Salt Lake Half Marathon, 2014 edition

This was the 8th consecutive year I've done this race. Because I'm under strict orders from Jim not to racewalk that far right now, I decided to walk with Diane (74 years young, and fast for her age!) at her pace. Jim figured that would be totally fine, and actually it was.

We could not have had a more beautiful day for the race. I've done this race in all sorts of conditions - last year it poured the whole time - and no year was nicer than this. It was about 50F (10C) at the race start and probably 58F when we finished. Calm, clear, and beautiful with all the spring flowers running riotous.

I felt very good for half of the race; then decent until about 16K (10 miles) or so. The last 5K was definitely venturing into sore muscle territory, and it was way more comfortable to power walk. I alternated racewalking, casual walking, and power walking; the racewalking was all pretty slow except for when I took photos (lots heehee!) and had to catch up to Diane (picture with Diane after the race below). My legs felt tired and stumpy at the end, and my abductors were quite sore all day, especially in the evening. Sunday I was sore but felt better, and today I actually felt pretty good (and did the elliptical 40 min without much fatigue later in the day!).

However, I really didn't nap like I should have on Saturday, because my friend Juan was in town from San Diego for the race and we wanted to take him out to brunch at Ruth's Diner (awesome as always; picture of me & Juan after the race is below). On Sunday, consequently, I was overly fatigued and quite nasty to my family for a bit until I realized how awful I was being and vanished to bed for a long nap. Hopefully they will forgive me - I gave them a decent apology, I think.

Anyway, back to the race - lovely day, great weather, great company, and really enjoyed going slowly and taking lots of pictures. My family was waiting for me at our street (the race route went about a block from our house!), and the kids were so happy to see me out there - it was adorable the way Calvin jumped up and down when he saw me.

My pictures are here. 

Garmin data here. 

Total time: 3:08 and change, with average HR only 107, and I was 187/210 in my age group hahaha! Diane was 2nd of 4 in her age group, though!!!