It's Not Over Until I Win: Bryce Canyon Half Marathon.... Run?

The alarm clock sounded at 2:20 in the morning and I quickly got up, got ready and headed out the door. My brother Brian and I were driving up to Bryce Canyon to run the half marathon that started at 6 in the morning. We left and actually got there at 4:30, which was about a half hour earlier than we expected, so we went in to Ruby's Inn and plopped down and some comfortable chairs to try and get a power nap. After 30 minutes of not really getting any rest we started to see runners begin to show up for the race. Our brother Joel met us in the lobby with our packets and we went and got all of our stuff ready for the race. We had about 7 minutes until the race started so I downed a 5 Hour Energy and we jogged down to the starting line. I saw a bunch of friends from the St. George Running Club at the starting line including Bryan Wilson, Richard Winn and Jake Green. This is the course I set a PR of 1:21:13 on 2 years ago so I was hoping to beat that time. I finished 2nd in my age group that year and was thinking I might be able to finish 1st in my age group this year. I knew I had to hold a 6:10 pace to beat it. The gun went off and a pack of 5 guys took off and I tried to go out comfortably. I hit mile 1 at a 6:04 (this was feeling pretty easy) and was sitting in 8th place overall. Mile 2 has a little bit of a climb and I was still able to hold a 6:16 (my overall pace right at a 6:10) and still in 8th overall. Miles 3-5 are all steep downhill and I hit a 5:35, 5:48 and 5:56 (I've banked 1 minute and 11 seconds). Miles 6-7 it starts to flatten out a little and I still hit 6:00 and 6:06 (passed halfway and I've banked 1 minute 25 seconds). In these miles I see a guy in a wheelchair with a helmet on come flying by me. I think 'That's cool. I've never seen a wheelchair guy in this race before.' Still in 8th place overall. Miles 8-11 are just easy rollers but I'm struggling with my turnover in the legs, the suns coming out, I'm having a hard time keeping the negative thoughts out of my head and I hit 6:14, 6:48, 6:47 and 6:48. During these miles I start to get passed by some solid runners the top 4 women and 1 guy all pass me. Now I am sitting in 13th place. I'm thinking things like, 'What am I doing this for?' 'Is it really FUN to torture yourself?' 'Maybe I should just walk through that next aid station.' 'If I walk Jake and Rich will catch me.' 'Does it really matter?' 'I really need to train better.' 'I shouldn't have drank that 5 Hour Energy. I've been burping it up for miles.' 'The marathon is twice this distance. How am I going to survive?' On the bright side I passed the wheelchair guy at mile 8 when he stopped to get some water but he caught me again at mile 10 and passed and I never saw him again. At this point I realize I am not going to PR today because all of my banked time is gone and I can't pick up the pace. The last 2 miles, which are just more rollers, I decide to put it into cruise control and I run a 7:28 and a 7:14. Not real excited about those miles. I need to figure out how to increase my endurance and push myself in the end. I get passed by another female runner and a guy that looks like a hippie. I coast in for 15th place with a time of 1:24:08. After crossing the line I find out that one of the female runners dropped out so I was thinking I had 14th overall. Nope. I still ended up in 15th because the wheelchair guy was counted with the runners. I checked the time sheet to see where I finished in my age group. I ended up 2nd in my age group and was only 2 and a half minutes back from first. My buddy Jake Green ended up getting 3rd in our age group since he finished only about 1 minute behind me. We stuck around for the awards ceremony to get our medals and when they called our age group up Jake and I went up to get our medals only to find out that the guy in the wheelchair got first in our age group. I don't mind losing to fast runners but a guy with wheels?..... I guess my gold medal days are still to come. I'll get this endurance thing figured out, and maybe try to sleep more than 4 hours next time. Maybe some Positive Mental Attitude courses will help as well. Now that the pain and suffering is over it's time to get ready for the next half marathon which is only 3 weeks away.