Fast Running Blog

Okay, Okay, I know I had posted something about this several months ago, but now we are less than a month away from SGM, and I am hoping to be able to break 3:00 this year.  I would love to have some company - just like the TOU group that is forming, I also think that running with people you know (even if just through the blog) makes the miles go by quicker and easier.  I have an overly ambitious goal of running 2:55, a realistic goal of running sub-3:00 and a just OK goal of getting a BQ (sub-3:10 which would basically be assuming I blow up).  Anyone else out there looking to break 3:00 (by just a bit)?  Lets get the details sorted out now and figure out where we can meet before the eleventh hour, so to speak.

I found that pacing with others that have the same goal for the first half is pretty beneficial. I'm setting my sites at 2:45, but if my achilles flares up again or something else like that happens, I'll join up with the sub-3:00 crew.

I am shooting for 2:55 as well.

2:55 for me too, with hopes of closer to 2:50 if I get lucky and it's one of those in-the-zone days, or just under 3 if it's a bummer day or the weather is not conducive to a fast race.

I'm hoping for a Boston Qualifier too.  It could be really good to run with a group for at least the first half.

Wow, we have quite the group here!  That would be totally fun to run together - where would be a good place to meet?  I was thinking over by the clothing drop/hospitality area to the right of the start.  Maybe 30 minutes prior to the start of the race or so to give us some time to warm up?

I am wanting that sub-3 as well.  But will probably start alittle more conservative and go through the  half at about a 1:32-33 and really try to negitive split.

A good place to meet is mile marker 1, 7:00 sharp after the start.

Those planning on sub 3:00 should all have number bibs that let you in the front corral, which is typically less crowded than outside the corral.

Be sure to warm up in the corral. I have made the mistake of hanging out in the main crowd with friends and not getting a proper warmup before the race. The corral has its own fires and the runners within the corral form a moving circle to warm up.

Is this based on the goal time you specified when you registered?  I don't have any experience with this.  I am pretty sure I had specified 3:00 for my goal time, but I honestly don't remember.  If we all got to be in the front corral, that would make it even easier to meet.

In the past, your bib is color coated (and number assigned) based on the anticipated time you submitted.  The different color allows you entry to the corral.

So what color bib should I be looking for?

If you put 3:00 as your expected finish time you will be in the elite corral.  I think that the cutoff for men is between 3:10 and 3:15.

Sweet!  So new suggestion - lets all meet up in the elite corral!  I just checked with Steve to find out if he has any of the FRB singlets, or will have more before the race.  I figure as many of us as can wear the singlet, the easier it will be to find us!

I could be wrong, but I think they assign the bib numbers based on "Your fastest full marathon time in the last 3 years", which was a question on the entry form.

I think they assign your coral on the projected time you put on the entery form.  Which always changes so much from the time you put in on the form.

I think they assign as Josse said, by your projected finish time. I think if you have an elite number someone from the marathon calls and lets you know. I think for women this year the cutoff is 2:59 (thats what Michelle told me, did I get that right Michelle?)

For entry into the elite corral (which is different than an elite runner) the cutoff is slower.  In 2005, I got in with a projected time of 3:15.

Thats great, I didnt know there was a difference between the two. So we should all be able to meet up in the elite corral.

2:59 as a projected finish is what they told me for a cut off.  I assume they have different standards for men and women for elite status.

I wonder if you are referring to the "elite runner" status as opposed to the elite (or front) corral.  I just sent them an email about it . . .

Update hopefully coming tomorrow on this!

Here is the official response:

 
So we're on!  Everyone meet in the last elite runner corral!  Also, I just talked to Steve, and he has some singlets that are coming in the week of the marathon, and they will be going to print as soon as he gets them.  I plan on getting a singlet to run in - if anyone else is going to be running in a singlet, that will just make everyone that much easier to find.

Unless it is cold and everyone is wearing long sleeves (this is the weather we are hoping for).  We'll just have to pull up our long sleeves and "FLASH" our blog singlets like exotic birds doing mating dances.  Should be interesting :)

Ah, I ran last year in shorts and a singlet and was fine with just a pair of cheap gloves (which I tossed at mile 19).  I just took off my warmups shortly before the clothing drop truck left.  And as I recall, starting temperature last year was right about 40 degrees . . .

