This is a race that is a little different than most in that their is a team aspect to it. Some of the different law firms up in Salt Lake put together teams of 3 men and 2 women, and compete against one another. All of the times for the 5 people are added up at the end of the race, and the team with the lowest combined times is the winner. I was running on the team that Chad put together for his law firm. So, I get to the race expecting to see some good competition, as the different law firms all like to bring in ringers like myself to help them win. However, I was not expecting to see a runner of Jeren Jameson's caliber at the race. I was expecting someone like BJ Christiansen who came to the race last year. Anyhow, I knew that I had my work cut out for me, and since Teren was running on a team with Thatcher Olsen, Neal Ferrin, and Emily Jameson, I knew that our team was also going to have to run well to win. So, the race starts and Teren takes off. I follow, and I stay right behind him for the first mile. The first half of the race is mostly uphill, and the second half is mostly downhill and winds through the U of U campus. We hit the first mile in 5:21, and at the 2 km mark Teren starts to pull away (6:56 at 2k). I hit sections where I was focusing really well, and I was able to maintain the distance behind Teren, and at times even close the distance a little, but then I would lose focus and he would start to pull away again. I hit the second mile in 5:29, and then missed all of the rest of the marks until the finish, crossing the line in 16:08 by my watch (16:09 officially, but the start was funny because no one knew if it had really started or not, so we hesitated for a second or so). Teren finished the race in 15:53 officially, so just 16 seconds ahead of me. I could see him the entire time, which was good, especially considering the fact that I ran a marathon 2 weeks ago, and I have yet to completely recover. I think that is why I was having trouble hanging on to Teren, as I felt like I could maintain the pace when I was focusing well and maintaining the gap, yet then I would lose concentration and I would fall back a little more. Overall, it was a good race, and a nice gauge to how I am running and recovering from the marathon. Our team ended up winning the team title by a mere three seconds over Teren's team, as we had a team time of 1:28:42 to their 1:28:45. It helped that we had the top women's finisher in Emily Bates, and after I came in, Josh Steffen finished 20 seconds in front of Thatcher to give us a little bit of breathing room.
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