After a quick breakfast of english muffins and peanut butter, we left our condo to walk to the bus pickup location at about 6AM. We were all a little nervous and excited, and Barry seemed particularly keyed up for his first race. 
After getting misdirected a tad, the bus dropped us off at the starting area near the Historic Dewey Bridge at about 7:30AM. We were shocked and awed to discover that the bridge was destroyed in a fire earlier this year by a 7-year-old kid playing with matches (photos here). 
It was just before sunrise when we arrived, and a tad chilly. We hung around the start for about an hour or so, and I spent most of that time in line for the port-a-potty. After an hour or so, the announcer called out that it was time to line up for the start. Barry, Bill and I moved down to the New Dewey Bridge and stretched, set our iPods to play, got our Garmins ready. We positioned ourselves just in front of the 9:00 pace sign and anxiously awaited the start.
After 10 or 15 minutes, the started shouted, "Runners get ready... Go!" And we were off. Barry immediately shot ahead of Bill and I. I wouldn't see him again until I arrived at the finish line almost 2 hours later. Bill and I ran together for a half mile or so. He started pulling ahead and I decided to stick to the comfortable 8:15 pace I had established. That is a little slower than my 5K pace, and right where I wanted to be on this section of the course. I knew there were some pretty good hills ahead, and I wanted to leave some energy for that.
It was interesting to look at my Garmin log after the race. During the race, it felt like I was ran slower than I did. I had pretty good (for me) sub-9:00 splits for the first 7 miles, but I felt like I was running at a 9:30-ish pace. I'm extremely pleased that an 8:45 pace feels like a 9:45 pace did not too long ago. My splits increased by a few seconds each mile. That's something to work on in the future. I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this section of the race. The scenery was just incredible. I felt very lucky to be running a race in this beautiful place.
At mile 7, I encountered the first real hill. We had driven the course the day before and I had studied the elevation profile, so I knew this was coming. I wasn't dreading it, but looking at it as a challenge. As I worked my way up the hill, it got steeper and steeper. Bill and I had done a couple hill runs in the weeks before the race, but I'll admit that I found this hill pretty damn tough. My pace slowed further and further until I wasn't going much faster than a fast walk. The uphill climb lasted for a little over a mile. When I reached the summit, I stopped briefly to take a photo of what I had just accomplished. Wow!
On the other side of the hill, another steep, quad-pounding downhill awaited. I made up some time here, but the steepness prevented me from running too fast. At the bottom of the first hill, the second of 3 hills started. This one wasn't quite as steep or as tall as the first hill, but it was still a good challenge. My pace again slowed considerably. I eventually crested the hill and stopped for a second to take another photo.
On the way down the other side of the hill, I had to stop to re-tie my shoes, and I also dropped my water bottles a couple times. Neither stop bothered me much, and it pleased me immensely that I was able to run this entire race in a positive state of mind. The downhill ended at about mile 11. I was surprised at how quickly the first 11 miles of the race had flown by. I was enjoying myself so much that I was a little disappointed that I only had 2 more miles to go. The final hill eased that disappointment somewhat.
I reached the top of the final hill at mile 11.5. I knew the last mile and a half were a steep downhill, and I hoped to pick my pace back up to make up some of the time I lost on the 3 challenging hills. I started flying down hill. After a half mile of steep downhill, my quads cried out for a break. The pounding of the steep downhill was intense. I walked for 15 seconds or so, and then resumed my descent. The downhill rounded a bend, and eventually I was able to see the entrace to Sorrel River Ranch where the finish line awaited.At the bottom of the hill, I turned into the driveway of the ranch. I thought the finish line would be just inside the gate, but I glanced down at my Garmin to see I had about a 1/2 mile left! I kept up a good pace despite a strong urge to slow down or walk. I even managed to pass a few people. I kept waiting to see the finish line, but it remained out of view for quite a while. Finally, the driveway fishhooked sharply to the right. I could see the FINISH banner ahead. I kicked my way to the finish line and crossed with my arms raised.
I felt very good about my second half marathon. I finished in 1:57, although the non-chip-timed "official" results list my time as 2:00. Either way I was happy with my time. I shaved either 6 or 9 minutes off my previous half marathon time. I finished the race without any major pains, and I was able to run the entire race with a positive attitude instead of the "Oh God, when will this be over?!" feeling I had in my previous half marathon. The course was challenging, but stunningly beautiful.
I found Bill and Barry at the finish line. Bill finished in 1:52 (great job!) and Barry finished in 1:44 (outstanding!). We milled around the finish area for a half hour or so and ran into the nice folks from Jen's office who also ran the race.We eventually boarded the bus for the ride back to the pickup point. We walked the 3/4 mile back to our condo and had a huge, delicious feast for lunch. During lunch we already started talking about next year's race!
The next day we drove back to Phoenix. What a fun trip! I can't wait for next year!
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