Well I don't even know where to begin. To be honest the whole entire race was really a blur. The miles were just flying by and the pace was just awesome. Well I was a little worried about this Marathon not that I didn't feel that I was ready. I was just worried about the heat so I knew the goal was to stay hydrated as long as possible and to keep body temp down by dumping water. Okay so into the race the plan was to run with Jeff and Walter and try break the beast of a 2:30 marathon. Gun went off and the key was to stay patient for the first half I really wanted to hit under 1:16 for the half just give myself a shot to break 2:30. First couple of miles were nice and easy hit around 5:50 pace to get the legs moving and then we started picking off the miles to about mile 8 were Veyo hill starts. Splits were between 5:25 to 5:40 in between there. The cool thing was is that when we hit Veyo we had a solid group of guys, at least 6-7 of us. Which was nice because we were able to stay together and work the hills as a group. We came through the half exactly at 1:15:30. By now there was 5 of us together. I didnt know any of the guys except Dave Holt. Him and I were mostly leading the group talking to each other and keeping the pace honest so we didn't blow ourselves up. Right now I just want to thank Dave for those miles and working with him. He allowed us all to stay patient and it gave me the opportunity to be able to finish strong just like I wanted. So Dave thanks!!! So really around 21 miles is when I decided just to go for it. I didn't know how the legs were going to respond but for me it was now or never. Really the miles were just a blur, I remember passing a BYU guy around 23 miles and then passing another runner at 24 miles. I could see another runner in the distance but was way up there and there was no way I could get him. So I thought as I made the last turn into the finish I saw Ian Hunter about 100 meters up and then he just stopped and stood there. He was cramping bad!! So I just went for it and passed him with about 100 meters to go. I came across the finish line at 2:28:47 and felt the pile of bricks come off my back. I finally achieved the sub 2:30. Also to top it off I didn't realize that I placed 3rd overall!!! then to top things off again. Jon Kotter decided not to take the Ibigawa Japan trip and since Pepi was the masters winner it was offered to me. That was the Icing on the Cake. Still don't feel like I deserve the trip and there are better runners out there that deserve it more than I do. But you know this is once in a lifetime opportunity and I way excited to go. Now back to the drawing board, time to recover and heal my body for another Marathon in 5 weeks. Again just want to thank Dave, Clyde, Walter, Jeff and all the other guys we ran. Awesome group of guys and that what makes Marathons fun. Also want to thank the guy equiped with 4 ipods, highlight of my trip and made for a good laugh!! Marathon Splits 1-5:47 2- 5:52 3- 5:39 4- 5:26 5-5:40 6-5:25 7- 5:24 8-6:12 9-6:03 10-5:54 11-6:04 12-5:52 13-5:35 HALF- 1:15:30 14-5:36 15-5:31 16-5:22
17-5:35 18-5:34 19-5:49 20-5:29 21-5:32 22-5:34 23-5:28 24-5:25 25-5:33 26-5:45 Marathon- 2:28:47
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