I am one with the levee and the levee with me

Azalea Trail Run 10k

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Location:

North Salt Lake,UT,

Member Since:

Dec 12, 2007

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

1500m - 3:59.9h (2014)

5000m - 14:53.45 (Portland Track Festival 2014)

8k XC - 25:09 (Sundodger 2011)

10k XC - 31:31 (WWU Invite 2011)

HM - 1:10:19 (Houston 2018)

Marathon - 2:28:39 (Houston 2019)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Personal:

Married, working, training. While my wife has nixed all future attempts to grow glorious mustaches, she has been supportive of my crazy running dreams. Life is good.

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 1.00 Month: 1.00 Year: 1.00
Mizuno Ekiden Lifetime Miles: 274.65
Flyknit Streaks Lifetime Miles: 419.25
Flyknit VFs Lifetime Miles: 80.50
Ride 14 Lifetime Miles: 652.85
Ride 15 Lifetime Miles: 275.80
Ride 15 X2 Lifetime Miles: 21.50
Race: Azalea Trail Run 10k (7.5 Miles) 00:38:35
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.007.5020.50

This race was a mess.

I drove up to Mobile this morning and got situated with the elite coordinator, who was kind enough to let me in the group. Noticed there were only 3 Kenyan men present when usually there are 5. Money is 5 deep, so the door was open for me.

I started at the lead of the chase pack with the goal of running the first 4 slightly slower than what I think I can do, and then hammering the last 2 miles. Top 3 Kenyans were long gone, and the top 2 Kenyan women were running hard about 10 seconds ahead. By 3 miles I was pulling away from my pack when a race official directed the 2 women and my pack off course. I didn't realize it until mile 4 when we turned back against the flow of 10k runners coming the other way. That was a real punch in the gut. I had 10 seconds on the chase pack at that point, I knew the runners behind me, and I knew I had 4th place locked up.

I caught up with the 2 women and found our way back to the course. 5.3 miles on the watch when we passed the 4-mile marker. I couldn't stomach dropping out, and gutted it out to the end. Ended up with 7.5 miles at the finish. Good news is I set an unofficial 12k PR (38:37). Bad news is I lost out on $500 in prize money. 4th place was worth $750 to me ($500 + $250 for top American), and the race director awarded me $250 as consolation money. Considering they really weren't obligated to do anything, I should feel totally okay with that. But it leaves a pretty raw taste in my mouth. Made worse because they duplicated 1st & 2nd place money for the 2 elite women.

Anyway. Splits were 5:08, 5:09, 5:08, 5:07, 5:11, 5:10, 5:11, 2:33.

The big takeaway is my fitness is coming around. I think I would have finished 31:45-31:50 without the deviation.
3 months to Grandmas. 5 weeks to Indy. I'm the healthiest I've been in awhile, and everything seems to be clicking.

Flyknit VFs Miles: 7.50Saucony Zealot 3 (green X 2) Miles: 13.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00
Comments
From Yasir on Mon, Mar 25, 2019 at 12:41:17 from 99.20.240.16

congrats I'm glad you are being positive despite what happened.

From Eugene on Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 16:58:50 from 73.58.34.45

Great race! Seems like the logical follow-up to the excellent block of training you've been having. Excited to see what you run at Indy.

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