Well, this is not an easy thing to do, but something that is necessary. This year's St. George Marathon turned out to be one of my biggest BUMMER races in a long time. Actually, very interesting comparison between my very first marathon in 2004 and this year. 2004- Great weather, ran hard the entire way finished in 3:07:30, placed 219th overall, and 28th in age division 2006- 2:46:11 2007-2:44:59
2008- Terrible weather, walked or slowly jogged much of the second half, finished in 3:07:27, placed 206th overall, and 29th in age division The upsetting thing about this year, was the fact I felt like I was in really good shape, I had some good goals and thought I would be able to put everything together. Anyway, as those who ran or were there know the weather did make the race quite a bit more difficult. The rain the entire way and the strong head wind made for a long day. My main problem came from cramping up too many times during the race. I felt cold the entire race and was pretty worried about my body temperature. I think my biggest mistake was starting out too fast and running too many miles by myself. I didn't ever get in with any packs and I fought the wind the entire way alone. After reaching the half, I really fell apart and struggled with cramping: (calves, back, hip, and quads.) It was definitely humbling to see so many people passing me, especially other bloggers and people I usually beat. All I could do was wish them well. Ok before I continue anymore with the downer report. I would like to point out some highlights 1-Dave and Clyde's finish- I was really happy for both of these guys. Even though they didn't hit the time they were hoping for, they both placed very high in the race. Great job guys 2-Nice to see so many bloggers out on the course. Some performances that stood out. Michelle L., Tyler S., James Holt (Great job James!), Ken Carlson 3-A big highlight was stopping and shaking a little girl's hand. She had her hand out and people just kept running by her not doing anything, I actually stopped, talked to her for a moment and forgot about my problems 4-Another highlight was walking for a stretching with my cousin, who was working an aid station, I was really struggling and she helped calm me down. 5-Last highlight was rather interesting. At the finish I met up with an old college teammate, actually she was more than a teammate, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I hadn't seen this girl since college so it was nice to talk for a bit. She actually came over and met Sunny and the boys and then I met her husband. Ok, back to the scary part of this post the splits Like I mentioned, going in I felt like I was in good shape, so I wanted to go out attempting a PR. I believe in this race today the going out faster lead to more cramping and problems later in the race.
1-6:07 Felt good 2-6:25 3-6:01 4-5:53 5-6:02 6-5:40 7-5:54 8-7:18- Veyo hill 9-7:02 10-6:57- 1:03:20 I was actually feeling pretty good with my goals once I got to this point. But pretty much after this mile the race really turned ugly for me.
11-7:30 12-6:59 13-6:56 Half- 1:25:50 14-6:59 15-6:40 16-6:40 17-7:04 18-7:31 19-8:29 Walking
20-7:13 21-7:47 22-8:16 23-8:42 Walking
24-10:10-Crawling 25-7:45 26-7:33-3:05:42 .2- 1:45 Finish time 3:07:27
Ok, that was very painful to write, but I'm actually very excited to get back to training. Of course I will take it easy for a few weeks to allow for the body to recover. But I would like to do another marathon before the end of the year. I really feel like I need to redeem myself. Maybe the CA International Marathon, Las Vegas, or P.F. Changs in January. Anyway, this race was definitely one to remember, but would also be a nice one to forget. Speedstar- 226
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