I finally found some time to file a race report. I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of myself at this race. My mileage this winter has been better than most winters, but I've done little to no speed work. On Oct. 21 the doctor confirmed that my right hip pain was being caused by my left leg being over an inch shorter than my right (a result of a serious knee injury when I was 14). I've used various lifts in my left shoe over the years, but I finally decided to get serious. I did some research and got some lifts that maximized the height I could get within a shoe. This added about 3/8" to the height of my previous lifts. I got six of them and now wear them in all my shoes, including my running shoes. I started running with my new lifts in late October and have been focusing on just getting my body used to the new alignment after 30+ years. My hip pain has improved. I still feel some pain in my hip at times...probably arthritis...but it usually isn't bad enough to effect my running much. The weather for the race was cooler than I'd hoped for, but at least the rain stayed away. I was going to run in my jacket, but after warming up for about a mile I decided to hurry and drop my jacket in the car before the start. I was glad I did. I was comfortable for the whole race in just shorts, a short sleeved shirt, my hat, and some knit gloves. There was a cool breeze after the race and I got pretty cold pretty fast in my wet clothes. They were handing out space blankets, but I opted to go to the car and put on a dry shirt, long pants, my jacket and a fleece vest. I started the race with Wayne Fairbanks, Jonathan Crampton, and Hal Amos. It wasn't long before Hal pulled away. He went on to beat me by 5 minutes. Jonathan and I pulled a little ahead of Wayne, and then at about mile two I pulled ahead of Jonathan and ran the rest of the race alone. Wayne and Jonathan finished 3 and 4 minutes behind me, respectively. Just before I pulled ahead of Jonathan I told him my goal for the race was to find out where my fitness was, and I couldn't do that unless I pushed my limits. I think I did a good job of that. I pushed pretty hard and held a pretty steady pace (or at least effort) throughout the race. I passed a few and got passed by a few, but I didn't crash. I feel like I finished pretty strong, but my tank was pretty close to empty. I fought back to beat a couple of strong men runners that passed me with a few miles to go, mostly because they looked like there was a chance they could be in my age division. I couldn't muster enough speed, however, to catch Josse Tobiasson or Marci Lamoreaux, who both finished less than a minute ahead of me. Marci won the women's master's division. My mile splits on my Garmin were: 7:20, 7:24, 7:04, 7:12, 7:45 (hill), 7:12, 7:37: 7:36, 7:50 (hill), 7:19, 7:37, 7:26, 7:20. I must have accidentally pushed the start button after race because a really slow extra mile was on my watch when I looked at it later.
My official overall time was 1:36:24 (7:22/mi). I finished 8th of 50 in the Men's 45-49 age division, and 86th of 543 out of the men overall. There 22 women who beat me, all of them were in their 20's or 30's except for Marci (41), so I finished 108th overall out of 1322 runners.
Considering I've run very few miles over the last few months at near 7:22/mi pace, I'm thrilled I managed to average that pace for 13.1 miles. My old body held out pretty well and I was mentally tougher than I thought I might be. My body recovered pretty quickly. The only concern is some plantar faciitis pain in my right foot. It started after my long run last Monday. I've picked up my mileage a little (47+ miles this week), but I really think worn out shoes is the cause. Both my #1 and #2 pairs of shoes have over 500 miles on them. Wearing my Strassburg Sock at night has helped, but I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get some new shoes this week. I feel good about the race, but the best part of the weekend was having some getaway time with Karen. I really enjoyed the drive down and back and our brief time together in St. George. I also really enjoyed visiting my parents in Nephi on the way back. It was also very enjoyable spending some time at my friend Greg's 50th birthday party Saturday night and seeing some old friends (both long-time and aged) I hadn't seen for a while. Saturday was a full day, which is usually the best kind.
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