Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall - Confucius
This race has been a long road for me. It was my second marathon. I ran the Ogden Marathon last year and gained a whole new level of respect for marathoners. I thought I had trained hard and set the goal to finish in 3:30. I gave it my all and basically collapsed at the finish line finishing in 3:40:58
Although in extreme pain, I determined afterwards on doing what it took the following year to redeem myself. So a year later and many early mornings and late nights putting in the miles, I felt prepared for this years marathon. My main goal was to finish happy, and standing up. I also wanted to break 3:30.
Went with Chet to his brother's house and slept on the floor the night before the race. We rode the buses to the start. It was chilly there but the weather seemed perfect for a race. I was planning on going out with the 3:25 pace group. I hit the potty, then decided to try again as my stomach is usually terrible on race day. By the time I got out of the potty the race was about to begin. Stripped down and couldn't find Chet, went to go put my drop bag in the truck and the race began before I got to the road. Oh well. I had to weave past all the runners to get to some open road. I ran on the shoulder of the road most of the first mile trying not to turn an ankle. 7:59, probably good to start out slower. Then 7:49,7:40,7:40, I kept trying to catch up to the 3:25 pace group but they were gone. 7:48, 7:50,7:55,7:49,7:55,7:49,8:01,7:54,Hit the half at1:43:06, I was wanting to run conservatively the first half with my last marathon fresh in my mind, and if I still had some pop negative split the second half.7:50, 8:00,8:15bigger hill,8:02,7:57,7:51, oh no... hit the downhill and my quads were already feeling done. I starting having flashbacks of last year. I was actually really enjoying the run, lungs felt great, I was chatting with other runners, and enjoying the scenery. 7:59,alright no more games 6 miles left you can do this,7:37, quads still in pain but not getting much worse, got some words of encouragement from other runners and decided to go for it, 7:22,7:19,7:18, I was feeling great here, definetly on a runner's high, 7:42,7:32, last .28 (my garmin measured 26.28)6:38. I was trying to pump up the crowd much of the last few miles, it felt so good to finish strong, and I was quite overcome with emotion during the run and afterwards. My garmin said 7:24:11 however it shut off when we went under the tunnels, so I am pretty confident with the 3:24:24, on the prelimary results. I was happy to negative split the race and I will again regroup and plan on the next one. I drew out for St. George this year so I will take what I learned and attempt to BQ there 3:09:59 is what I need. It was a very very good day for me. | 