Deseret News 10k. My only real goal was to run sub-34 min. I ran 34:29 at this race last year, and that didn't feel great, so I just hoped to improve. Paul and James, part of the FastRunningBlog/Logan Division, stayed at my house last night and we got out the door about 5:10 and to the race at about 5:20 for the 6am start. Sasha also stayed with us too, but since he was running the marathon he had to get up at 3am and I didn't see him this morning. Ran a warmup of about 2.25, including a few striders in the Ft. Douglas Cemetary. At the starting line, many familiar and unfamiliar faces. The high school element in the race is strong and there lots of speedy looking kids (many of whom beat me soundly). Chatted it up with Josh and Adam at the starting line. When the gun went off, it was a free-for-all; bodies flying around as everyone runs 4min pace for the first 200m. I knew I would just have to run my race. First mile in 4:53. Darrell Phippen, manager of Wasatch Running Center, was right there with me going into the second mile. I haven't seen him run this quickly before, but was glad to see a familiar face holding a pace similar to mine. Mile 2 in 4:56. Mile 3 flattens a bit, and has one little roller, split in 5:24 according to the Garmin. I didn't see the mile 3 sign, but caught a glimpse of my watch at mile 3.12 and saw a time of 15:53, which would be a 5k pr. I concentrated on trying to hold on as Darrell and I traded places a few times, with Mike Kirk also right in the mix with us. We were also starting to pick off a few high school kids. Mile 4 includes South Temple and then a bit of 200 E, the parade route. Starting to hurt; split in 5:21. At mile 5, Darrell surges ahead and it looks like he's gone. It then dawned on me that I really could pick it up if I just wanted to badly enough. So I did, picking up a few seconds in what was about to become a real tanker of a mile. Split in 5:29 for mile 5. The last mile of this race is hard. Last year I described it in my blog as the Alp d'900 South, in honor of the climbs in the Tour. In reality, it gains maybe 20 feet over .60mi. So,it's a matter of perception, really. And I generally perceive that it hurts badly. I decided to try to kick and see if I could catch Darrell, and I did, finishing just .9 seconds ahead. He ran a great race, the best I've run with him. I was spent and drenched owing to the race, the heat and humidity. The result exceeded my expectations. Cooled down five miles back to the car with Cody, James, Adam, and Paul (all of whom ran awesome races). We tried to catch some of the marathon leaders, but blew the logisitics (aka we didn't know where they were). We saw some mid-packers around the zoo, however. Then we went back to my house and had some food and chatted for a while. Great to get better acquainted with these good folks.
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