I think it was more like 36. 

I'm interested in picking up a singlet and running in it myself. Will St George running center be at the expo, or should I stop by the store?

St. George Running Center will be at the expo.

And he will have singlets at the expo?  I am not sure if I will need a medium or large and want to make sure that I will be able to get one.  Any way to ensure there is some set aside for us bloggers who are running?

James I would just call him at the store and ask him to set some aside for you and what size.

I called yesterday and put my name on his list.  He said they should be ready very soon.

just curious. . . Does anybody know if there is a T-shirt version of the singlet?  I'm not a Tank-top type guy (i.e. my guns are toned/big enough).  I wouldn't mind representin', and I like the design of the singlet, but wonder if there is an alternative. . . I'll give the store a call. 

BTW, I plan on meeting you guys in the Sub-3 group.  My training has suffered in the last few weeks, but I hope I can still pull it off.  I'll see you dark and early!

I purchased a technical shirt with the blog logo on it back in March.  You can kind of see it in my blog pic - http://sz.fastrunningblog.com/

A St. George Running Center Logo is on the front.

I thought it would be good to put a list together for our sub 3 group.  Here is who has expressed interest so far:

Andy
Josse
Marcie
Paul V (or is it VK?)
Tom
Cal
James
Cameron
Matt
Bill (wildbull)
Paul T
Terry
Rhett (SGM Forum)
Tommy (SGM Forum)

There is also a guy on the SGM forum that would like to run with a sub 3 group.  Did I miss anybody?  I know that everybody races differently and pace groups fall apart quickly (usually 1 or 2 minutes into the race) but it will be nice to at least meet everybody in the starting corral so we know each other on the course. 

Andy, how would you feel about getting a big bouquet of balloons and leading the sub-3 group out of the blocks?  :)

Cal I think that's a great idea...as long as Andy resists the temptation to make good on his threat earlier this week to run in his birthday suit :)

Out of respect for the family friendly policies on the forum I'll refrain from the hilarious response that I came up with.  I actually thought of creating some sort of sign and advertising at the FRB booth but don't think that any of us want that kind of pressure on race day.

 :)  Andy, yes, I'm going for broke again, hopefully with more determination and better results. Maybe we should all literally tether ourselves to the 2:45 or 2:30 group like Sasha does on some of those training runs and have them pull us along. 

Add Bill (wildbull) to the list too.

I thought he was going for something a little faster.

Yah I think so, but I think he will start out with all of us.

Bull is going for the win!

Just wondering how others in the sub-3 group are planning on approaching pacing. I know there are a few calculators and spreadsheets floating around out there that will give you some suggesting pacing based on elevation/grade data. There is also the course tool map that Paul put in last year that does pretty well I think especially if you play around with the smoothing and crazy-grade cutoff parameters.

I'm liking what the course tool gives me when I use a finish time of 2:58 and crazy-grade-cutoff of 7% and I've posted these splits below. This puts you around 1:31-1:32 at the half which seems to be what many in the sub-3 group are shooting for at that point. The finish time of 2:58 give you a little leeway in case the last 6 miles get ugly and you can't quite hit the suggested splits.

Of course I think it's best to run by feel and not get too uptight about hitting these splits exactly. I know for me my miles 1 and 2 are usually reversed (i.e. I typically ease into mile 1 and run it slower than 2, even though on paper it's faster), also it seems like I typically run miles 8 and 11 about the same.

But anyway....for your viewing and analyzing pleasure...

