Got to Provo a little later than planned so I went right to sleep at the hotel without much thought of anything else. I was able to talk my wife into driving me to the bus and the going back to her pick up point at the mall which was right across from the hotel (she was very nice). I got on the bus shoved in my headphones and tried to get more sleep. The same was had at the starting line, just trying to relax, I did notice the wind but didn't think much of it. Now at the starting line, I could tell there were a bunch of really good runners. Someone asked Jon Kotter (last year's St George winner) what he was trying to run. He said he was planning on winning it but didn't know since three Kenyans had showed up (He ended up 3rd behind 2 of them). I thought it was pretty funny. Miles 1-4 (6:07, 6:10, 6:14, 6:10) These miles seemed really easy. I had to hold myself back quite a bit here but I kept thinking these are a little too fast for me I need to slow down. Miles 5-7 (6:22, 6:24, 6:21) Didn't need to worry about slowing down because I got a 20mph headwind right here. I tried to tuck in with a group and draft as much as possible for the next little while. Took a Gu at 7. Miles 8-11 (6:45, 7:15, 6:30, 6:32) Headwind and hills. Still trading off drafting with the group. My stomach was really turning and I knew I couldn't last much longer. Mile 12 (8:28) Pit stop. Dropped the group I knew I would be on my own from here on out. Mile 13-13.1 (6:54, 1:24 -- 1:28:04) I'm thinking here just hang on. I was feeling so weak from the stomach issue. I knew with the wind there was no way I would run what I was hoping for and decided to try and maintain 6:30-6:40 miles. Didn't think much more than this, just started hoping I would feel better at some point. Miles 13.1 - 26.2 (6:41, 6:40 , 7:06, 6:51, 6:33, 6:37, 6:35, 6:38, 6:45, 6:45, 7:23, 6:44, 6:37, 1:01 -- 1:28:29) Started feeling better around 18 and knew I would need to take another Gu or probably run out of steam. Sucked it down around 20 and at 24 I had to walk through a water station and hoped to get a hold of my stomach. It worked and I was able to finish strong. The last couple of miles I was right behind the women's overall leader and there was a police escort for her. I just kind of hung back for a bit they were doing a pretty good job clearing the way. With about a mile left she started dying so I kicked it up and passed her. I talked to her afterwards and she looked dead. She said the whole thing was hard. I don't think I pushed myself that hard so I might have left some out there today. Came within 25 seconds of an even split. Take out the pit stop and it was a 2 minute positive split not too good. Overall I felt ok. The wind took a lot out of me and stomach problems didn't help much. I'm learning more and more with each race. Today I learned a bunch. I can run a marathon and hold pace for this long. Need to work harder on tempo and speed workouts. The top 3 in my age group were a lot faster than me so I need to work hard if I'm going to be competitive in future races.
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