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St. George Marathon

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Location:

Logan,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 27, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Region 9 Cross Country Champion 2004 (5K: 15:42)

400m: 00:54 (running start)

800m: 2:03 (7th place State Meet 2005)

1500m: 4:30 (2nd place Utah Summer Games 2004)

1600m: 4:31 (4th place State Meet 2005)

3000m: 9:55 (1st place Utah Summer Games 2004)

3200m: 9:52 (4th place State Meet 2005)

5K: 15:39 (2nd place Enterprise, UT Pioneer Days 2004

 

 

10K (very aided): 33:33.3 (8th place USG 2008)

15K:  53:04 (6th place Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run)

Half Marathon (very aided):  1:10:38 (5th place, Provo Halloween Half)

Marathon:  2:38:15 Top of Utah Marathon 2010 (6th Place Overall, 1st Local and 1st 19-24)

Won the 1st Annual Sand Hollow Marathon in 2:41:22

Ultramarathon:  Logan Peak Trail Race 2010:  28 miles, 7261 vert. 4:23:48 (2nd Place), El Vaquero Loco 50k 2011: 6:02 (2nd Place)

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Go where the trail takes me.

 

Personal:

My hometown is Hurricane, UT but I currently live in Logan, UT where I attend Utah State University.  I am working on a PhD in Education, with an emphasis in Technology and Engineering Education.

You can also check out my blogspot running blog where I post race reports.

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Type A2 Racers Lifetime Miles: 219.40
Brooks Cascadia 6 (Green) Lifetime Miles: 527.90
Brooks Launch (Orange/Yellow) Lifetime Miles: 250.40
Altra Lone Peak (Yellow/Gray) Lifetime Miles: 94.60
New Balance MT110 (Black) Lifetime Miles: 75.00
Altra Superior (Green) Lifetime Miles: 103.30
Brooks Cascadia 8 (Blue) Lifetime Miles: 185.10
Trail 2013 Lifetime Miles: 140.15
Road 2013 Lifetime Miles: 121.35
Altra Lone Peak B (Yellow/Gray) Lifetime Miles: 65.70
PI M2T (Orange/Blue/Grey) Lifetime Miles: 27.50
Trail Miles 2015 (Start May) Lifetime Miles: 64.00
Road Miles 2015 (Start May) Lifetime Miles: 31.50
Race: St. George Marathon (26.2 Miles) 02:53:43, Place overall: 47, Place in age division: 4
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
26.200.0026.20

Today was the day.  For now I'm just gonna say that I was VERY pleased with my marathon debut and I am officially hooked!  I had a freaking blast!  I think that was one of the funnest races I've ever done!  I felt good the whole time (well, up until about Mile 24) and it was just great!  2:53:43 is the official time...good enough for 50th place.  Don't yet know what my age division place was.  But I'm just tickled about the whole thing.  Thanks to Andy, (Riverton?) Paul, Matt (?) and everyone who was pacing together with us.  Y'all kept me from going out too fast, which, knowing me I would have done and definitely would have died.  And thanks to Paul Peterson, Cody, Jon, Dave and everyone else for all the great advice...it worked perfectly.  Great job to everyone!  