   
Splits
Distance (miles)   Elevation   Avg. Grade from Last (%)    Split Time    Total Time
0    5243    N/A    N/A    0:00
1    5169    -1.40    6:49    6:49
2    5152    -0.34    7:04    13:53
3    5047    -1.99    6:38    20:32
4    4918    -2.43    6:37    27:10
5    4851    -1.27    6:52    34:02
6    4654    -3.74    6:22    40:24
7    4449    -3.88    6:23    46:47
8    4550    1.91    7:49    54:37
9    4598    0.91    7:28    1:02:05
10    4620    0.43    7:11    1:09:17
11    4689    1.30    7:30    1:16:47
12    4688    -0.02    7:03    1:23:50
13    4600    -1.67    6:42    1:30:33
14    4525    -1.41    6:44    1:37:17
15    4340    -3.51    6:30    1:43:47
16    4085    -4.84    6:20    1:50:07
17    3954    -2.47    6:33    1:56:41
18    3794    -3.03    6:30    2:03:11
19    3761    -0.63    7:02    2:10:14
20    3647    -2.17    6:34    2:16:48
21    3399    -4.69    6:20    2:23:09
22    3276    -2.33    6:43    2:29:52
23    3060    -4.10    6:28    2:36:21
24    2907    -2.90    6:36    2:42:57
25    2778    -2.44    6:32    2:49:30
26    2690    -1.66    6:41    2:56:11
26.2556    2694    0.26    1:48    2:58:00

Andy also gave me a link to the Zimmerman pace calculator for SGM so I decided to post that data as well for those runners who prefer running more even pace rather than charging the downhills and easing up more on the uphills.  In the end we'll all need to run however works best for us. The good thing is that we have a large enough group shooting for sub-3 that at any point we should be able to find somebody we know to run with and pull each other along.

ST. GEORGE MARATHON PACE CHART
Marathon Time           Average Pace: 06:47 
Weighting
Factor Mile Pace (min) Splits Mile Note
1.04 1 07:02  0:07:02  1 Start slower than average pace
1.02 2 06:54  0:13:55  2   
0.98 3 06:37  0:20:33  3 Downhill
0.96 4 06:29  0:27:02  4 Steeper downhill
1.00 5 06:45  0:33:47  5   
1.00 6 06:45  0:40:33  6   
1.00 7 06:45  0:47:18  7   
1.12 8 07:34  0:54:53  8 Veyo Hill!
1.07 9 07:14  1:02:06  9 Uphill grade
1.04 10 07:02  1:09:08  10 Uphill grade
1.08 11 07:18  1:16:26  11 Uphill grade
1.03 12 06:58  1:23:24  12 Uphill grade
1.00 13 06:45  1:30:09  13   
0.98 14 06:37  1:36:47  14 Steeper downhill
0.95 15 06:25  1:43:12  15 Steeper downhill
0.98 16 06:37  1:49:49  16 Steeper downhill
0.98 17 06:37  1:56:27  17 Steeper downhill
0.98 18 06:37  2:03:04  18 Steeper downhill
1.03 19 06:58  2:10:02  19 Slight uphill part
0.98 20 06:37  2:16:39  20 Steeper downhill
0.94 21 06:21  2:23:00  21 Steeper downhill
0.98 22 06:37  2:29:37  22 Steeper downhill
0.99 23 06:41  2:36:19  23 Still downhill, but slower because of fatigue until the end
0.99 24 06:41  2:43:00  24   
1.00 25 06:45  2:49:46  25   
1.00 26 06:45  2:56:31  26   
1.00 0.2 06:45  2:58:00  26.2   

Andy mentioned this sub-3:00 group on my blog today, so I looked it up and thought I'd chime in.

My goals are 2:59:59.99/sub-3:07(PR)/3:30(BQ). I think I'm in better shape than last year when I ran 3:07:02, so I think sub-3:07 is a reasonable goal under good race conditions, but sub-3:00 is a real stretch. Last year was a "stars aligned" run for me under favorable race conditions. While I've set PRs in most of my races this year, and my average weekly mileage is about +10 over last year, my improvement hasn't been at the 16 secs/mi faster level I would need for sub-3:00.

On the bright side, I do seem to be peaking at about the right time, with my strongest (not fastest) race of the year being my most recent race, the SF half marathon, in 1:29:57. It's a tough half, and many experienced marathoners say doubling it is a pretty good estimator for St. George, so that says I might be capable of 2:59:54, only 6 seconds of wiggle room. I did manage to finish a little ahead of Cal and Josse in that race, and they are both in this sub-3:00 group, so maybe I'm not totally crazy to be giving sub-3:00 a go. I already have a BQ, so I've got nothing to lose.

