Kerry's Running Blog

Provo River Half Marathon

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Location:

Cedar Hills,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 08, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 21:39 (2006) Half marathon: 1:33:45 (2006) Marathon 3:31:49 (2006)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Lose some weight and get back into racing shape. Run more races this year.

 Next race: St. George Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy and in good enough shape that I can more or less keep up with my youngest daughter.

Personal:

My wife Laureen got me into running. She went into the St. George Marathon Ten Year Club last year and I should go in this year. I have two daughters (15 and 21).

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Cumulus12 Lifetime Miles: 10.65
Race: Provo River Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:35:27, Place overall: 87, Place in age division: 5
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.0013.100.0014.10

The official results have been posted and I was happy to find that I'm now classified with my correct gender. Instead of placing in first in the female 55 to 59 (and possibly being a contender for the Athena award as well :), I actually placed fifth in the male 55 to 59. I'm reasonably sure my splits were:

 1  6:53
 2  6:53
 3  6:42
 4  7:02
 5  7:06
 6  7:25
 7  7:46
 8  7:19
 9  7:18
 10  7:20
 11  7:33
 12  7:25
 13  7:41
 .1  6:34 pace

When I showed up early Saturday morning to pick up my bib, the guy looked a bit puzzled and said that he thought that was a female number. So I went over there and sure enough they had it. I asked one of the volunteers about getting changed to a male {insert joke here} and he said he could take care of it. A few minutes later I had a new number and was apparently considered to be male for all practical purposes.

The race itself went well. My heart rate monitor wasn't working so I ran what I thought was an aggressive but sustainable pace. I didn't start out with any body I knew, but I soon was running about the same pace as several others as one minute they'd be a couple of steps ahead and another minute, I'd be slightly ahead. I talked to the girl that was running the closest to my pace and she was targeting a 1:30 finish. The guys just behind me were targeting a sub-1:35. I told them I wanted to beat last year's time of 1:37. After about five miles they slowly began to pull away, either because I started to slow down a bit or they were thinking they needed to speed up because they were only pace to run 1:37.

I thought about taking an eGel at the aid station just before heading up the hill, but I wasn't feeling just a little bit of stomach discomfort. I took a water and headed up the hill. For a few minutes I felt like I was plodding along, but then I started feeling energetic and actually enjoyed the climb. I was trading places with Wayne at that point and Greg was just ahead of me at the turnaround.

Most of the rest of the race I really felt quite strong. The miles seemed to go by quickly and there wasn't any time that I felt overly tired (that might have been an indication that my daily eight miles runs had built up my endurance or that I wasn't pushing myself hard enough). By the end I didn't feel like I could run any faster, but I definitely could have run further. By the official clock I took off about two minutes from last year, but by my watch it was closer to one minute. I didn't hear a gun or any indication that the race had begun except that people started moving.

When I checked results after the race, it showed me back in the 55-59 female division. I emailed Curt to explain the problem, but I got a notification that email address on the trailrun web site wasn't valid. They apparently got it figured out, because the posted results are correct. I guess I'm back to just being a hobbit. 

Comments
From Paul T on Sat, Aug 11, 2007 at 15:53:43

Nice run, Kerry. According to Sasha's race predictor, that puts you at 3:19:36 for St. George. I look forward to hearing more about your experience.

From Dave Holt on Sat, Aug 11, 2007 at 16:00:17

Good run!

From Tom on Sat, Aug 11, 2007 at 21:19:01

Good job Kerry! Looks to me like all the hard work and high miles is starting to pay off. Sub 3:20 at SGM would be awesome!

From Tom on Sun, Aug 12, 2007 at 23:11:51

So Kerry you need to tell us how you did in the 55-59 female division. Did you win it?

You never know for sure what you might get at one of Curt's races. But like you said it is better than being a hobbit.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Aug 13, 2007 at 17:57:26

Kerry - this is going to get fixed when I load the results. Your official time is headed for 1:35:27 so far. What did your watch say, and are your splits by the GPS or by the official mile marks?

From Kerry on Mon, Aug 13, 2007 at 18:31:45

Thanks Sasha! Splits were from my Garmin 305. Unfortunately, I must have bumped the start button on my watch after I finished and didn't notice until I'd wandered around for a half hour or so. As I finished I noticed that my watch was 1:36 something, but if everyone else's time seems to agree with the official clock maybe I started my watch before the actual race began (as I think I mentioned I didn't hear any start signal, everyone just starting moving).

From Michelle on Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 10:28:10

At 150 lbs and female, you could also take the trophy for the Athena division!

Great job on the race!

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