Well, it's in the books. The 6 a.m. start moved to about 6:20. They didn't have a gun, they didn't even get on the loudspeaker to announce they were starting the race. I was just hanging out around the back by the loudspeakers, and looked ahead and there were only about 50 people milling around, down from 400. So I got a late start. I figured no big deal, since the race was chip timed. The first 6 miles were dark. The only light was from across the lake, reflected off the clouds. You could see the road, and you could see runners as they got within 20-30'. It was like running on a treadmill, because nothing seemed to be moving past. I liked this part of the race. I felt good, after my best night's sleep ever before a race, and the temp was perfect (50). The sky began to lighten as we approached the end of the island run. I saw a few bison in the distance. At mile 7 I stopped to take an excedrin. I wanted the caffeine and a little buffer for the sore ankle and hammy. It seemed to help. The view of the eastern mountains across a glassy Great Salt Lake was inspiring. My ten mile time was 1:17. I knew I wasn't going to tear up this course, and that was in line with what was realistic for me at this time. Around mile 11 we started across the 7 mile causeway. The shoulder was in pretty good shape, and I got in 3-4 miles on the more forgiving surface without giving too much extra effort. The first couple miles of this stretch provided the most beautiful views of lake, cloud, mountain and sunrise; light radiating trickling over the tops of the clouds. This was the highlight of the day. My half split was 1:41, again, not great, but reasonable for what I was trying to do today. (Which was???....) I had a gel at the 13 mile aid station. The causeway seemed to stretch on for a while, and I knew there was lots of race to go. Someone said there was one girl up ahead, which kept me inspired to try and catch up to her. I got talking to a couple young studs who were ambitiously running their first marathons. They were both holding on very well through mile 18. We leapfrogged each other for about 17 miles of the race, before one of them blew up around mile 22. I passed the other one around mile 24. This made me glad. He had a posse shadowing him in a car, honking and shouting all the time. I pretended like they were cheering for me. We finally got across the causeway. I was sick of running east. We still had to run east some more. I had another excedrin somewhere in this stretch. I passed quite a few people between 17 and 20. The marathon was taking it's toll. One thing I couldn't understand was the quantity of guys veering off to the side of the road to take a leak. How could they need to pee at this stage of the race? Anyway...we finally turned. I caught up to the woman leader. She did awesome. At the 20 mile area I caught up with the other guy who liked to run on the shoulder. He was beginning to have a tough time. I didn't hang back to help anybody. By now I was just trying to put off walking for as long as possible. The mind games began. Hold on till 21. Hold on till 22. At 23 I gave in, but never for long. It didn't hurt any less to walk than run, so I ran. I had one last gel at 23, and resolved to run the rest of the way in. The race turned into half mile segments for me. 23-23.5 felt good. 23.5-24 sucked. 24 was okay. 25 I walked some. With 1.2 to go, I knew I wasn't going to beat my sister's TOU time. That goal was out of reach. But finishing without being a total wuss was still within reach. There was one cruel hill coming up Gordon ave that got the better of several runners and many half marthoners. I was coming up on a guy, my last chance to pass somebody, and he had something left. I didn't. I came across at 3:33:36. My garmin was under 3:30, however. I must have really been diddling around at the start. I felt a bit shaky at the end. The post race food was a 2/10. Bananas, oranges, and bread with chunky peanut butter?!? That's it. Water. No gatorade on the whole course, just this yucky heed stuff. I really cooled off. Some medical volunteer saw me shivering and got me some blankets and stuff. 94 was my temp. No wonder I was cold. So that's it. I rate the first half of the course 9/10. The second half was 5/10. For a first effort, the organization was fantastic, probably 9/10. Compared to flying down a canyon, this marathon was slow, pedestrian. Post-race I feel way better than other times. (no blisters) I'm glad I ran an unaided course, and take my time as a pretty accurate snapshot of my fitness and motivation level right now. I probably could have gutted a couple or three minutes off my time, but motivation is where it is. My next marathon is Boston. I bet I can get up for that one... :) 2nd half took me +10 over the first. This is by far my most even marathon. It was good to experience the last 10k, and hopefully do better in the future. The men's winner was 3:04 and the woman was 3:36. Too bad no quality bloggers showed up to set more indefensible course records. Mile splits: 7:26, 7:50, 7:46, 7:41, 7:32, 7:37, 7:53, 8:13 (up the one hill) 7:17 (down the other side) 7:33, 7:41, 7:52, 7:41, 7:50, 7:56, 8:00, 8:20, 7:43, 8:12, 7:46, 8:10, 8:50, 9:06 (last gu, falling apart) 8:28, 8:32, 8:15. Reasonable. Acceptable.
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