I've told Tom and our buddy Nathan that I would start out the race with them and try to stick with them at least to Veyo (7 miles). This is the only point of the race that I will intentionally speed up or slow down to stay with a group. My intent is to "ride them" to Veyo at a pace quick enough to at least give me a shot at sub-3:00. They are both capable of 2:50-2:55, so the pace will be conservative for them and not so conservative for me. I fully expect them to pull away from me at this point (if they haven't already). They are targeting around 1:30 for the half. My goal is to hit it around 1:32. I plan to back off the pace slightly and not push too hard through the uphill section (Veyo thru Dammeron Valley). I ran a 4:04 negative split last year. If I can match that this year, then running the two halves in 1:32 and 1:28 will put me right round 3:00:00 (like I said earlier, very little wiggle room).

From Veyo on I plan to lock into a pace, an effort level actually, that feels sustainable to me, making minor adjustments as my body speaks to me along the way. I would love to have company. Even while "locked in" I can converse and enjoy what's going on around me, as long as I keep checking back in with my body periodically to see how it's doing. I would welcome any of you running along with me. Just keep in mind that once I'm "locked in" to my "marathon pace effort" I'm not going to be too likely to speed up or slow down much just to run with somebody. (Sounds kind of unfriendly doesn't it?) I'm really a pretty friendly guy, it's just that I don't have a lot of wiggle room. I'll have to squeeze every second I can out of every mile while trying very carefully to not cross that hard-to-detect line that will leave me running 10:00 miles at the end.

I look forward to seeing/meeting all of you in the corral. As I usually do, I plan to wear the white short sleeve FRB shirt (like Scott's, my body's not singlet worthy either), blue RaceReady shorts, and white hat.

I agree with Sasha that maybe the best place to meet people to run with is on the road, hitting the aid stations at target pace. I also agree with Tom that we have a large enough group shooting for sub-3:00 that at any point we should be able to find somebody we know to run with and pull each other along.

It's going to be a great adventure! I can hardly wait!

BTW, This morning while driving the Jr. High carpool I was saying how excited I was about the marathon next week. A neighbor girl couldn't understand why someone would be so excited to do something so hard that it leaves them so exhausted at the end that they can hardly stand. I'm sure there have been many books and articles written on the topic, but the only thing I could come up with was, "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."

I was just looking over the difference between Sasha's race calculator on the course tool and Scott Zimmerman's predictor - I actually put mine in for 2:59:00, and my splits were extremely close to yours, Tom.  It seems like a 1:32 first half is just about right, which gets rid of both of the worst hills at Veyo and Dammeron Valley.  Based on recommendations from others, I am going to intentionally ease off on Veyo and Dammeron Valley, and potentially go a little slower than even Sasha's calculator has listed.  I am really looking forward to meeting up with everyone in the pace group, whether it be at the elite corral or on the road.  I truly believe that the more of us that can hang together, the more we will all pull each other along towards achieving our goals.  SGM, here we come!

James that is my plan to the tee.  I have learned the hills can take it out of  you  and these are early.  You have to completely listen to your body and not get your heartrate up to much through the uphill section. 

Sub 180 minute.

Hey guys I know it's probably a bit premature to be watching the weather forecasts for the race, but I notice now the latest long-range forecast shows a cooling heading into Oct 4 with a chance of showers.  I'm thinking overcast with even some "light" rain might be pretty dandy, as long as it's not too muggy. I say bonzai and massive PRs for one and all!!!

Andy - one other thing....I think we've got Terry B (oldbean.fastrunningblog.com) talked into joining the sub-3 group, at least for the 1st half of the race. Terry got a last minute entry just a few days ago and hasn't really been training for a marathon, but he's run a few sub-3s at SGM in past years and is still in pretty decent shape this year. I don't want to speak for Terry but I don't think he ever checks the discussion forums.

So if you can add him to the group that we be great. I think that about gets us to an even dozen! There are also a few non-bloggers I know who will be joining us so we should have a nice sized group.

Here's the current Accuweather forecast for Central, UT (start of race):

Friday, Oct 3  High: 73 °F RealFeel®: 70 °F
A full day of sunshine
Friday Night, Oct 3  Low: 41 °F RealFeel®: 39 °F
Increasing cloudiness

Saturday, Oct 4  High: 56 °F RealFeel®: 57 °F
Cooler with rain at times

And the forecast for St. George:

Saturday, Oct 4  High: 75 °F RealFeel®: 74 °F
Cooler with periods of rain

I like that forecast, sounds really nice - actually fairly similar to last year, although no rain last year.  Should still be in the 50's or low 60's when we finish the race if this forecast holds up.

