not sure what to make of the time. Not totally encouraging to run 1:14:54 when your goal is sub 2:30. I think with some better handling of the logistics I can do it.

A good race, ultimately quite well run with an interesting course.