St. George Marathon: here are the particulars: Time: 2:37:53. Overall place: 21st out of the 4700+ maniacs that finished the race. Age group place: 5th. Pace: 6:01 per mile. Here are the (probably very boring) details: I decided to fly to St. George on Friday so that I could make quick return on Saturday afternoon for a friend's wedding reception. The skies were stormy and cloudy the whole way, basically, and it was quite an awful flight on the little turbo prop airplane. Two women were vomiting in a row in front of me. Another was crying like mad on takeoff and landing; I don't know what was going on there, but she seemed pretty miserable. It took me a couple of hours after I landed to get my equilibrium back. I stayed in a condo with John and Jeff Straley and another runner named Jeremy. Loaded up on pasta, watched "Better of Dead'; got in bed at about 10:30. Alarm went off at 4:10 am. We were out the door about a half hour later to grab the busses. I was surprised how few people were lined up, as it seems many many people took the bait for the prizes being given to early bus riders. The ride to the start was surprisingly quick. The atmosphere at the start was great; lots of people with lots of energy milling around under the bright lights getting ready to race. At start time, it was still plenty dark. I actually prefer this and wouldn't mind if the first half were run in the dark. Once it gets light in a marathon, unless it's cold out, I find that the sun can zap energy. Right at the start I hooked up with Jed Burton, as we had talked about. We both hoped to run sub 2:40, a first for both of us. We ran easy for the first few miles; 6:05-6:10. Clyde joined us for a couple of miles before pushing ahead at about 5 or 6. That was the last I would see of him. Jed and I hung together through Veyo, taking the climb nice and easy; hard enough to pass a couple of people, but not hard enough to do any damage. We were 7:14 for mile 7-8. One thing on my mind during those early miles was the fact that my right shoe was not tight enough and my foot was sort of slipping around. It was starting to be one of those things that the more I tried to ignore it, the more it bothered me. So around mile 9, Jed picked it up a bit and I dropped back for a second and stopped to tie it. I figured it was something I should do early, rather than later in the race when I might not be able to stand up if I stopped. So I stopped, tied it once, decided it wasn't tight enough, and tied it again. Probably lost 40 seconds. Watched several people pass me. I got up and, taking a page from Sasha's book, decided not to chase them down in a sprint, but to regain the position gradually. Pushed through the hills at 9-11 feeling pretty good, slowly making up the time I had lost. Jed was still well ahead of me though, at least a minute. He had definitely picked it up it seemed. My strategy was to get to the half way point feeling fresh so that I could unload on the second half. I got to the half in 1:21:45, which is about right where I wanted to be. Jed was back in view now, running with Bill Cobler. This was an interesting dynamic as these two have been battling for the Utah Marathon Grand Slam this summer. Jed had a substantial lead on Bill overall and that would be difficult to make up today unless something went wrong, but I knew they were both going to let it all loose today. Now the miles were getting much faster as we ran through Diamond Valley and into Snow Canyon. The grade is steep, but surprisingly runnable. I could run 5:40-5:50 without putting too much on the line, either in terms of energy consumption or physical damage. I just tried to hold the downhill form I have been working on this summer and keep it sane. Out of Snow Canyon there is a hill around mile 19 and I caught Bill Cobler and a couple of others around that point. Jed had pressed ahead but I could see him pretty well. Some time around 21, I passed an ailing Mike Kirk. Things obviously weren't going as planned for him and he confirmed this when he told me he was "running with one foot." He kindly offered some encouragement to me to press ahead and I tried to do that. Finally caught up to Jed after 21. We hung together again for a couple more miles as we descended into St. George itself. I figured we would stay close until the end, but Jed dropped back a bit and I just kept the same pace. Just tried to hold on for the last couple of miles. At mile 25, I saw my two good friends, Mark Holland and Julie Cassidy; both of whom couldn't run the race this year due to injury, but who made the trip anyway. Mark has run 2:27 at St. George won the masters division; Julie won this year's Moab Half Marathon and Des News Marathon. They were giving me a lot of encouragement to keep it up and Mark's enthusiasm was a real boost. I just tried to hold it through the last mile and the finish finally came into view. Crossed the finish in 2:37:53, a PR by 18 minutes over last year's effort at Chicago. Most importantly, it was just fun to run. Jed was just behind me in 2:38:04, with Bill Cobler right behind him. My friend Casey came in at 2:55, finally getting the 3 hour monkey off his back, much to the relief of his wife and children. John Straley came in at 2:58:57, winning the 55-59 age group. He's an absolute machine. Aimee Larkin finished in 2:46, scoring her another entry at the Olympic Trials, I believe. | 