Well, this race didn't go quite as I had planned, but oh well.
5k 21:07
10K 41:02
Half 1:29.20
30k 2:05:26
Finish 2:59:34
My goal was to hit 2:55:00, and I thought I could do it pretty easily when I started comparing my training from last year to this year. I was going to try and hit the half way mark at 1:29:30 and then negative split the course by a couple of minutes. This is my 6th St. George Marathon and I this is the only year (if I remember correctly) that I haven't run a negative split.
It pretty much sprinkled on us the whole time we waited at the start line and up through around mile 11-13. It wasn't too bad though and could have been much worse. I don't think we saw the sun all day though. I started off pretty easy and even though I didn't feel great, I still felt okay. I was right on track with where I had planned to be up through the halfway point. In fact, I was a little ahead of where I needed to be and took it a bit easier than normal after Veyo up to the halfway point. Right around mile 14-15 I could feel my legs not doing real well. They kind of just got worse and worse as time went one. I was struggling more than I should have been as we made our way under the bridge and up the hill on mile 19. After that, I really struggled. Hit the bathroom at around 22.5 and ultimately got to a point where I just wanted to be done. My legs were just really tight and got to the mode where they just couldn't keep up much of a pace. I was so glad to be done.
Overall, my takeaways are the following: I do much better with my training when I run with people (I should have made more of an effort to run with Reed, Chad, etc.). A lot of my training miles have been slower this year. I need to run more miles at my race pace. I needed more downhill training and pounding on my legs. I need to get healthy. My heels have been a big problem for the entire year. I'll learn from this one and get better. Time to try and get healthy now though.
7:00, 6:49, 6:29, 6:27, 6:37, 6:20, 6:18, 7:21, 7:10, 7:02, 7:24, 6:54, 6:41, 6:42, 6:26, 6:24, 6:39, 6:36, 7:05, 6:49, 6:39, 7:00, 7:48, 7:02, 7:03, 7:09, 1:43
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