Todays race was pretty low key. It starts in the Provo Canyon on the river trail and it heads up past Bridal Veil Falls before heading back down the canyon to one of the parks off of the trail. We got to the start and I was surprised at how windy and cold it was. Back at my house it was so nice that I didn't think to bring an extra shirt to warm up with. Anyhow, there was a nasty headwind coming at us down the canyon, so we decided to trade leads in order to minimize the effect of the wind on us until the turn-around when the wind would be at our backs. So, the race starts and Sasha and I go out with this guy we met at the start named Bryan. Sasha and I traded leads at one minute intervals, while Bryan mostly hung back behind us. We went through 1 mile (all mile times approximate because some of the markers were off) in 5:42 followed by a 5:58 second mile (11:40). Just before the 2 mile mark, Bryan made a move and took the lead for a minute or two. He then fell back a little but still maintained contact with us until about 2.5 miles. We hit the third mile in 17:53 (6:13). I am pretty sure this marker was off and if I were to guess I would say we probably ran it about the same speed as the second mile. We turned around and started heading back down the canyon just after 3 miles and with the downhill and the wind at our backs we really started to move. We hit the 4 mile mark in 22:44 (4:51). I think this mile was short, as the 3rd mile was long but it was still in the sub 5:10 range pace wise. Just past the 4 mile mark Sasha started to fade and I upped the intensity a little more in order to drop him. I started to grunt a little as I worked on dropping him, in contrast to Sasha's moaning, and I think it worked. I might have started the grunting too soon because I starting hurting a little the last mile, but it wasn't a big deal. I hit the 5 mile mark in 27:46 (5:02) and from there I just worked on maintaining pace through the finish. I didn't catch my split at the 6 mile mark, but it took me 6:00 to make it from the 5 mile mark to the end which averages out to about 5:00 pace assuming the total distance was correct and the distance from the 5 mile mark to the end was also correct. I finished in 33:46 followed by Sasha in 34:25, and Bryan in 36:28.
After the race we did the timing for the other runners, and then we went out to get the rest of our miles in for the day to finish up with 18.
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