Timpanogos Half Marathon Results

The Timpanogos Half Marathon marks the half way point of my racing season. Yesterday was my 15th race completed in 2012, and if everything goes as planned in the upcoming months, I should log approximately 15 more events between my own personal racing and pacing.

When I turned off my alarm at 2:05 Saturday morning, it hit me -- I was burnt out. It's my own fault, really. I wasn't able to take my Friday afternoon nap -- a pre-race ritual for any run that requires me to roll out of bed before 5 AM. To compound my lack of sleep, I stayed out way too late Friday night to go to dinner and a concert with friends. So by the time I arrived at Timpanogos, I was running on less than two hours of sleep.

The first eight miles of Timpanogos run down American Fork Canyon -- the same canyon I ran down for the American Fork Half. My game plan to beat my American Fork PR was to tackle these eight miles faster since the last part of Timpanogos is slightly hiller than AF. By the time I arrived at mile three, I realized I just wasn't able to beat my AF pace. I was becoming discouraged that my pace was about 20 seconds per mile slower than AF, and I just didn't have it in me to push harder. At this point I let go of aiming for the PR, stopped glancing at my watch, and just ran by how I felt.

Timpanogos Half Course Map

I was approaching the last mile before I looked at my watch again. I was right on track for a PR! I kept mile 13 at a comfortable 8:23 pace, then sprinted the last .1 at a 5:30 pace. I finished in 1:51:21 -- over a minute faster than American Fork.

My Timpanogos splits:
8:50
8:47
8:25
8:13
8:10
7:48
8:03
8:33
9:08
8:37
8:41
9:23
8:23
5:30

After reviewing my Garmin stats, I realized I did keep an overall pretty steady pace. Aid station stops accounted for 17 seconds of walking, but besides that, I did not take a single walking break.

I had thought about attending a free 5K this weekend, but it's probably best to skip a race, and spend my Saturday boxing or at Taekwondo instead. I need to reenergize for the Provo River Trail Half in two weeks!