And the forecast for St. George:

Saturday, Oct 4  High: 75 °F RealFeel®: 74 °F
Cooler with periods of rain

I like that forecast, sounds really nice - actually fairly similar to last year, although no rain last year.  Should still be in the 50's or low 60's when we finish the race if this forecast holds up.
They always say its going to rain here but it never does! I really doubt we will get any rain.

I may be there in that time range.  I know I have that kind of speed, but the last few weeks, I've been pretty low on miles since I got a pretty bad cold and chest congestion.  I was, however, right around Paul Thomas at the Spanish Fork half.  I don't have any fastrunningblog apparel, but I might have to pick some up at the expo.  How much are the shirt or singlet? 

I got the shirt for like 13.80 or so last weekend. They were out of the singlet, but said they would have them in this Monday or so.

Bumping with Andy's last list:

Andy
Josse
Marcie
Paul VK
Tom
Cal   --- (How is Cal doing?)
James
Cameron
Matt
Bill (wildbull)
Paul T
Terry
Rhett (SGM Forum)
Tommy (SGM Forum)


Andy, you can correct this if necessary.

Update on the singlets - I just heard that they should have singlets at the expo but probably not before that. I've got one saved for me. . . You might want to call and check.

I'm kinda worried about going out with you guys though. I really, really want to hit under 3:10, and think I can do it with the hills, but I'm afraid of just going out way too fast and killing myself before the half.  Should I just come start with you guys and see how I'm doing and decide?

Cameron- if it is more important to you to definitely hit 3:10 than it is to try for 3:00 and maybe blow up (i.e. 3:11+), then I would suggest going out slow.  Rule of thumb is to not vary your pace by more than 8 sec/mile to stay with a group (either faster or slower), so going with the sub-3:00 group when you are worried about 3:10 may not be recommended.  When in doubt, it is better to start a bit slow and finish strong than to start fast and blow up, especially on St. George where the downhill second half favors those who feel good at the end.  You can make up time the second half of the race if you start a bit slow, but you can lose TONS of time if you start too fast.  Plus you can make friends along the course who have your same BQ goal (there will be a lot of them) and use them as teammates rather than this faster group.

Another thing to keep in mind- the last 2-6 miles of a marathon will be harder than you expect (compared to training runs).  So even if you feel real good at mile 13, you will still be surprised how hard it gets by the end. 

My two cents.

I agree with Jon- I always say saving a couple minutes in the begining can save you 20 mins. in the end, or even more.  Just becuase the last part of the marathon is down hill donesn't mean you will run it fast, you have to have enough in the legs to use the down.  I would go out to hit the fisrt half in a 1:35 that will put you in the range that if you feel good you could go under and if not still get your 3:10.  Still come introduce yourself so we can look for you if you decide to start out alittle slower.  BTW-I will be starting out alittle slower as well probably 1:32ish range.

The Clif Bar pace team will be at St. George this year as well, and will most likely have a 3:10 pace group (they did last year).  You might check with the Clif Bar team at the Expo.  I would recommend going out with them for the first half (gets you past the two big hills), and then if you are feeling good, you can start to speed up for the second half.  You might not break 3:00, but like Jon said, if 3:10 is more important to you, this is the way to go.  There is a greater chance of crashing and burning if you are not quite ready and start out too fast.  BTW, I am with Josse (and Paul and I think Tom as well, based on his blog), and will be planning on hitting the half at about 1:32 (1:31:30-1:32).  This goes along with Sasha's analyzer in the course tool for hitting a 2:59.

Last year the Cliff 3:10 group ended up being more like a 3:06 group accelerating the pace about mile 20.  The group got ahead of pace, which was great for those who could handle it, but I personally think it would have been better for the pacer to have helped the few who were struggling to hold 3:10 rather than leading the strong group.  It ended up that the pacer had to kill some time at the end before cross the finish line so that his time was closer to 3:10.   It does lend support, however, that negative splits are the way to go as even the 3:10 pacer ran a negative split.

