Great Day! Ran the 30th annual St. George Marathon, much different than my first St. George Marathon in 2004 (3:07:30). Today I ran a 2:46:11 (6:20 pace) and finished 47th overall and finished 11th in the 30-34 age group (prizes to the top 10 and I finished 11th, story of my life) Anyway I was really pleased with my race and my effort a 20:34 PR from my previous best which was 3:06:45 in Boston (06). Throughout the summer I felt my training put me right close to being able to break 2:50, so I started out with that as my original goal. However, earlier this week, I decided I would shoot for 2:45 and push to maintain that pace. Start of the race. So much energy at the start, the national anthem, seeing friends and the excited of getting the show on the road, plus it was pretty chilly this morning. 1 mile-6:25 felt pretty relaxed and running with Bill, Steve, Dave, and Logan. Immediately my groin starts hurting, something that has been bothering me the last two weeks. Even though it is kind of painful, not much I can do at this point, I'm here and I'm running this baby regardless. 2 mile-6:32 (12:47) Holt and Logan take off, might have been better if I had gone with them, or it might have been a mistake, might have crashed and burned later. 3 mile-5:59 (18:47) 4 mile and 5 mile (11:58) in all the excitement I missed the mile marker at mile 4. At this point not running with anybody I know, I can see Logan and his lime green shorts ahead. 6 mile-5:48 (36:33) Running with Ryan Bullock, did not know his name while on the course, but did the formal introductions later at the finish. He ran at BYU a year after I did. 7 mile-6:10 (42:44) Still running with Ryan and feeling good as we go through Veyo. My feet were bothering me quite a bit and I was still pretty cold 8 mile-6:55 (49:39) Head up Veyo Hill, pass Steve Wallenfels, someone who beat me by quite a bit in the Hurricane Dam to Dam 5 mile race back in Feb. Going up the hill running along side Steven King (Runner's Corner) and another guy he was running with. I don't know Steven, but I do know he is a good runner, he later passed me and finished strong in 2:44:39 9 mile-6:32 (56:12) 10 mile-6:23 (1:02:35) 11 mile-7:02 (1:09:38) this mile actually wasn't this slow, I just had watch troubles again, forgot to get my split until after I had got my drink and realized I was down the road a bit 12 mile-6:19 (1:15:58) Once again kind of running alone, don't really have anybody by me or at least not anybody I know. 13 mile-6:07 (1:22:05) Just enjoying the time and thinking how nice it was to have ran this first half last Saturday in training. Half Marathon- I came through the half in 1:23:10 and was confident I would be able to meet my first goal of breaking 2:50, now I just need to push for 2:45. Many people are able to run the second half of St. George quite a bit faster, so I thinking I should be to also. However, as it turned out I only ran the second half 6 seconds faster, nothing to write home about, I guess we'll have to work on that next year. 14 mile-6:11 (1:28:16) Ryan Bullock comes by me and takes off, ends up running a great race 2:41:13 15 mile-5:56 (1:34:13) I really enjoy this part of the course coming down through Snow Canyon 16 mile-5:51 (1:40:04) 17 mile-5:59 (1:46:03) Steven King passes me 18 mile-6:09 (1:52:13) I'm starting to hurt a little, but I remember Sasha telling me yesterday if you can make it to 18 and the wheels haven't totally fallen off, then continue to push hard to the finish. 19 mile-6:32 (1:58:45) 20 mile-6:24 (2:05:10) Twenty miles done!, last time I did 20 miles a few weeks ago it took everything I had to make it home, with my massive blister problem. 21 mile-6:02 (2:11:13) 22 mile-6:34 (2:17:47) Starting to hurt and having too many negative thoughts. 23 mile-6:26 (2:24:13) Struggling! 24 mile-6:45 (2:30:58) Not feeling the joy I thought I would be at this point, however, I did see Bruce Rea (fellow teacher, runner )and his daughter Lauren which brought some happiness 25 mile-6:41 (2:37:40) getting chicked at this point female runners all around me, Diagonal Street is not treating me good at all, 25.2-1:00 (2:38:40) Little confused here, not sure were the official marker was exactly indicating 1 mile to the finish. So this time might have been a little fast for this distance and my mile 26 split, may have been a little slow. At about this point Cheston Slater passes me which turns out to be the differences between 10th and 11th in the age division standings. 26 mile- 7:20 (2:46:11) I can see the finish line, but as usual seems like it takes forever to get there. Finally cross the finish, to the cheers of thousands and immediately point out some of my runners from Snow Canyon High School, nice to talk to them for a moment. Also Clyde and Dave were there which was great to see those guys. Lastly, it was great finally seeing my family, my parents made the trip down from Colorado and of course my wife was there with the boys, just a great experience. The St. George Running Club did good. Clyde of course had an outstanding race and won the Silver Shoe award (something he really wanted, now he can sleep at night). Dave Holt also had a great performance, especially considering some of the health issues he has had to overcome in just the last year. Bill pushed through overcoming calf issues, plus the stress fracture that interrupted six weeks of his training to finish with a time quite a bit faster than Boston. Steve also had to overcome cramping throughout the race and some nagging injuries, and even though he didn't finish as well as he would have liked to he has really helped the rest of us in the club with his advice and we are now looking forward to the opening of the St. George Running Center! Other notables Logan Fielding ran strong and had a PR, which was nice to see. I was also very happy for Steve Olsen who ran a great race, he comes and trains with us some, and Jose Martinez also had a very good race, beating his time from last year. Ok, I done writing this "marathon" entry. Hey you train this many weeks, you have to let people know about your experience right? | 