I have accomplished pretty much what I wanted with the marathon so I needed something to motivate me. I decided to go for the guaranteed entry into New York which is 2:55. I turn 40 next year and the time standard is 3:10 so I had to do it this year. My running has been going well but it was not quite at the level that I thought it should be. My diet has also not been as good as it should and my weight started creeping up the last month. I still felt that my fitness and speed was close enough to where it should be and it was worth going for a PR (2:53). I really didn’t have anything to lose.
My plan was to just run by feel but I wrote the 5, 10, 15 and 20 mile splits on my hand so I could gauge where I was throughout the race.
Miles 1 – 5: The race started and my legs did not feel great. Not bad, just not great. My splits were exactly what I wanted, though. After a couple of miles my legs warmed up and I was feeling a lot better. My target for the first 5 miles was 32:20 and I hit it in 32:16 and I was very happy with that. Splits were: 6:29, 6:40, 6:20, 6:20, 6:27.
Miles 6-10: Feeling good, my splits through this section were all a little faster than planned. The effort did feel a little more than it should and my legs are burning a bit but I’m going with it. Total time through mile 10 was 1:05:57 which was 33 seconds faster than my target. Splits were: 6:16, 6:10, 7:15, 7:02, 6:58.
Miles 11-15: Mile 11 had a longer hill than I remember and I think I relaxed a bit knowing that I was a little ahead of schedule so it was slow. I started feeling early signs of the wall at mile 12 and my pace started to slip by a few seconds per mile. Nothing significant and my target pace was a bit aggressive so I was not worried. My half split was 1:27:20 and I was 9 seconds ahead of what I planned. I figured the worst case scenario is that I run an even split and I will still hit my goal. It’s impossible to positive split St. George, right? Time through mile 15 was 1:39:53 (13 seconds behind target). Splits were: 7:20, 6:56, 6:35, 6:40, 6;25.
Miles 16 – 20: Miles 15 and 16 are the blazing fast miles and when I had a hard time getting my legs to turnover I knew I was in trouble. My pace didn’t slip too much but the energy definitely was not there. My splits were still within a few seconds of goal pace so I was hopeful that I could hold out until the end. I caught up to Paul right at the bridge before the last climb. I just wanted to survive this climb and open it up once I crested the hill. Once the downhill started my legs were fried. I lost 20 seconds on mile 20 but the pace was reasonable and I was just trying to hold off the wall as long as possible. Total time through 20 was 2:13:26 which was 56 seconds behind schedule. Started to realize that 2:55 may be slipping away. Splits were: 6;25, 6:32, 6:36, 7:11, 6:49.
Miles 21-26.2: Mile 21 came within 10 seconds of my goal and there was still a glimmer of hope. The 22nd mile dashed whatever hope I had. It came in at 7:18 and I was now in full survival mode. Hello wall, I don’t think we’ve met in St. George before. I was fighting every urge not to walk. Paul passed me during the 23rd mile and I wanted to stick with him but just couldn’t. I start doing calculations to see if sub-3 is even a possibility. It was going to be close but I had to keep moving. I walked at the 24 mile aid station and it felt soooo good (which is why the mile 25 split is slower). Just kept plodding along to the finish. I’m surprised the splits were as fast as they are. They felt very slow. Splits were: 6:40, 7:18, 7:21, 7:26, 7:50, 7:27, 1:47.
Final time was 2:59:15. Another sub-3 but they are all at St. George so I’m not sure how much they count. Although, 2 of them were in the coldest SGM in history and the hottest on record. I didn’t really feel hot until the last 10K but I’m sure the higher temperatures did have an effect on the race. I think the biggest factor was that 2:55 was a bit of a stretch because of the extra pounds I am lugging around.
Went back to mile 26 to watch people come in. Had to leave at about the 4 hour mark because I was not feeling good and it was getting hot. I know that the more time people were on the course, the more they had to deal with the heat so kudos to them.
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