Provo River Trail 10 Mile Race Report

When we came to Utah, I was really looking forward to some races on my old turf. Last week was the Art City Days 5k, and yesterday I ran the Provo River Trail 10 Mile. I've run this race once back in 2002. It was actually one of the first races I had ever done after high school. So I was excited that our being in town coincided with this race.

I don't know how cold it was at the start, but I was freezing, and I didn't appreciate having to strip down 15 minutes before the start. Needless to say, I was happy to get started. My plan was to run the first 3 miles at 7 minute pace or above, the next 3 or 4 at 7 minute pace, and the final 3 or 4 under 7 minute pace to finish under 1 hour and 10 minutes.

My first mile was right on at 7:02. I was feeling pretty good knowing that I didn't get caught up starting too fast. Shortly after the first mile marker, I ran into Chuck, and our next 3 miles were all around 6:40, faster than I had planned, but we were feeling good so we kept going. Somehow, our next mile was 7:00, even though it didn't seem like we had slowed down at all. Our next 3 miles were all between 6:40 and 6:55. Chuck had to stop and walk just before mile 8, so I kept going. With 2 miles to go, I felt I could pick up the pace a little. I ran mile 9 in 6:35, and then gave it all I had to run the final mile in 6:05. My official time was 1:07:24, good enough for 10th place overall. That's a PR by about 7 minutes, and 1 minute faster than my 9 on the 9th virtual race back in February. I'm not sure about my age group because the results have not been posted yet.

This was a really cool race for me. It was a beautiful run through the canyon and along the river. Also, only one person passed me. That happened between miles 2 and 3, and Chuck and I caught him by mile 5. I was able to keep a really good pace and even catch several other runners over the last few miles and finish really strong. That was definitely part of my race strategy.