American Fork Half Marathon

The American Fork half marathon is a gorgeous run down American Fork canyon. I helped pace this race. I was responsible for the 1:50 time slot.
My running since the Ogden marathon has been sporadic. I knew I would be able to hit the goal time. It was just a matter of how would the quads feel afterwards.
I always question my sanity when the alarms goes off at 2:45 am. With only about three hours if sleep I felt energized and ready. With little sleep the gut was not a happy camper and tried revolting. Luckily the gut cooperated by the time the fun went off.
I was out of sorts with my fueling. I had a crazy Friday at work were I went 13 hours without a break. I was able to snack a little. I decided after work to consume a pizza. Not a bad idea as this has helped in the past. The problem I did not give myself enough time to digest before I awoke to get ready. I did hydrate well throughout the day. My new hydration plan is working out well.
I enjoy arriving at a start line to see a line of porta potties and thousands of runners waiting in anticipation for the start of the race. There were about 3,000 runners for this race. As I was prepping for the race I had many runners come ask questions and I had several ready to follow and keep pace with me.
This was the first time I ran this race. I had a great time and the seven miles of canyon were worth the lack of sleep. My worries of hydration, fueling, and leg endurance were put to rest early on. I felt great and was ready for a great run.
The first three miles I hit my paces. I was coming through the mile markers a few seconds early. I anticipated this as I wanted to be able to walk the aid stations. I had several people following me and it was great to chat with them and encourage them. For the most part runners kept passing me eager for a pr.
It was around mile five or so I noticed a young man keeping pace with me. He would walk the aid station, speed up, and slow down with me. From then on my goal was to make sure he kept up with me. I was also on the look out for a couple of ladies that wanted to keep up with me. They must have felt good because I hardly saw them after we started.
As we came out of the canyon I had a lady keeping with me who six weeks ago decided to train and run. She wanted a 2:15. She was looking great and I admired her for attitude to go reach for a goal in a short time frame.
It was after we came out of the canyon there was not much shade on the trail system we were running on. My fueling plan would now be tested. I passed with flying colors. It was also at mile 7 I needed a potty break bad. I stopped and turned on the after burners to catch up to my little running group that had formed. It did not take long to catch back up. At the half way mark I was about 39 seconds ahead of 1:50. I was ok with this since I knew I needed a potty break and the coarse was a bit slower to the end.
Around mile 8 I started gathering up runners and encouraging them to follow me. I enjoy pacing for this reason. It pulls me out of my comfort zone and makes me be more extroverted.
The crowd was great. They encouraged all the runners and many kids were out giving high fives to the runners.
All was going great until about mile 10. It was at this point the race was dull to me. We ran on the shoulder of a road. It was also at this point I was trying to make sure I hit my paces. I knew my garmin was indicating miles about .10 early. I was making sure as I hit the mile markers my time was accurate. At mile 11 somehow I was behind schedule. So picked it up a bit and this was were I lost many runners. At mile 12 I was still behind. Good grief I thought. This was a solo venture in pacing and to this point I thought I was right on pace.
Coming near the end I was keeping an eye on the finish and my watch. I was now going to finish a minute early. I ended up finishing in 1:49:16. And my watch read 13.14. Somehow I was off more than .15 or more a mile at mile 12. Then I finish almost even with the coarse.
It was fun to meet a couple of runners I have followed through different groups on Facebook. It was also fun to hear of pr'a from other pacing buddies.
Lessons learned
1- stay near the finish and watch for those who were trying to  come in with me. I never found out I those  I chatted with on the coarse came in on time or how their race went.
2- stick around after to meet the run4fun group. Work can wait, I really need and want to meet other runners from this group.
Now to train in earnest for the St George marathon