Well, I wasn’t really in the race, but I ran the course 25 minutes after the field started. I waited too long to enter this race, so when I woke up this morning, I decided to drive to the mouth of Provo Canyon, run up 10 miles to the starting point, and then run the course chasing the field.
I started my run a little before 6 a.m. and ran up the Provo River Parkway. I would climb about 1,500 feet over the ten miles to reach the start of the half marathon. It was nice to give my ankle a break from the trails and get some speed work on the pavement. I pretty much had the parkway to myself as I wound my way up the canyon. I could see people setting up the aid stations. Once I reached Vivan Park, I ran along the road climbing up South Provo Fork. The busses were coming down the road toward me.
With about 1.5 miles to go, I saw the front runners blasting down the road toward me. I made sure I was hugging the left shoulder of the road to stay out of the way. Then a sea of hundreds of runners came toward me covering the entire road. I stayed way left, but still some runners weren’t paying attention, not expecting someone to be running UP the road. I had to slow my pace to avoid head-on collisions. Many wise-guys would tell me I was going in the wrong direction. Several runners called out my name. Finally the field passed by and then the walkers were gone too. It was quiet again and a beautiful morning in the canyon.
I continued my run up the canyon until I reached the starting line. All was quiet, not a soul was there. I could see a long line of porto-potties standing quiet in a row. Without any fan-fare, I started my stop watch and was away for my half-marathon run, 25 minutes after the official start. I could tell right away that I wouldn’t be able to sustain the usual fast pace down the canyon. My legs already had 10 uphill miles on them and also there wasn’t anyone around to compete with, to push the pace. Also, my run up and down Timpanogos in 3:36 yesterday could still be felt. I decided to try to maintain a steady marathon pace.
The first few miles were disappointing because of all the trash that had been thrown down on the road by the sea of runners. There were also tons of sweat shirts thrown here and there. Why didn’t they use the bags that would be taken to the finish? After about 2.5 miles, I reached the first aid station and the walkers bringing up the rear.
It was very interesting passing hundreds of runners. First, there were the over-weight walkers, struggling down the road. Next, came the power walkers. Finally some runners appeared, looking like they were really struggling. Then came the slow women runners talking non-stop to their friends, out for their usual run/walk for the morning. Then came an amazing sea of women runners. Where were the men? They were all women, jogging pretty well, pushing hard enough that they were not chatting with friends. My running pace was considerably faster. One woman yelled out, “Hey, quit running so fast!” I laughed and explained I started late.
On and on I went. Down by Bridal Veil Falls, the course headed up a road for a three-mile out and back. The uphill was a good challenge. I pushed the pace very hard, running about twice as fast as the runners behind me. It was fun to see all the runners coming back toward us. One of them called out to me. It was my step-brother. I’m sure he was wondering why I was running that far back in the pack.
Once heading downhill again, I pushed the speed again harder. It was an obstacle course passing hundreds of runners. Little by little the runners looked more fit and their pace was better, but as we reached the 11 mile-mark, I could see many runners struggling with the distance. With only a couple miles, I pushed it hard, knowing that my 23-mile run was almost over.
As I approached the finish line, I heard my name called out a couple times. Before I reached the finish line, I pulled off the course and hit my watch. My time was 1:43:42. Not bad for miles 10-23. My pace was consistent with my average marathon pace (under 3:30 pace). I suspect if I would have run it on fresh legs with competitors, I could have shaved off 7-8 minutes. I enjoyed telling my tale of my morning to several friends and then ran another mile back to my car. | 