Summary

It wasn’t until the race was just 2 days out that I decided to run this race. I was taking the week off after a rough attempt at the dirty double and the NCAA west prelims (5k and 10k) the week prior. I was doing a few easy miles with Conner Mantz and some other teammates. Coach Eyestone was biking along side us as well. Conner convinced me that I should enter for the easy prize money and experience. Realizing it was a great idea to also piggy back off of some great track fitness, I decided to do it.

Entry was closed, so I was forced to show up to packet pick up and hope I could find the race director. After flagging him down and spouting out some personal bests, he quickly got me a free elite entry and I was in. I had never done a road half marathon before. It was a unique experience getting to wake up at 3 am to catch the shuttle up to the start line. Regardless, I loved the whole thing. I’m surprised I was as nervous as I was; after all, I was just there to get an easy win and go for $750 in prize money ($500 for 1st and $250 for breaking 1:06). It was going to be a good time! Well, I lost and took second. I ran 1:05:35 to get the bonus and still walked away with $600. I was officially a pro runner!

Boy did we get a break! the next 3 miles were a comfortable drop in elevation, and we started cruising sub 4:50 pace with ease. Sean told me at about 5 miles that his stomach was hurting him and he let me go. Coming through halfway in the race, I had a 5 second lead! I felt as though this was going to be an easy first road race win. As I come out of the canyon (alone I might add), There were people starting to line the road to watch people go by. So with 5 miles to go, I was enjoying myself with a comfortable lead. But I quickly noticed they were cheering for two of us, and by mile 9, Sean caught me again.

As I heard him approaching, I had to make a decision. What could I do to beat him? He must have been feeling pretty good if he ran me down, I was still cruising sub 5:00. In a rapid decision, I surged hard for 1/2 a mile. Gapping him again, I felt it gave me best shot at breaking him. Not to be out done so easily, he came back at mile 10 1/2 with a sly remark: “that was a nice move back there”. I’ve never felt so defeated by someone mid race. And as I failed to hang on going into the final 2 miles, my BYU teammates ran by at that moment to cheer me on. Rather, taunt me as they watched me get dropped. The last 2 miles were so painful. It occurred to me that it hadn’t really gotten difficult until Sean caught me. I quickly did some mental math to calculate how slow I could run, yet still break the 1:06 barrier for the bonus cash - I just needed to run 5:20s, which I genuinely didn’t know if I could maintain. After 10 long and miserable minutes (closing in 5:08 pace), I crossed the line on my first half marathon.

Takeaways

I’m very proud of my first effort at the distance. I think it was a promising start to marathoning. I learned the hard way that the added distance feels very different from the track distances. Even thought I felt great halfway through, I did not gage my energy well enough to finish at the pace I was running. I can only imagine what it will feel like to make the jump to the marathon. Right now, I imagine I will need to feel much better than I think halfway through it. My first marathon will be the St. George Marathon in October, so I will know soon enough!