Provo City Half Marathon in 1:15:33. Massive PR (previous PR was 1:22:06 from SLC half in 2010), felt extremely smooth and just all around fantastic today, with energy left in the tank at the end. Got up at 4:00, had two bananas, a capri sun, and some powerade. After letting Holly out and using the bathroom twice myself, I drove down to Provo around 4:30, getting there at 5:20, with just enough time to get my packet and get on a bus. We got up to the start line an hour early, despite being one of the last couple buses, so I got to hang out in the cold for what felt like forever. I used the bathroom two more times (that Cafe Rio from last night apparently didn't mix well with my lactose intolerance), warmed up by lightly jogging about 2 miles (estimate, no Garmin), and then finally got started. My Garmin won't connect to my computer anymore for some stupid reason, so I don't have every single mile split, but I remember quite a few of them. 1: 5:46 - Really comfortable, the most downhill mile. 2: 5:47 - Once again, really comfortable, also quite downhill. 3: 5:49-ish - No longer quite so downhill, but still really comfortable. 4: 5:42 - Not as downhill as the first 2 miles, but I guess I had started to pick it up. 4 - 6.2 - Still comfortable. Had planned on just ensuring that everything was below 6, but everything stayed in the 5:40s rather comfortably. 6.21 Split - 35:48. My PR is 35:07 from Des News '09, so this made me nervous. Still, felt totally fine. 7 & 8 - Still in the 5:40s, surprisingly still not really hurting at all. 8 Split - 46:12, as I recall. 9 & 10, still in the 5:40s, starting to realize that I could hang onto this pace the entire time, which was really exciting. 10 Split - 57:48. 4-ish minute PR en route? Even if I haven't run a 10 miler since 2008, wow. Super stoked. 11: 5:52. This mile had tons of roll and a really long climb, so I was OK with this being my slowest mile by 3 seconds. Calves were just starting to feel slightly sore, but everything was very rhythmic and smooth. Still felt totally relaxed. 12: 5:39. Lots of juice left, time to hammer. Basically almost net flat, but cranked out my fastest mile. 13: 5:40. Pushing it in. Really excited about the prospect of sub-76. Last .13 (Garmin had 13.13): 34 seconds, massive kick. 4:22 pace. So much energy left. Ridiculous. Could've hammered out another 5 miles at sub-5:50 if I had to. Finished feeling absolutely elated to have run a massive PR and faster than expected (anything under 1:18 would've been a good sign for Utah Valley Marathon in 5 weeks IMO, and my goal was sub 1:17). Not only was it faster than expected, but it was a lot easier than expected. If I had known that I was capable of this fast and willing to push it from the gun (ie, been willing to wreck myself), I could've probably taken a minute off, but for now, I'm very happy to be a 1:15 half marathoner. Cooldown - 3-ish miles, some with James, and then some more by myself. Didn't wear Garmin, so estimate. I'm calling the total of 5-ish between the up and down 4.9 miles so my week won't end on a fraction of a mile (I hate this. hah.)
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