A beautiful marathon course! - reminded me of the year we lived in Heber and I would drive this canyon all the time to go down to Orem. The weather was cool, but super windy - there were white caps on the reservoir. I felt really great and kept a pace of around 7:50 for most of the run (a little slower uphill and faster the first 6 downhill miles) - plus a few stops here and there - making my average overall pace 8:13. After the first 1/2 I had a few stomach issues and had to make 2 bathrooms stops- I was able to keep these under about a minute each and was able to catch up with the pack. I also stopped and walked a little at the aid stations to get the water/gatorade down, but kept the walk breaks short. I still felt really good until about mile 21 - then I just wanted to stop - but I kept going at a sub-8:00 pace for the next few miles. These miles were tough! I got to mile 25 at about 3:24 and I thought that I should be fine to be under 3:35 for the marathon - 10 1/2 minutes for 1.2 miles should be plenty of time. At mile 26 my body slowed WAY down and would not move like I wanted it to - this was really hard on me because I knew at that point I would not make it under 3:35, but I could not get my body to move any faster. (I guess now I know what bonking feels like ). I crossed the finish and almost collapsed. My friend was there to help me out and a volunteer - I started getting really dizzy & seeing black spots, so they walked me over to the med tent to lay down for a while. I am very happy and proud for a new marathon PR, but a tiny bit disappointed missing BQ by just 19 seconds - oh well, I will get it here in St. George on my home court! For nutrition - I ate breakfast (around 3:30) - bagel w/ peanut butter, then a little later I had a banana. Right before the 6 am start, I had a GU. During the race I think I had 4 or 4 1/2 GUs, w/ some jelly beans as well occasionally & 1/2 a banana at one of the aid stations. I probably should have had a little more towards the end. I know I had a GU at mile 19, but I'm not sure if I had anything after that - maybe that is one of the reasons my body bonked. This is really difficult for me to figure out the right amount of fuel to take to give me energy, but not make my stomach too upset. Overall it was a great experience and lots of fun! | 