Having raced with Paul and Tom and knowing how they run I'm sure they are sandbagging and will be closer to 1:29 at the half.  I'm really going to force myself to start slower than I would like because I really want to feel good at the end of my last marathon.

Yes, I just called St George Running Center and put in a request for a singlet. The store will be closed on Friday 'cause they will be at the expo. If you call them, they will set one aside for you to pick up at the expo.

Andy you're probably remembering Striders 1/2 when I was doing a bit of an "experiment", purposely going out at a pace that was very aggressive for me, making the last 1/2 of the race pretty miserable as I recall. But after the looking back at all my good vs. bad races I see that in every one of my PR races other than 5K distance I've done better going out conservative the first 1/2. So I really, truly do intend (really I do!) at hitting the 1/2 way point in the 1:31-1:32 range. Especially with the way I've felt on my recent runs and being semi-injured over the summer I think if I go out any faster and I'll be in big, big trouble. I may be in big trouble anyway but I figure I at least have to give sub-3 a shot.

Also I'm not sure if you're talking about Paul T or Riverton Paul, but I'm pretty sure Paul T is commited to going out similarly conservative. Although he did go a little crazy on his Provo marathon in the spring on lesser training and started out fast but the results weren't pretty. So I'm pretty sure that Paul will stick to his guns, at least through the 1/2 way point.

Paul VK will be going conservative as well, hoping for that magical negative split.

So, Tom, what's wrong with my 18 minute positive (is that the right term, it was anything but positive) split at the Utah Valley Marathon this spring? I was averaging 7:20/mi at the half and ended up running 9:30/mi at the end. Is there something wrong with that? I happen to enjoy gradually getting slower starting about halfway through and finally running the last 6 miles with my legs burning and struggling to take each step.

Actually, Tom's quite right. I do not want to repeat that experience. I plan to follow the more successful strategy I ran at SG last year: 1:35:33 + 1:31:29 = 3:07:02 (4:04 negative split). For 3:00:00, that would be 1:32 + 1:28. I'm pretty committed to that plan.

I Think the most enjoyable part of that was being passed by me.  Now he is forever haunted ;)

Yes, Josse, in every race since then I have been worried about you passing me. I guess I shouldn't have worried. After finishing ahead of you in so many races since then, I've decided that must have been an anomaly and you're not capable of beating me again. I don't even give it a thought anymore (twitch twitch). If it makes you happy, though, you can go ahead and try to beat me at SG. I'll cheer you in at the finish. ;)

(There, that ought to get her competitive juices flowing.) :)

Hi, um, count me in on this sub 3 group.  This will be my first marathon so I really need some pacing help and Jon and Cody suggested that I run with y'all. 
Oh, and dumb question...do you have to be on a "racing team" or whatever to go buy a FRB singlet?  just curious...I wanna be cool too!  Anyway, will look for y'all in the corral.

Anybody can wear the singlet.  I think that you have much better than a sub 3 in you.  Since this is your first marathon maybe you can start with us to avoid going out too fast then take off after 3 or 4 miles.

Joe are you sure you are not looking for the sub-2:45 group?  You have some pretty fast racing time.

Well, my training has been less than I was hoping during the last month or so due to sickness and a big change of scenery and school, plus this is my first and I have no idea what to expect.  My plan is to run the first half at least very conservatively with the 3 hour group and save energy, then sometime after that see if I can take off and negative split the last half.  I really don't know what I'm doing so I'm taking as much advice as possible and just seeing what I am capable of.  (oh, and most of those prs were in high school before my mission so I'm a tad slower now...)

There's some folks in this sub-3:00 group (such as Marcie) who are clearly going to be breaking 3:00 by alot, barring a leg break or other bizzarro occurrence.  Others are just trying to squeak under 3:00.  So Joe should be fine since the group will break into subgroups after a few miles.  (Just hang with the short blondie :) ).

Joe, you've got enough talent and speed I think you would be fine hanging with the 2:45 group, though you might want to go out a little slower since it is your first marathon.  The last two years I've gone out right around 1:23.  In 06 I only ran the second half like 10 seconds faster.  Last year I ran the second half 1:15 or so faster and I felt terrible the second half (dealing with lots of hip pain).  I'm still not sure what the plan will be for me this Saturday, I guess I might just wait and see how I feel once the race starts.

