I ran from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to Trefoil and back with Larry and Wayne. Kevin joined us for a good portion of the run, as did Larry's daughter Stacia and her husband Jeremy. The run up, into a strong cold headwind, was mostly at an easy pace, about 9:40/mi average, although I did push ahead for a mile and half or so at sub-8:00 pace just before Vivian so I could get a feel for running more or less at marathon pace on a gradual uphill stretch. At the top of South Fork I had to make a portapotty stop. I felt much better after. Larry and Wayne knew I was planning to push the pace on the way down so they had already started down. My mile splits down South Fork were 6:44, 6:49, 6:59 (quick water stop), and 6:39. I passed Larry just after I stopped for water at South Fork Park, and Wayne just before Vivian Park. I made a 5 second stop for water at Vivian and pushed the rest of the 6 miles to the mouth of the canyon at marathon pace effort. My mile splits were 7:24, 7:34, 7:12, 7:07, 7:14, and 7:19. My average pace for the 10 miles down from South Fork to the mouth was 7:06/mi. When I finished I ran back to meet Wayne and run in with him, then we both ran back to meet Larry. My total mileage was 21.8 miles in 3:04:52, average pace 8:28/mi. All in all I think today was a great workout. I pushed pretty hard, but not to the point of risking injury. The weather was a little cold at first but I was dressed properly and ran comfortably the whole time, including no blisters, chafing, muscle cramps, etc. I did need the one potty stop halfway through, but that was a small price to pay for the chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone I had yesterday. It was not unexpected. I definitely won't be eating ice cream the day before the marathon...but I'll definitely be eating some Blue Bunnies after.
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