Run for Your Life 2013 Review

The Run
6/22: 5.0 miles; 39'43"; 7;57" avg. pace

This year's installment of the Run for Your Life was my best yet. A personal best for the course was a pleasant surprise. The only explanation I can find is that well rested legs are more important for hill running than intensive training. That, and the possibility cross training (volleyball, strength training) compliments running more than I thought.
The splits show that I took a cautious, but still determined, pace on the flats behind Laidley Field. Turning the corner on Farnsworth and up the hill, I immediately slowed down my pace. I ran over a ten minute mile pace for the steepest parts of the hill. Still, I managed to pass a few runners that either started too aggressively or made a strategy out of walking some of the hill. I also kept my mile two split below ten minutes. Past the gates of Spring Hill Cemetery and nearing the top, I felt good. I was winded but not wheezing. I knew from that point onward it would be a good race. The path around the cemetery is hilly, but having survived the main hurdle I paced them okay. My third mile dipped back below eight minutes and put me near the descent. Some quick encouragement from Ashley helped me speed down the hill, and I managed to not fall on my face. A few runners flew by, managing to ignore the intense pounding to their knee joints. I turned a tad more measured descent, but still had a respectable 7'41" split on mile four. A couple other guys paced me back towards the finish line. With energy left to spend, the final mile turned into my best at around 7'20". Shew, glad that turned okay.

Hill goes up, pace goes down & vice versa

It was an amazingly beautiful day. The volunteers and race staff did a great job of setup, as always. The change of race location from a starting point at Haddad to the Capitol turned out to be okay and may have drawn a bigger race crowd. All in all, this is one of my favorite runs and I hope to be able to do it again next year.

Gonna need some chicken to refuel after that one

Results, Jason Pyles is the man