St. George Marathon:
After spending an enjoyable evening chatting with lots of the bloggers
and stuffing my face (thanks so much to Clyde and Mik'l for organizing
and hosting), I joined Matt Harmer and Dustin Ence for a ride up to
Dustin's family cabin near Central. That was a sweet deal. Nice place
to stay, another chance to see the course, and best of all a 10 min
drive to the start rather than an hour bus ride. Thanks again Dustin. I
was too tired to wait up for Bill and Steve who joined us later at the
cabin and fell asleep. We made it to the start in enough time to
jog easy, hit the port-a-pot, ditch the clothes and go. I looked around
for the "pace group" and found Chad, Ted and Chris. Missing a few but
good enough for me. I hoped to join up with the rest somewhere down the
road. Someone yelled 2 minutes and no more than 20 seconds later
everyone took off. Ok, whatever here we go. It was pretty surreal
running in the dark en masse but I wasn't going to complain. The longer
the sun took to come up, the better the weather. I was loving the
Northern Utah like crisp morning and was excited to see the flags
flapping in the correct direction. Perfect! The first few miles
were sure nice with Ted, Chad, and Chris doing all the pace setting. I
just tucked in and answered to Ted's roll call every quarter mile. Ted,
that was hilarious, you made me laugh how worried you were about
everyone. It was awesome! That man is sure unselfish. We picked up a
few people here and there including Scott Browning who joined us for a
bit. The first couple miles were slow and comfortable (luckily) and
right were I wanted to be. We picked it up a bit dropping into Veyo,
but it was the correct pace for the grade. I was feeling sub-par
already and Veyo suddenly looked huge. Everyone took it easy going up
the hill and I just tucked in with Ted and hung on. I struggled to get
the legs moving on the 1/4 mile downhill after Veyo hill but managed to
hang on to the back of the pack. I hit the 10 mile mark in exactly one hour, but things started to get pretty rough climbing out of Dammeron Valley.
The boys realized that they needed to pick it up to hit their time goal
for the half (1:18 or so) and I struggled to hang on. Somewhere in
there, they picked up James. About that point, I had to surge a bit to
hang on then recover (drifting back) and surge a bit again to hang on.
That wasn't working so I resigned myself to run the hill my own pace.
It was relentless. I needed a GU or something but didn't have anything
(lesson learned, don't rely on finding that at aid stations). I did a
great job drinking, but I was having a hard time keeping the stomach
settled. I was running with Steve O off an on during this section. He
would pass, I would pass, he would pass. He won the battle... I
hit the half at 1:19:40 and I still could see the pace group so I was
still hopeful for a miracle to catch them on the downhills. I was
surprised at how much work it was to get a sub 1:20 first half. I was
hammered. Halfway! The hard half...sort-of. I tried to get the
legs going again. I enjoyed the hill right after the Diamond Valley
turn. Even with that, it still took until mile 15 to drop below 6:00
pace again. But then, I had the 6:00 pace locked in and tried my best
to stay below it mostly succeeding for the next few miles. I was
starting to feel the wall symptoms but before I knew it, I could see
what I was waiting for. No, not the view of the city (that came later)
but a fresh pacer in the form of a good friend (Jon). I was the lucky
recipient of the Jon pace group (round two with Jon being the lucky recipient at TOU for round one). I am not exactly
sure what mile he popped into my race, but I tucked in next to him and
we cruised along together. He gave me the updates on the happenings
ahead. Paul was in second and was flying. Lots of other people were
doing good, but apparently everyone anywhere near me was almost dead.
He was full of so much propaganda that I was fully expecting to see an
ambulance around the next corner with another victim. "Everyone is
dying, blah blah blah. He also humored me with every corny joke that
he could think of. My favorite (probably the worst joke) was when we
came up on a construction cone and a large display stating the the road
is closed (of course due to the marathon). He told me, "Don't worry, I
spoke with the construction guys and they will let you through no
problem". I was not too focused on my pace, I was doing my
best to stay close to 6:00 pace, but ran mostly by feel. I am not sure
what mile has that overpass and the hill (19?) but it was tough.
