2008 St. George Marathon
In case you hadn’t heard, the weather wasn’t the greatest. It was cold, rainy and windy the entire race. I didn’t mind the cold and rain but the constant headwind wasn’t fun. I usually spend most of my races running in no man’s land but I knew that with the head wind it was very important to stay with a group. There were about a dozen of us that were shooting for sub 3 planning on going out together but only 5 or 6 of us were able to hook up at the start. We were off with the sound of the horn and it was very congested. I don’t remember it being this crowded at the start in previous years. The fact that it was this crowded was actually an advantage because it provided protection from the wind. The aid station at mile 3 was so hectic that we all got separated and it was just me and Joe with Rhett just behind us. I knew that Joe was really holding back a lot but since it was his first marathon he wanted to start conservative. There is really nothing exciting to report for the first half. I did my best to maintain a steady effort and feel like I was able to achieve this. After 4 miles we were exactly on pace. Miles 5-7 were a little fast and we were able to put 1 minute in the bank. It seems that I usually hit these miles fast because you can see Veyo looming ahead and want to get a few quick miles in before you start the climb. Also, having Joe run with me really pulled me along. I could definitely feel that I had run a marathon 2 weeks ago (nothing serious, my legs just didn’t feel as snappy as I would have liked) but he helped me keep the pace honest and not slack off. Joe and I ran Veyo a little faster than Rhett wanted so it was just the 2 of us for a couple of miles. We were within a couple of seconds per mile during the climb through the Dammeron valley and Rhett was able to catch back up to us and we finally found Paul. We hit the half in 1:31:07 which is exactly what I was shooting for. I got a little lazy during mile 14 and wasn’t feeling the greatest going into mile 15 but it was a huge downhill so I tried my best to take advantage of it. This is where Joe decided to see what he had left and took off. He was in great shape and I knew that he had a great finish time waiting for him. Now it was just Rhett and me with Paul not too far ahead. We maintained a good pace until miles 19 and 20 where we lost a little time. Mile 19 has the big climb and the headwind seemed to hit us the hardest at this point. There were 2 guys just ahead of Rhett and me and we stayed behind them. We lost almost 20 seconds during this mile but it was a good strategy to conserve energy going up so you can really take advantage of the downhill during the last 10K. I had a few low moments at mile 20 which is typical at mile 20 of a marathon after climbing a hill into a headwind. Having Rhett there really kept me going. There were a couple of times that I would start to drift back but would then focus on keeping up with him and I eventually woke up and was able to get going again. We were back on pace for miles 21 and 22 and we could all taste the finish line so the pace started to quicken. We made up the 20 seconds we lost on mile 19 during mile 23 and the guys in the group (Rhett, Paul and Matt) started to gap me. Hit the 24 mile marker and decided that I was feeling really good and there was no reason for me to be holding back. Started to pick up the pace and make up the distance on the guys ahead. Slowly moved by them and just kept going. Saw another good sized group and used them as a target to motivate me to keep going. Passed them and there was just one last turn to make and I was home free. Crossed the finish line in 2:58:19 and felt really good. I know that I left a little on the course but that was part of the plan. I really didn’t want to blow up during this race. Stopped just past the finish mat to watch the other 3 come in. Matt crossed the line 20 seconds later and Rhett came in 20 seconds after that. Unfortunately, Paul cramped up and missed the goal by 1 minute. I feel really bad because he ran a great race and would have easily had the sub 3 on a day with better weather. Comparing my splits to the plan I am shocked at how close they are. Other than miles 5-7 and the last 4 miles we hit almost every mile within a couple of seconds of the plan.
Overall Place: 80/5,030 (Last year I ran 5 minutes faster and finished in 106)
Gender Place: 74/2,851 (Chick count = 6)
Age Division Place: 19/372
Ended up finishing 3rd place overall in the Utah Grand Slam which was my goal for the year.
So this wraps up another year of racing with the same question of where do I go from here? This wasn’t my best year of racing and I was getting close to burning out. Ending with a good race certainly helps reignite the fire but I think that I will stick with my plan of running no marathons in 2009.
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