St. George Marathon. 2:26:53 Will update place later... Not sure. AM - up early as usual and to the line with a good group on our bus. The weather, the crew, and pretty much everything else seemed to be falling into place. Was a little worried about the hammy as it seemed a bit tight (and stayed pretty close to the edge the whole race). Warmed a bit around the corral and worked to stay warm as well. Said hi to a lot of people and felt pretty good about my goal of sub 2:30. 1-5:42, running Logan and Ben and watched the super stars take it out and thought how fun it would be to watch this was unveil - turns out it was pretty I eventful other than the fact that they all smoked it! Temps were very cool and wind was at our backs with a some cross wind sometimes, but very favorable. 2-5:41, our main focus was just keeping calm. I kind of worried that I really didn't feel great, just working a little hard for this early and at this pace. 3-5:27, Logan was getting a little antsy and pulled away from Ben and I like 3 seconds. I yelled out to him that we would catch up if he promised not to run away. 4-5:31, staying smooth and quick. 5-5:35, another strong one as we drop toward Veyo. 6-5:25, I liked going strong through here, but I still felt like I wasn't really in a groove. I kept thinking how it seemed so bright already. It kind of weirded me out. 7-5:19, grabbed my first water/gu mix here. Drank pretty much all of it trying to stay ready for later in the race. 8-5:55, up Veyo. We really tried to relax and let the wind gusts push us up the hill. Ben had to depart just before this mile and that was a bummer. 9-5:50, goal for the next few... keep it cool through Dameron. 10-5:44, we picked off a few people through the last few miles. 11-5:57, on these miles before, I have stressed about the slower miles. But today Logan helped me keep me head. 12-5:44, finally topping out of Dameron and working to Mike Nielson. 13-5:27, Mike joins in with us and regroups - nice job. Hit the half in like 1:14 low (maybe teens). 14-5:34, right at the half it felt like Logan wanted to go a little and I thought he might take off. I really worried about how the 2nd half would go if I was on my own. 15-5:27, this and the next are often the fastest for me. Trevor joined up with us here. He helped a ton from here on out, even though I had to tell him not to talk so much! 16-5:20, maybe I had more at the end because we didn't kill these miles like I might have tried to in the past. 17-5:30, just plugging along. Once or twice in the next mile or two I started to slip off the back a second. But I just kept calm and took a step or two quicker and regrouped. 18-5:26, didn't want to think about how a decent finish could turn into a good time since there was so long to go, but I did notice that consistent 5:30 kept ticking off the miles. 19-5:41, pretty sure I haven't ever run Winchester this strong. Even if I have had as good a time, I've never felt this smooth and I blame it on Quadsi; Logan just kept it so smooth and even when I started to slip off again I didn't freak and just pushed a second to stay on it. 20-5:28, went through my ward's aide station during this mile (they were a little off the mile 19 marker which was kind of weird), but it was a lot of fun to see Rylee here. I gave my hand a quick kiss to plant it on her cheek, but either she didn't know what I was doing and tried to give me five or was trying to block it - since she's 12 I'm guessing it was the latter, but I'll say it was the former to make me feel better. 21-5:11, my watch had started beeping just a few feet early from early on, so I relapsed it here (so a total of 17 seconds spread throughout the first 20+ miles). I thought Logan again might just take off here, but as I started to go a bit after Mike (who had totally regrouped and was now flying down the hill) I noticed Logan not coming with me. I was hoping he would regroup so we could keep pushing together. There was plenty of race left and we had pushed so well together. 22-5:27, pushed up the little hill out of the twist better than I ever have and saw the team at the aide station. I remember thinking again not to start trying to do math about finishing time, but i was crossing my fingers. But at the same time, from here on out my mind started to really become a fog. All I could think keep pushing, but it was all a haze. 23-5:28, tried to figure out 5k to the finish and time. But I didn't have a clue. I just knew I would be somewhere. So I kept repeating, PR, PR, PR. 24-5:31, into town and trying to dig. Please end. My end is coming soon. 25-5:41, it's slipping down Diagonal, but for most of the mile my average was in the :30's and I thought I'll have a little more when I make the turn toward the Blvd. But after turning I really started to slow. I heard some feet moving quick. It was Ben... He had worked all the way back up and was flying. 26-5:59, so very, very tired. I really can't look back at this mile and remember even doing it. .2-1:19, for the finish. Another dramatic type finish. The second I enter the last two blocks and the fenced off area my body thinks its time to shut down. Legs jello, lift them up, I should look for my family but I can't. Legs gone right at the line. One of my favorite parts of the marathon is cheering for friends and family as they finish; and there were tons of great efforts and finishes today. Super proud of Logan in his first marathon back, Clyde for sticking it in there as a gimp, James for getting a solid race in after not even being able to run 6 months ago, Allyson for pushing through her 2nd marathon with a great effort, and many others. As I finally finishing this at 8:30 it is finally starting to sink it that I did so well. During the Spring this was going to be my goal, PR sub 2:25. But after the hammy injury at Provo and subsequent struggle to train over the summer, a sub 2:30 was a reasonable goal, but was going to be a tough push. So I am pleased and grateful. And i think iam really going to be jacked up for a bit, but it was worth it. (Adios 151.5) | 