Today I ran the Huntsville, UT marathon. I came into this race feeling great about my chances to break my PR of 2:59:00 (Pocatello in 2013). I had trained hard for 4-5 months, running 55-70 miles a week during that time, including 4 long runs of 20+ miles. My times during my training indicated that I was in shape to run a sub 3-hour marathon or slightly faster. I was grateful to not have sustained any injuries serious enough to take time off running during my training. As a side note, because of that training and focusing on a healthy diet, I dropped from 178 pounds to a race weight of 164 pounds.
I felt pretty good the week of the race. I took Thursday and Friday off work just so I could avoid the stress of work and relax at home for a few days. I slept really well on Wednesday night, not as well on Thursday night but still got around 7 hours of sleep, and Friday night I slept soundly from 9pm-1am, then slept on and off from 1am-4am until I got out of bed to go to the race.
The morning of the race I felt great. I made and drank a smoothie, which is my normal breakfast (oats, flax seed, a banana, peanut butter, frozen fruit, and kale, blended with soy milk and cold water). Getting to the race went smoothly. It was a 30-minute drive from our apartment in Pleasant View to Huntsville Town Park. I offered to go to the race alone so Celeste wouldn't have to wake up early and chill with Joey and Claire during the whole race, but Celeste insisted on coming to support me, so we all went together. They dropped me off at the bus at 5:30 and the bus driver drove the runners up to the starting line. Throughout the morning, I felt calm, relaxed, and fresh.
The race started at 7am. There were only about 250 people in the marathon, so I was able to start right at the front. My strategy going into the race was to run 6:50/mile and speed up during the last 6.2 miles if I had the ability to do so. I was glad I decided before the race started to use that strategy, because right from the start about 50 people basically sprinted at a pace way faster than they would be able to maintain. I knew this would happen before the race started, but I really didn't care what anyone else was going to do. I had my strategy and I was going to stick to it.
The first 13.1 miles were quite easy for me. The course was downhill enough to give a big boost to speed, but not so steep that it shredded my legs. It was the perfect gradual downhill that you want in a marathon. I got to the halfway point feeling almost like I hadn't run at all. I wasn't breathing hard, my legs didn't hurt, and I was very comfortable and relaxed. The only downside to this race was that it was sprinkling/moderately raining from about mile 4 until mile 15 or 16. Around mile 10 the sprinkling turned to pretty heavy rain for a few minutes, which soaked all my clothes, including my shoes and socks. I had no choice but to run the rest of the race in wet shoes. My only regret from this race is that it rained. It leaves me wondering how much faster I could have finished with dry shoes and socks. One major benefit of the rain, combined with a light breeze (and high elevation) was that my body stayed cool throughout the run. During much of the race I was on the border of being cool and starting to actually feel cold to the point that my quads felt numb a couple times. I actually think that helped me though. I crossed the halfway point in 1:27:58.
I should mention that I ran this race in Saucony Endorphin Pros. These are the best running shoes I've ever worn. They have a carbon-fiber plate that literally propels you forward on every step. It is a lot of fun to run in them, and I would recommend them to anyone.
Miles 13-20 were uneventful overall. By mile 20, I could feel that I was tiring, but I still felt pretty good at that point. They say that "20 miles is the halfway point in a marathon," so even though I felt decent, I wasn't getting excited yet. By mile 20, the rain had stopped and the temperature was significantly warmer, and my body warmed up a lot. By the way, my fueling strategy was to drink a cup of Gatorade and a cup of water at every aid station throughout the entire course, which happened every two miles starting at mile 3. At a couple aid stations I missed one or the other because other people were blocking my way, but I got at least one cup of fluid at every aid station. I didn't take any GU, fruit, Skittles, or anything else that was offered the whole race. Just Gatorade and water.
Miles 21-23 were solid. I was able to maintain the same pace I had run for the first 20 miles, even though I could feel myself tiring quickly. The downhill stopped around mile 18-19, so these miles were either flat or even slightly uphill in some parts. When you are used to running downhill for so many miles to start the race, small uphills feel very difficult. By mile 24, I was in survival mode. Just trying to put one foot in front of the other until the mile was over. However, I was able to maintain my pace regardless of the fact that I was quite uncomfortable by this point. Miles 25 and 26 were pure grit and mental toughness to get to the finish line. Every step was super painful and my body was begging me to stop. I don't think I hit "the wall" from a fueling standpoint during this race, but my legs were so sore and tired and heavy that it was miserable just to put one foot in front of the other. Eventually, I made it through the last couple of miles one step at a time and finished with a time of 2:57:36. I felt that my pacing was almost perfect because I don't think I could have run even one more mile at the pace I was going. My last two miles were the only miles of the race that were slower than 7 minutes.
After putting in so much time, energy, and miles to train for this race, it feels great to break 3 hours for the second time in my life (8 years after the first time I did it) and set a new PR. I feel healthier and fitter than I've been since running cross country in high school, so even if I hadn't run faster than 3 hours, it would have been worth it. Here are my miles splits:
Mile 1 - 6:58
Mile 2 - 6:50
Mile 3 - 6:47
Mile 4 - 6:42
Mile 5 - 6:43
Mile 6 - 6:35
Mile 7 - 6:45
Mile 8 - 6:42
Mile 9 - 6:41
Mile 10 - 6:39
Mile 11 - 6:44
Mile 12 - 6:41
Mile 13 - 6:32
Half marathon - 1:27:58
Mile 14 - 6:37
Mile 15 - 6:32
Mile 16 - 6:39
Mile 17 - 6:48
Mile 18 - 6:48
Mile 19 - 6:42
Mile 20 - 6:39
Mile 21 - 6:33
Mile 22 - 6:44
Mile 23 - 6:55
Mile 24 - 6:56
Mile 25 - 7:17
Mile 26 - 7:29
Full marathon - 2:57:36
As a cool side note, a guy named Jason Lynch set a new state of Utah marathon record by running 2:13:05 in this race.
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