Short report: 2:39:11, 2nd overall, 1st Master. First half: 1:17:33ish, second half 1:21:38ish. First half controlled, second half on cruise due to twinges in my abductor. One PoP at mile 10 then cruised the rest of the way.
Congrats to all my IF running buddies (too many to name now) and to Justin Park for crushing the course record with a 2:26...a Kenyan will have to come to break this.
Full report:
Woke up at 4am to get ready to meet Kory and Rachelle to ride to the buses (thanks for the ride!). At the starting line, we saw tons of running friends and had a good time while waiting for the start. Cleared the pipes many times hoping to avoid any GI issues on the course. Cool and a bit breezy but perfect running conditions. I warmed up a bit with Craig and Kory then got to the line and saw Justin.
Ran pretty easy on the downhills (through mile 14). Took off a bit quick with Justin and a really big guy wearing a Idaho Beef council shirt (no, not Dane!) who ran his first mile way too fast and blew up by the end of mile 1. After that, ran controlled down the hills and watched Justin just take off (lost sight of him by mile 5 except at the turnaround at mile 7).
I was running well and controlled with a couple of guys chasing me. At mile 8 I took a PowerBar gel but my intestinal issues were starting to arise so at mile 10 I made the decision to use the PoP. After the stop as I was coming out the third place guy was approaching the aid station so I grabbed a drink and tried to hammer the next couple of miles to put some distance (and fear) in him.
At mile 12, I felt a hard twinge in my right abductor that put a bit of a hitch in my step for a bit. At this point approaching the half mark, I decided that I would just go into more of a cruise mode so I wouldn' cause any issues and not get injured for TCM.
As I was coming up on the half, Rob came out and ran with my for about 0.75M which was a really pick me up. Saw Curt, Gary and Gray as well as I hit the half at 1:17:30ish (including the PoP...a bit faster than I was expecting). Now for the fun on the rolling second half.This is a very legit half, with good size rollers and more uphill than downhill.
The groin was doing ok but I could feel it and every now and again it would talk to me so the miles through 21 were just pretty easy and conservative. I grabbed a PowerBar gel at mile 20. At about 20.5 mile mark, we hit the uphill to the high school and ran a bit harder to keep my momentum for the rest of the uphill...it didn't work as mile 22 was a weak 6:32. Once over the top I was able to get going again (mostly) as I was running a bit afraid that 3rd place was going to make a move and I wanted to stay ahead of the half marathoners (I thought for sure Gray or Rob was going to come up on me).
My abductor twinged again hard at mile 22-23 so I was a bit worried about the last 5K. At mile 24, I ask the volunteer if there was anyone back there and he indicated there was no one in sight so I cruised into the finish. Happy to be done and with the time.
At the finish, I saw Justin and chatted for a bit then had to get moving. A volunteer helped me get my bag and as we were leaving the MC grabbed me up on stage to talk. Even he talked about my decision to run the marathon so I could get done earlier to make Justin's XC meet!
We got out as quickly as we could then had to drive the road on the course for a while but we got to cheer on friends. We made it to Soda Springs with 5 minutes to spare to see Justin do great at his meet and run a strong 1.8 mile course in 13:44! Afterwards we stopped at Lava Hot Springs for the kids to play in the pool with some friends. A great day for the Shadley's!
Splits: 5:21, 5:49, 5:48, 5:55, 5:56, 5:49, 5:50, 5:56, 5:59, 6:44 (PoP), 5:37, 5:33, 6:08 (abductor twinge), 5:43, 6:08, 6:15, 6:28 (hill), 6:10, 6:02, 6:20, 6:20 (big hill), 6:32 (twinge), 6:12, 6:11, 6:18, 1:55 (0.31) | 