The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

Utah Marathon

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Location:

Logan,UT,USA

Member Since:

Dec 15, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

PRs after age 40:

 

5k     15:15  Running of the Leopards.

8k      22:21  Alta Death Dash

10k   33:02    Des News

Half Marathon      1:10  Timp Half

Marathon        2:32    Ogden

First solo R2R2R Bass Trails Grand Canyon 

First R2R2R Grand Canyon Toroweap Overlook

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

Not be fat all year

Long-Term Running Goals:

Smell the dirt, feel the mountain, taste the wind.

Personal:

 

"Our legs are tight, our feet are flying, and we are gliding over the roll of the land. The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old, and we are free and at peace. The clock has stopped because another time has taken over." C. Bowden

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Utah Marathon (26.22 Miles) 03:05:46, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.0026.220.000.0029.22

Interesting run.  Got in last night around 3am and caught two hours of sleep.  I was kind of excited to see if I could run a legit Utah marathon course since they are so rare, one week after St George.  I was also hoping to get a decent long run in without tearing something up.  One of the neat things that I have discovered about running marathons so close together is that you never know how you are going to run.  You can crash in six miles or keep it hanging together on legs that seem dead from the start.  Kind of neat to push yourself mentally from a different direction.  Today was number 10 for the year. 

I started off with Ben and Riley both who were obviously in much better shape than me to run a good race and after 3 miles I let them go.  By six miles I had serious doubts about the race, totally dead legs at 6:30 pace.  I slowed to just above 7 minutes and they felt much better.  What a course, it just seemed to go up and up.  Three over-road crosswalks, hills in all the wrong places.  I set in my head two "rules"that I have read from Ultra runners that has worked so well this year for me.  1.  You will never feel the same in 3 miles as you feel right now.  2.  Break it up in sections and run each one.  By the time I reached 19 miles I realized I was having fun, the sun was coming out and the rest was downhill.  I was slow as heck, but I wasn't going to hurt anything.  I did expect at any moment to get chicked by Allie or Devra so I kept one eye out behind me for the last 6 miles.

Pretty sure today I saw my first course cutter.  During this marathon it was very easy to keep track of those around you, lots of turns with long stretches and over the cross walks where you can see the course down and behind you.  Especially around the city creek loop at mile 22 where you can see the runners on the opposite side a mile behind you.  At about mile 24 a guy about my age it seemed, suddenly came out from the side of me and passed me just hauling down the hill.  Since he looked like an old guy too, I decided to catch him.  I got past him but he hung on and passed me back just before the finish.  My Garmin has a 5:59 for mile 26, fastest of the run for me.  Never saw him during the race.  Meant to ask anyone on the course if they saw this guy but lost interest in the whole thing with the post race stuff. 

Half split 1:32:12

3 miles easy late tonight 8:45 pace.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00Calories: 0.00
Comments
From Scott Ensign on Sat, Oct 13, 2012 at 22:19:25 from 67.40.114.105

nice race, congrats on 10 marathons on the year.

From Tmck on Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 00:33:26 from 174.52.182.163

Was the "course cutter" wearing red sox? I lost a lot of speed toward the end (finished in 3:15:08), but a guy passed me at about mile 22.5 and he was moving fast and fresh, almost like he hadn't just run the previous 22.5 miles.

From Smooth on Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 12:46:28 from 65.130.14.36

Wow!!! what an impressive race!!! you are a marathon machine!!! :) :) :)

From Scott Ensign on Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 14:02:11 from 67.40.114.105

I don't think there was a course cutter. I looked at the results on line and the masters winner is an elite (see athlinks) who ran 2:45 at SG last week, and 3:03 at Park City. He ran 2:48 at CIM last year. He just saved it for the end and finished strong.

From Steve on Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 16:04:30 from 66.87.67.36

Scott, you are dead on! I looked him up on Athlinks and I've raced with him several times. He runs pretty close to high 2:40s in a lot of marathons. In fact, he passed me at mile 24 in St George last week running about a 6 min pace. It all clicked together when you said that. I ran Des News when he did too. This last few months with the injuries my marathon times have fallen 10 minutes or more and we are finishing together. What a beautiful finish for a marathon! No way I could run the pace he was yesterday on those last 3 miles. Guy's an animal. And yes, he was wearing red socks.

From Tmck on Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 19:17:39 from 174.52.182.163

I dont know if that makes me feel better or worse. That guy was moving. Good runner!

From steve ash on Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 20:53:35 from 174.52.177.84

Great training run though Steve.. Thats kind of how you have to look at these when your not at your best I think.

From steve ash on Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 20:55:08 from 174.52.177.84

Just a plain difficult course from the way it looks too.

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