my makeup may be flaking

The Triple Header:

#1 Beat the Heat

This is the first time I've ever lined up at a circuit race and felt like I had a chance to win. In the first mile there was a pretty large pack but I stayed close to the front. After we crested the first hill I tried to sprint away from the field but my legs hinted to me that I just didn't really have it today. I hit the first mile in 5:07 and held the lead for another quarter mile or so before Riley Cook and Ken Richardson passed me. I lost about 10 seconds in the 2nd mile and couldn't get any closer in the last mile. I was pretty happy with the result as I beat some good runners and finished close to Riley.

This was my 1st circuit race this year:

    1   1 Brad Osguthorpe          27 M          14:17  4:36    2 

    2   1 Teren Jameson            33 M          14:38  4:43    1 
    3   1 Jamal Tongo              18 M          14:44  4:45    4 
    4   2 Riley Cook               29 M          14:56  4:49  930 
    5   3 Jace Nye                 26 M          15:05  4:52  316 
    6   4 Kevin Smith              25 M          15:06  4:52    6 
    7   1 Dennis Simonaitis        48 M          15:08  4:53    7 
    8   1 Stephen Anderson         42 M          15:22  4:57    9 
    9   2 Oliver Lange             18 M          15:38  5:02   37 
   10   5 Chase Englestead         26 M          15:46  5:05   16 
   11   6 Derick Moody             25 M          15:51  5:07   15 
   12   7 James Moore              25 M          15:55  5:08   13 

 Today I beat Kevin, Dennis and Steve and I finished about 10 seconds behind Riley. That's not a bad turnaround for the year. I also beat Fernando Ramirez today, who is a member of the Utah Elite. That always makes me feel good about myself.

#2 Radiating Hope

I was originally planning on just running this at threshold pace and I went pretty conservatively to begin with. At the start a younger kid sprinted out and so I caught him and ran next to him for a bit but then he dropped back. I found I was feeling good so I started to run at maybe 10k pace. After the first loop (5:36 pace), I saw that Allie was in 2nd and about 45 seconds behind me so I decided that I needed to pick it up if I was going to beat her by two minutes. On the second loop I saw the kid from the start cutting the course. Whatever. I started to push pretty hard as I wanted to break 17 but then it turned out the course was long. Then there was no one to direct me so to make sure I didn't cut the course I decided to run further than I thought was necessary (no one was going to pass me). I reached the finish line in a time of 22:08 for 3.9 miles (5:40 pace). The kid was at the finish line with a smug look and then he claimed that he beat me. After I questioned him as to where he got ahead of me he revealed that he'd just run around in circles before crossing the finish line. He also revealed that he was a pathological liar. I gave him a stern lecture on cheating. These are the types of kids that used to drive me nuts.

Race #3 Undead Race:

Ugh. I think I ran 18:12 for 3.4 miles (a 16:30 5k pace). I don't want to discuss this race beyond these points.

1. If you are going to do a race like this, the course should be very simple and should definitely not be a loop course.

2. Jessica Scott Larsen is a really nice person. It's crazy to think that Allie is her sister.

3. You know you've messed up when you make Ken Richardson mad.