Finally hit the good downhills and let it go as best I could. My legs
were shot, but I was breathing fine. Jon was very good to be my
personal slave. He fetched me water and gatoraide while I focused on
the tangents and nothing else. He was quick to give me targets to go
after. Like Chris and Steve (sorry guys). I would cruise down the
steep parts and once it leveled off, I would end up slowing way down to
6:30 pace. Go!!!! I can still break 2:40. I hit mile 20 in about
2:01 and knew I could do a sub 39 min 10K....barely.
The crowds were awesome through mile 23 and 24. They would
start cheering and Jon would say "This is Cody, cheer for Cody!" and
the crowds would ROAR "GO CODY!" How do you not speed up and smile
when that happens? I waved to my family cheering me on once I hit the
diagonal and that gave me a burst to catch the next guy. It happened
to be Brett, who I met last night (friend of Jeff S). Jon kept me
going and made sure to tell me how bad I wanted this and how much work
I put in to get this far. He should be a motivational speaker. Only
one more person in sight to catch (Walter) and he was basically
in-sight the entire race (hence a good goal person to go after). He was hurting pretty bad and didn't latch
on as we went by. A couple of turns over the last mile and then the
homestretch. We could see the clock all the way down the street and I
know I was sub 2:40. But how about sub 2:39? Jon told me I had better
get moving to beat his time from TOU (which was a goal of mine, of
course). That lit the fire and it was time to kick. Jon's parting
words were "Don't forget to smile crossing the finish line." I thought
about that the entire .2 as I was dying. Make it look good Cody.
Enjoy it. No one will catch you just enjoy it. I was never happier to
be done than at that moment. I waited around at the finish for a
bit and Logan was the first to congratulate me. It was me who should
have been congratulating him. I quickly asked around to see how the
other bloggers and friends did. I was so happy for Paul and Logan.
They both have worked so hard. There were so many other awesome times
and results I was so happy. Kory came in right after me and I was glad
he was able to break 2:40 as well. I had planned on running with him,
but wasn't able to hook up at the start. Dan had a breakthru race and finally showed a glimpse of his potential. He chopped off about 20 mins off his PR.
Bottom line, Ted and
crew got me through the first half, Jon got me through the last 10.
What an awesome blog! Thinking back, I probably could have gone slower
the first half and had more gas for the second and ran a bit faster.
But, you never know and I ran it exactly how I wanted to (at least the
first half) so I can't complain.
Mile splits and Ave HR for that split: Mile 1: 6:04 (174) HR was off for the first 2 miles due to cold weather
Mile 2: 6:07 (177) Just hanging out with the crew
Mile 3: 5:51 (175) Getting going now
Mile 4: 5:52 (173) Replays of Drafting in the 5K from The Office last week flashed in my head as I was tucked in drafting.
Mile 5: 5:55 (175) Enjoying the downhills
Mile 6: 5:28 (175) Wow, that was fast
Mile 7: 5:39 (173) Here comes Veyo hill
Mile 8: 6:36 (177) HR climbed to 182 here, ouch
Mile 9: 6:17 (177)
Mile 10: 6:08 (176) I got dropped
Mile 11: 6:26 (178) Not easy
Mile 12: 6:18 (172) HR is dropping but pace isn't
Mile 13: 6:02 (170)
Half: 1:19:40 by the clock on the side of the road.
Mile 14: 6:10 (169) Is it fuel? Why can't I go?
Mile 15: 5:55 (168) Finally!
Mile 16: 5:44 (166)
Mile 17: 6:07 (167)
Mile 18: 6:00 (168)
Mile 19: 6:23 (170) Hill
Mile 20: 6:05 (170) Mile 20 Watch time: 2:01:07
Mile 21: 5:49 (170)
Mile 22: 6:20 (170)
Mile 23: 5:58 (168)
Mile 24: 5:51 (171) Go Cody cheering section!
Mile 25: 6:12 (172)
Mile 26: 6:02 (174)
Mile 26.2 1:05 (180)
Second Half: 1:18:07 (one minute negative split) Results: 2:38:47 (PR by over 7 minutes, 33 minute PR in one year of training)
Ave Pace 6:03.4
Ave Hr: 172
Chick Score: 1 (there is always a "super-chick" in front of me now-days)
Age group result 14th. (tough age group)
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