run, run, run

Pittsburgh, PA 6:15am

Pace: 8:14

This was a really cool run this morning. I haven't been to Pittsburgh before, but we went downtown and walked around a bit yesterday, so I was able to get my bearings. My hotel is next to PNC Park where the Pirates play, so I left the hotel and crossed the 6th Street Bridge over the Allegheny and ran down the river around Point State Park. Then I went past the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (where I'm working this week) to the Smithfield Street Bridge over the Monogahala. I went along the shoreline to the West End Bridge (it was getting kind of scary down there in the dark) over the Ohio, around Heinz Field and back to the hotel.

I didn't really concentrate on my pace or anything else other than not getting lost or stabbed. I'll do a couple more 5-mileish runs tomorrow and Wednesday then take two days off before Saturday's marathon.

Pittsburgh, PA 6:15 am

Pace: 8:27

Same run as yesterday. The distance is a little more and the pace is a little slower because I took a wrong turn. I saw a path along the river that I thought I could run on and looked for an entrance. When I found the entrace, a sign said Danger! No Pedestrians or Bicycles! So I turned around. I didn't want to die today.

Pittsburgh, PA 6:10am

Pace: 8:32

I took the same route over the bridges this morning, but I shortened it by cutting through downtown instead of going around the riverfront. That made for a more interesting run, that's for sure. Downtown is pretty active that time of morning. A lot of stopping and starting messed up my pace, but I wasn't really worried about that.

That's it. My last run before the marathon. I'll rest up tomorrow and Friday mornings, then drive down to Baltimore Friday afternoon. Then Saturday morning I see how it goes. Ready or not, here I come.

This was a really cool race. I had wanted to do a big city marathon to see what it was like and I wasn't disappointed. All together there were more than 17,000 people participating between the 5k, Half, Relay and Marathon. The course was great. It started at the stadiums and passed by the harbor, Ft. McHenry, through a variety of neighborhoods, around a lake and ended up with a run through Camden Yards. We also ran past the USS Torsk, which was cool for me because my dad served on that submarine back in the day.

My time wasn't the best, but it was a tough course and I didn't want to relive my disappointment in Pocatello. With all of the hills, I knew I wasn't likely to make a PR, so I decided to take it at the best pace I could and enjoy the race.

I started out following the 3:40 pace group and hung with them through the first half and felt real comfortable. I fell back briefly when I had to make a pit stop at Ft. McHenry (mile 10), but caught up again by mile 12.

Mile 14 was awesome. I got to the halfway point right when the half marathon was starting. They started out on a parallel route to avoid congestion, but I ran past them as the gun was going off, the crowd was cheering and the confetti was flying. Then a short ways later I saw my wife at the side of the course so I ran over and gave her a kiss. Afterward some guy running behind me said "Boy, I sure hope you knew her."

I passed a guy in a BSU hat around mile 17 and gave him the Go BSU fist pump. He was also from Meridian, but then I broke his heart by telling him that I'm a BYU fan.

I slowed way down during the last 7 miles. The hills and the sun were getting to me. I had hoped to hang strong till the end, but I kept reminding myself that I was there to have a good time and I wasn't going to get uptight over my finishing time.

So, in the final analysis, I wasn't thrilled with my performance, but it was a great experience and a really fun weekend. At 4:14:54 only one of my previous four marathons was slower, but I still finished in front more 60% of the other racers and in the top half of my age group. I could have just staid in Pittsburgh over the weekend and watched TV in the hotel room. Instead I met the challenge of running 26.2 miles and had a great time doing it. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.