Big Cottonwood Half Marathon 2014

What a fun race this morning! This was to be my 28th half marathon and 10th for this year. I have one more scheduled for the year, plus one marathon.
I only yesterday found out Louise Vickerman was going to be running the half also so I knew I'd have someone to run with.
After Nebo I had figured Big Cottonwood would be a relaxing easy pace 13 mile run. Not to be! Once I knew Louise would be there I told her I'd like to see how close I can get to my PR from last week which was 1:40:50. Big Cottonwood isn't as easy a course as Mt. Nebo. 500' less elevation loss and more "outside the canyon" running. She was up for the challenge. I hoped I was.
While waiting for Louise, I met Mike Talbot and Shaylee Hurst, Mike was excited about trying out his newly healed knee, which ended up working just fine.
We rode a van up to the start with a driver that sounded like he had done everything and knew everything. Make a comment in the back? He'd chime in with his 2 cents worth and knew all about it.
It was cool at the start area, but I had sweatpants and a sweatshirt on to keep warm. I heard someone saying 34'F and wouldn't doubt it.

The portapoties location was a well kept secret until we finally asked someone. We met up with a few of The Run Aways and got some pictures taken. Blew it with my camera again, last time the battery was dead, this time I forgot to put the memory card in the camera so I wasn't able to take many.
The race started almost 20 minutes late as we had to wait for some late buses to arrive. Finally they arrived, threw our clothing bags into the trucks, then I realized I lost one of my gloves. I found one at the start line that someone else had dropped so it worked just fine.
Before the gun went we were privileged to have our friend Johnny Ahn sing the national anthem. He did great! A man of many talents!
We were off. Not like the wind to begin with, but with the crowded start, the pace wasn't too bad at first with an 8:01/m pace for the first mile. The first part didn't have too much for downhill, but our pace climbed to 7:28/m for mile 2, then slowed to 8:14 for mile three which I believe included an aid station. From there on our pace got faster and faster going from a 7:29, 7:09 then a surprising 6:54 which tied my fastest mile ever.
I found that I ran most of the race with a side ache. I tried changing my breathing pattern, breathing out on alternating strides, deeper breathing etc. but nothing seemed to work.

Around mile 9, (You can see the spike of when this happened in my garmin chart)I was starting to get very warm so decided to take my shirt off as we were running. Louise grabbed her phone and said I have to take a picture, as she said that, something happened and she fell forward and slid on the pavement for quite a while, the friction of her elbows and knees bringing her to a stop. I cringe every time I replay the moment in my mind. Her phone skidded off down the hill. Ouch! But what a trooper, I took a picture of her with her injuries and we were off running within seconds, with the phone no worse for wear.
We kept a great pace until the 10 mile and from there I struggled to keep the speed. We were out of the canyon and into flatter ground. For two miles we were in the low 8's and with the help of a bit of downhill got it to a 7:40 pace for mile 12.
In the final mile, I thought I saw Brett Peterson pushing a stroller past us, and I hollered out, Is that Elsha? He turned around and said Yes! I shouted Hi Elsha! Later when I met up with them she said she thought it was me calling to her.
The next best thing to the finish line was the beautiful sight of Dulcinea at the aid station near the mouth of the canyon. She had made up a bunch of signs for our group and set them up before the station. What a sweetheart! I ran to her with open arms and gave her a big hug and thanked her for being there for us.

The last mile seemed to go on forever. I'm sure they had the 12 mile marker on the wrong side of the aid station, but finally we could see the finish arch and knew it would soon be over. I was done like dinner but kept pounding the pavement trying to stay with Louise. For no training lately Louise was incredible. If she had trained or even if I wasn't with her I'm sure she could have PRd.
It was over! We crossed the finish line. I looked at my watch while I was doubled over and saw 1:41:23. I knew it would be very close to the official time. So close to the weeks previous PR in Nebo! I was very happy with the results thanks to Louise. From this I knew I could do better in Nebo next year. The first thing Louise did was visit the medical tent and get cleaned up. I laid on one of their cots and had a rest!
We met up with numerous Run Aways after the race and got some great pictures together. We watched lots of people were taking pictures with the Big Cottonwood poster backgrounds. I took a picture of 4 girls, then one asked me, "where are you from?" I said Canada, she said, you're friends with Josh, I recognize you! The naked Canadian. I think her name was Brooke Jackson or maybe Russel?
Finally met Rachelle who has a blog, "running for trevor". A blog that is well worth following! Met up with Cindy Hailey, one of our group who lives in California and came up for the race. Wan qualified for Boston! Brandon got a huge PR with a 1:15 finish. Christy got a PR, Janet got a sub 2 hour and a PR, Jerri and Gary did their first half marathon, Jill and Meridith did their first marathon and so many other noteworthy happenings from a super cool morning with so many friends! I'm sure there are many that I have missed. Thank you to everyone that made this such a successful day.

Chip time -1:41:21 Age Group 7/46 Male Overall - 160/739 Overall 293/2552 Speed - 7.76 MPH Pace - 7:44/m