Like I've said, I had low expectations for this race. The plan was to run 1:22-1:25 through the half. I ran the first couple of miles with Bill Cobbler and we settled in just a bit slower than I had intended but it felt pretty difficult. First couple of miles were 6:00,6:17,5:58,5:57. Each split was about 10 seconds slower than the "plan", but my legs were feeling pretty tight and I just didn't feel like I had much "go". I lost Bill right before entering Sugarhouse Park. There were ALOT of marathoners in front of me. There was orange boulder guy about 2-3 minutes ahead along with Steve Andersen. Rossy was even further ahead. In addition Dennis was about a minute ahead of me. I entered the park right behind shirtless dude, white t-shirt man, bandana man and curly hair. It was kind of cool to be back in the pack struggling for position, but I was definitely struggling. I kept falling behind on the uphills in sugarhouse but in hindsight I was probably conserving my energy better than those around me. We picked it up relative to the pace chart in this section as my pace drifted into 6:00-6:05 adjusted pace (when I had been doing 6:20). Shirtless guy was toast after before we left the park. Bandana man, white t-shirt man, curly hair and I ran as a little pack as we made our way through the half marathoners on 1700East. White t-shirt guy was chewing on a Gu at this point and seemed very relaxed. I figured that he would be a tough nut to crack. Turning onto 2700S we away from the half marathoners and I could see Dennis ahead about 30 seconds ahead. White t-shirt guy seemed unaffected by the hill and opened a gap on me. We got a little downhill after the next turn and I caught back up. I was definitely straining here and my splits show that these were my fastest splits considering the terrain. White t-shirt guy and I pulled away from the pack and continued this pattern of yo-yoing. He would take a big lead on the hills and I would get it back on the downhills. Splits 5-12 (5/6 12:27,6:11, 6:20, 6:32 , 6:15 ,5:55,6:17) At about mile 12, we climb another hill and here white t-shirt dropped me and caught dennis. Michelle S. was doing recon out on the course and told me that I was 4-5 minutes down on Steve A and that I was in 8th overall. I was actually feeling good at this point, but I knew that with Steve and Fritz so far out there, I would have to run a massive negative split to catch them. I had a weird feeling that my legs were turning over well, but my body was also telling me that I would have fueling issues if I tried to push it any faster. This wasn't a great sign given that I had 14 miles left. I realized that I was only going to get money if there was mass carnage in front of me. But the choice of whether or not to go for it was made for me. I lost a ton of ground on Dennis and white t-shirt on final uphill before the half and the ensuing downhill. I split 6:34 for mile 13 6:18 for mile 14 and 6:04 for mile 15. I was happy to see the 6:04 because that mile felt very hard. My quads were very fatigued and they did not like that downhill. By the time we reached Van Winkle Dennis and white t-shirt guys were little specks on the horizon. Dang it! I soldiered through Van Winkle and realized that I was entering "how am I still doing this" mode. Mile 16 felt like I was crawling but was a 6:18 (6:30 adjusted). Here I took a Gu and I immediately felt life returning to my legs. I ran 6:17 from mile 17 even though it was a flatter mile. Final Van Winkle mile has an uphill and I did 6:25 but this was 6:20 adjusted. Here I was starting to get hot and my concern became dumping water on myself. Got myself good and soaked at the mile 18 aid station and then turned onto 5th south. Here I was met by Kevin Smith, which was amazing. He ran with me and told stories for the last 8 miles. I was kind of glad I wasn't in the money, because I wouldn't have accepted the help if I had been. I was starting to feel a little better anyway as the pounding of the downhill was working it's way out of my legs. Mile 19 was 6:19. Still trucking along! Kevin remarks that I'm running faster than he had been going. Well I'd sure hope so, he was doing a long run. Anyway in the 20th mile, it's orange boulder guy. He's coming back to me very fast. I get a burst of adrenaline and manage...a 6:25. Still I pass him and I know that he's not coming back. I would end up beating him by 10 minutes. Mile 21 has a little rise. I definitely lapsed mentally a little here because I know downhill is coming. This mile is 6:43, my slowest mile of the race in both real and adjusted terms. The good news was that I kept getting faster from there. I ran 6:34,6:33,6:29 for miles 22-24. I've basically only slowed down 10 seconds a mile from the start, I can't really expect any better than that. I can't see ANYONE ahead of me though, no steve, no rossy, no dennis, no white t-shirt guy. It's kind of hard to keep the effort up but I'm just trying to shoot for a 2:45 at this point. Mile 25. Passing half marathoners then suddenly I see someone moving much faster than everyone else. Is that...could it be? Yes! It's white t-shirt guy. Oh so cruel! I pass him right as we run by Radio Shack. Now I'm just counting down the blocks. I'm suffering a lot on the uphill but mile 25/26 are two very strong miles. Considering the terrain, I picked it up by about 10 seconds a mile. Running down South Temple took way too long, but I saw the clock tick 2:45 and I knew I had it. Anyway, my 2nd slowest marathon ever, but honestly I don't think this is cause for concern. Had I called this a "tempo run" then I would have considered it very good. I came in with the dubious combination of no base AND trashed legs. I also had some minor fueling issues that I need to iron out. These are probably due to the fact that I'm coming back to higher mileage. Two weeks ago I CRASHED in a HALF MARATHON and I ended that race slower than I ended my race today. Progress. I love how we totally dominated today. Andrea, Fritz, Ben VB, Steve A, Allie, Emily B,Rossy. Also Redd for pacing me. FRB 4 eva!
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