Here's the play by play:  Got to the starting line about an hour before the race started and was a little nervous, wondering whether I had trained enough and all that jazz because the last month had been less than stellar as far as training goes.  Tried to keep warm and jogged around a bit.  Then went to the right corral after Holt told me I was in the wrong place.  Continued warming up with everyone.  Found Andy and a few others who were shooting for 3 hours.  Race started and was feeling pretty good but wondering if I could really keep it up for 26 miles.  Rainy and a little cold.  First mile was 7:05 if I remember right.  I kind of had to depend on Andy to know what the pace was because my watch for some reason stopped after 10 minutes...don't know if I hit the button accidentally or what.  I couldn't see the mile markers for awhile anyway.  Anyway, so not much eventful happened.  Just ran and kind of enjoyed the first half.  Enjoyed the wet weather...easier to breathe although my arms got frozen and hurt to straighten them out.  Veyo hill wasn't as bad as I expected.   Dammeron Valley was worse than I expected but I just relaxed and it went okay.  Hit the half in 1:31:08 and restarted my watch to get the last half split.  After the half mark I started feeling really good for some reason...highly irregular based on my training runs.  Held off for awhile but was really feeling like I could take off easily but I didn't want to do it prematurely.  Hit that big downhill coming into Snow Canyon around mile 15 and just let my legs open up and carry me down.  Gatorade at that stop was gross...not enough water mixed in.  Yuck.     Anyway, after that hill I just didn't feel like slowing down much and just started to fly.  I felt unstoppable.  I have no idea where that came from.  I am usually DEAD after 15 miles.  Just kept going and started passing people like crazy.  No one passed me after mile 15.  I was worried that I was going too fast but I felt so good I just kept going.  The hill at Winchester Hills couldn't even slow me down.  Passed a ton of people on that one.  Just felt great!  Runner's High.  Enjoying myself and having tons and tons of fun.  Just pretended that I was just starting out on my run and put the last 18 miles behind me.  Mile 22.5 my shoe came untied and had to stop and tie it.  I had to take a leak really bad too...maybe that's why I was going so fast.  Didn't want to stop and lose time.  Came flying down the hill into St. George and was still passing people like crazy.  Mile 23 still feeling pretty good...wondering where this "Wall" thing is...Mile 24:  found out where the Wall was.  OH MY HECK!  That hurts sooo bad.  I felt like my muscles were being torn off my legs at each stride.  Still keeping a good pace, trying to relax and not look like I am even working.  That helps me.  Mile 25:  I am DEAD...just trying to make it that last mile...still going strong and passing people though.  Mile 26:  Can see the finish and just want to be there instead of 300m away.  Trying to get a kick in and feeling like I'm sprinting my guts out although I probably didn't look like it.  Looked at the clock and realized I was going to destroy 3 hours.  Crossed the line, tried to celebrate and almost fell over.  I DID IT!!! Legs feel like wet noodles and I have to go to the bathroom but can hardly walk to the porta-potties.  Went and ate some cantaloupe and got a massage and commenced freezing to death.  Negative split the last half marathon by 8:35 (if my math is right) in 1:22:35 don't know where I got that but I'll take it!  Anyway, very happy with the race and I'm gonna do it again!  2:45 here I come!! 

Type A2 Racers:  38.6

Night Sleep Time: 7.00Nap Time: 3.00Total Sleep Time: 10.00Calories: 0.00
Comments
From Little Bad Legs on Sat, Oct 04, 2008 at 23:16:59

Impressive marathon debut, especially given the conditions. Good job!

From dave holt on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 01:40:27

I am totally impressed. It must have been that amazing distance track coach you had your senior year!

Good job Joe!

From Jon on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 01:49:40

Glad to hear the race went well for you- nice to have a good first marathon experience. Now imagine what you can do with more training and good weather! Watch out, everybody, here comes Joe...

From RivertonPaul on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 12:02:14

What an incredible negative split. Half in 1:31:07 then you flew from there. You were so freaking strong. Glad to have found you here on the blog. Thanks for helping me out in the race. Good things still ahead for you.

From Predog on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 13:34:19

Hey thanks y'all! I really enjoyed it and I'm gonna keep on training and try to improve it now. Paul, thanks for pacing with me that first 15 miles or so...And Holt, yes it was my senior distance coach! ;) You are one of my running idols! Jon, thanks for the pacing advice...everything went exactly according to plan and even better. Thanks again and look forward to seeing y'all in some more marathons.

From Andy on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 23:44:11

I really appreciate you running with me during the first 15 miles. You kept my pace honest and I know I would not have been on target if you weren't there. You have a tremendous amount of potential. I know that you were really holding back and were anxious to go but you ran a very smart first marathon. I have to ask if the pacing advice that Jon gave you was "stick with the slow guy we helped at TOU until the half then let it rip and leave him in the dust".

From Predog on Sun, Oct 05, 2008 at 23:56:34

No actually he didn't even mention you specifically...he and Cody just said to go with the guys that were shooting for 3 hours, run the first half conservatively, and then see if I could take off around Winchester Hills. And ditto on the thanks...I know for a fact that I would have run waaaay too hard the first half if you wouldn't have been there so it goes both ways.

From Jon on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 00:25:15

Andy, your comment made me laugh! Partly because I thought it said "Ogden marathon" rather than TOU- sounds like Joe did the same thing to you yesterday as I did at Ogden!

Just consider yourself a good motivator to others, helping them to run good ends to marathons :)

From mattk on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 01:11:06

Great race! I noticed when I caught up with "the group" for the second time at mile 20, you weren't there anymore!! I think you finished by then! Your times are going to keep dropping for sure.

From Dustin on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 10:45:09

Great Job on the marathon. You did awesome for your first one! You looked very strong as you came running by me.

From Jon on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 12:55:55

8:35 negative split? Wow- shows how much more you can do next time. As for the wall- yup, hard to describe until you experience it. Good you went out slow rather than too fast (hitting the wall sooner, like mile 18-20, maes for a very long race...)

From cody on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 23:52:35

Joe - Now you have the first one under the belt, you will be ready to push it and test the wall. We had better watch out.

Andy - Nice one! Better stop being so good at even pacing. You will not be used as a good example anymore.

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