Everybody....take a deep breath.....breath....just race by feel and you will be fine.   We can only control certain thing and most of it is out of our control.  I think it is good to have a plan but knowing that it will most likely change due to cercumstances beyond our control.  We are all going to ROCK!

Josse - I think that the reason why we stress so much about pacing strategy is because it is the one thing that we have control over on race day.  I agree that the best strategy is to go completely by feel.  My best races have been when I didn't care about my finish time and just went out and had a good time.

That's kinda what I'm planning on...just going by feel.  But I want to have at least a tentative plan/goal so that I don't start out too quick...that's been my nemesis ever since getting home.

I enjoyed my buddy Larry's comment in his blog today (see http://larry.fastrunningblog.com/blog--W-Paul-amp-Wayne-easy-8-54-avg-l/10-01-2008.html). I hope you've all been good so Marathon Santa will bring you what you want. I asked him for a shiny new sub-3:00. Happy Marathon Christmas to all!

I would imagine the Marathon Santa is much skinnier than the regular Santa?  BMI of maybe 18 instead of 40?  Do you leave him a Gu and some Powerade instead of milk and cookies?  Hmmm...interesting thought...

When you guys use your Garmins, how do you set it up so it records your mile splits? Do you create a 26.2 mile workout or just push the lap button every mile (yuck)?

I agree, Joe will blow away 3:00 as long as he doesn't go out too fast.

Cameron with my Garmin I usually just turn the AutoLap feature on with the default lap distance of 1 mile. Sometimes for races where the Garmin gets all glitchy (like Hobble) I'll turn AutoLap off and manually (if I remember) push the lap button each mile, but every year I've used a Garmin at SGM it's pretty much been right on with the mile markers. I think sometimes I've maybe measured SGM just a hair long.

Larry's blog entry and the comments about SGM Christmas and Marathon Santa are great. After some additional "research" on Marathon Santa, I've discovered the following tidbits of trivia.....

Besides being much skinnier than regular Santa, Marathon Santa sports hot red (or is it pink? see monaflash's blog) shorts and a red singlet.

He doesn't need a sleigh and 8 reindeer to get around, he's content to run in his red flats with his 8 pacing "rabbits" just ahead.

He doesn't live in the North Pole, rumor has it he lives in the mountains of Kenya. Instead of elves to help him out he employs legions of young Kenyan runners who go far and wide throughout the world, showing the rest of us "the way".

Sightings of Marathon Santa are rare, in fact many don't believe Marathon Santa exists. Some believe Marathon Santa can be found in the picture found at the following link (if you look close you can also see one of his pace "rabbits" right behind. However others believe this is actually the Marathon "Grinch" pretending to be Marathon Santa):

http://picasaweb.google.com/SpanishForkHalfand5K/SpanishFork12Marathon5k#5244060523387175810 (http://picasaweb.google.com/SpanishForkHalfand5K/SpanishFork12Marathon5k#5244060523387175810)

And of course there are always those old favorite Marathon Christmas Carols to help provide a festive atmosphere and ambience, including the following:

"The 26.2 Miles of Marathon" (sung to tune of "12 Days of Christmas")

"Sasha the Red-Haired Speedster" (sung to "Rudolph")

"Grandma got ran over by a Clydesdale"

"GreenShorts" - (rather than GreenSleeves) in honor of our own green-shorts Jon ("What runner is this? Who comes to run...in green shorts? How ugly?")


OK enough of the silliness..but hey I didn't run this morning so I've got to do something to channel all that pre-race energy and nervousness! I echo Paul's sentiments of Happy Marathon Christmas to all, and to all a great race!!

Thanks for a laugh this morning, Tom- Definitely taper week with extra free time ;D

Santa or Grinch?  Well, notice the sinister face was also present at the Top of Utah Marathon.  :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30864837@N08/2906933361/sizes/o/


Here is skinny Santa:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30864837@N08/2907833274/

I'm thinking imposter Grinch rather than the "real" Marathon Santa Claus, or could that be Sasha Claus?