Have a little faith

An afternoon run up the monster, and return, in 50:15 (good time!) Top of Gilead was 25:10. Sweet run. I didn't feel like I'd pushed that hard. Hopefully this is a good omen for St. George on Sat.

With high councilman Craig Romrell. We did our typical run on Wednesday before a Saturday marathon. Starting at his pad in holiday, 1 mile warm up, stop and stretch. Then a timed 1-mile run out to Cotton Bottom, in 6:20.  Retun with a negative split of 5:53 for the mile. Craig pulled away going up the hill and finished 10 seconds ahead.  Then a mile cool down jog. Used the DS trainers. They feel good.

Nice day, too warm. Ran without shirt from the beginning. Was even perspiring standing in line to start. Feet felt fine. Some technical mistakes, like not taking my advil until 15 miles. Psorias and hip flexor would have been better had I taken it at mile 5, as was my plan. Thought I might get under 3:10, but modified goal as the great ball of fire rose in the east. Passed Greg Randall and Matt Dalton at about mile 5. Greg fnished 2 minutes behind me. Passed Craig Romrell at mile 8. Thought he was tanked, but he said after his 3:21 finish that at mile 18, I was only 50 yards ahead. This marathon is not as easy as it looks on paper. There's a 300 foot climb from mile 7 to 11, then it levels out to mile 14. After that it's mostly down, but the elevation chart doesn't show the up at mile 16 to Ledges, or some others. It's just too warm for me.   Ran hard at the last 2 miles to keep it under 3:11, which I barely did. Last year I hit 3:10:01. So I'm 50 seconds slower this year.  This 5 hour energy drink doesn't work. I don't like it really.