Hobble Creek ½ marathon 2014
“Rolled the dice and they came up 6s
today”
This race is a tradition
for me and my mom. She was the whole reason I ever even started running. It is
always an inspiration to see her.
For me this event gets going a few
days before the actual race. Since the race starts up at Balsam campground, my
Mom and I decided years ago the best thing to do is spend Friday night up
there. We did this for a few years until Hawk started reserving the group site
for all of the porta-potties. It is always so much more relaxing to be there
and not get up early to ride a bus. I tell everyone I can to come and join us,
but only a handful ever does.
Bryce Peterson contacted me and
asked if he could stay in the motorhome with us. It was fun to have him join
us.
Early Friday morning I drove the
motorhome up to the site and left it. I went and picked up my packet about 2pm.
I talked to Brandon Dase for a bit and learned of his injured status. I was
bummed for him. He reminded me though that this is the exact place I was in
last year. I hope he can heal up well and get back to it.
Mom made and brought dinner up with
her. We had some great salmon, yams, salad and rice. Scott DeWitt, a co-worker,
and his wife showed up with their motorhome. They have learned the advantages
of staying up there also. We sat outside talking and enjoying the good weather.
Bryce showed up at 9 as we were still sitting out and relaxing.
We then went in and got settled in
for the night. Bryce asked me what time I was setting the alarm for. I told him
that we don’t set an alarm. When the first busload of runners arrives we will
hear the doors on the porta-potties and all of the women chatting. This is when
we know it’s time to get up. I am not sure that he believed me or not.
I had a restful night’s sleep. I
started to hear the talking and the doors banging. I rolled over and looked at
the time, 06:01. So I sat up and told Bryce, Their here, time to get up. I wish
that there were more races that I could camp at the start like this.
I got dressed and went outside to
find Matt, Mike and Reed, sitting in the chairs we had left out. It is nice to
have somewhere to make the start more comfortable. The best part is the warm
place and a private toilet facility. No waiting in line. I turned on my car
stereo and cranked the sound up. Most races have music at the start and my car
fulfills this purpose just fine.
Mark Stewart another co-worker, and
his wife rode the bus up. I invited them into the motorhome to stay warm. There
were many other good running friends there also.
I have not been able to get in the
training that I want because we are remodeling our house. A normal day for me
is 8 hours at work and then another 4 to 6 hours working on the house. Rest and
recovery are always the first casualty. My weekly miles have also been way down
as running is just lower on the priority list right now. I was doing the race
just because I was registered and to see where my legs are.
I went and warmed up the legs by running up the canyon a ways.
It was fun to see everyone there. I saw Brandon Borget. I had decided to run
with the Go-pro camera on my head, and not start at the front. Brandon told me
he was just going to hang with me. I thought it would be great as I am an in
between runner. The elites always take off and I end up all by myself for most
of the race.
We got lined up and wiggled our way into the middle of the
crowd about 10 yards back. I had created a pace band for a 1:15 time. I figured
I at least needed some kind of goal. The start went and we were off. Brandon
and I worked through the crowd for about the first ½ mile. I then decided that
I needed to push through the next group and so I sped up. I thought that
Brandon was right there with me, but he got stuck in the crowd. He dropped back
a bit but still had a great race.
My pace stayed really steady for the whole race. For the
first few miles there were people to run with, but they were not people who I
knew. Splits for the first 5 were 5:51, 5:52, 5:54, 6:05.
I felt really good. I was afraid
that the legs would feel tired as I had done a speed workout on Wednesday. They
felt good the whole way.
Somewhere around mile the start of
mile 6, Tyson drove by and asked if I would help get Amber out of the group she
was stuck in. They were about 10 seconds behind me at this point. Adam was
there with her also. I slowed up a bit. Adam and another girl came by. I let
Amber get about a yard behind me and I started encouraging her. My splits for 6
– 10 were again consistent, 6:07, 6:03, 6:03, 6:05, 6:06.
I was feeling strong as we turned
down into the dip to Mapleton. I could hear that Amber’s breathing wasn’t
right, it seemed labored. I told her to relax and just stick with me. She held
close as I held back through 11 and 12 with splits of 6:11 and 6:14.
We turned the last corner and I
decided that I was feeling pretty good. I gave Amber one last bit of
encouragement and then picked it up. I did mile 13 in a 5:23. I really pushed
it the last 400.
I like to finish a race knowing I have given it my all. The pictures
sure make it look that way, but I just felt too good after a little bit. I
really wonder if I could have cut a couple of minutes off of my time. You never
really know what your result will be until you cross the finish line. My
official finish time is 1:17:47. I placed 23rd overall, 20th
in gender, 2nd in my age group.
After I walked through and got a
piece of watermelon I started back up the course. I knew that there were
several people that could help run the last bit. I kept the camera running and
I have a lot of time and shots of many of the runners. I ran for a bit with
Jill Lynch, Steve Poole,
and Mark Stewart.
I then went back and found my mom at
about mile 11.5. I ran with and encouraged her all the way to the finish.
Mom wins her age group again!
I ended up doing about 7 miles post-race.
It was a good cool down. I am feeling pretty good about where I am. I just need
to somehow do a quick recovery and then get back to training so that I can be
ready for the next race which is Saint George.
Hope to see many of you again next year for the race and up at the campground. I hope to have the race footage from the Go-pro uploaded to YouTube soon. When it is ready I will post a link.
"Life can be hard, Train harder"
1 comment:
Awesome post
Post a Comment