Could not have asked for better weather for this race, the sun was rarely out and it was nice and overcast for most of the race, most importantly at the end. Heat was not an issue at all, and for that I'm grateful. Waiting at the top of East Canyon wasn't too bad, I brought a blow up mattress, pants and a long sleeve shirt. I needed more than the long sleeve shirt, I was cold. The last time I ran this race was 2003 and it was my first marathon. The course is a lot different so I didn't know exactly what to expect. I wound up liking it but It's definitely not one I will make an effort to do every year. However, I like that it's easy in that it's a local marathon so there's brain damage involved with running it. Roll out of my own bed, short drive to Energy Solutions Arena and I'm done. No planes, trains, hotels and all that stuff. My Boston run last April was not the race I wanted to have so I was anxious to get out and marathon again and actually post a time that was indicative of my capabilities. I wore a pace band for a 3:19, that was my A goal, B goal was sub 3:25 so I can at least hit one of the early registration waves for Boston. C goal was to just run a qualifying time. I feel pretty good about my 3:23:55, it's a PR but It still might not be fast enough to win the Boston registration war. Moreover, I need to figure out how to finance this little trip. So, here I go, the plunge from the start line: 1. 7:07 2. 6:51 3. 6:55 4. 7:26 5. 7:51 6. 7:58 7. 8:52 8. 8:24 9. 7:18 10. 7:41 11. 7:26 12. 7:23 13. 7:32 14. 7:35 15. 7:29 16. 7:44 17. 7:40 (at this point, only 15 seconds off pace for 3:19) 18. 8:08 (fogettaboutit) 19. 7:52 (just hanging on, making sure I don't blow my sub 3:25) 20. 8:01 21. 8:36 22. 7:57 23. 8:06 24. 7:48 25. 8:08 26. 8:27 .2 1:45 (8:45 pace, yes I was sprinting) The end of this race is tough, I had NOTHING left and hung on for dear life for my sub 3:25. If I didn't have that carrot dangling in front of me the last 6 miles of this race would have been a lot different. For the rest of the day I was extremely uncomfortable. This race really kicked me hard and left me nauseated until about 5:30pm. Feeling pretty good now and looking forward to going on an eating binge for the next few days. Ice cream, cookies, candy, pie, donuts and chocolate malts. Oh, and I'm probably not going to run on the weekends for a while and I'm going to finally put miles on my road bike and channel my inner Tour de France. The rest of the summer is going to be WONDERFUL! Another thing, I ran this marathons in a pair of Crocs. It worked out very well, I just might be done with running shoes altogether. "Take That $100 Shoe Manufactures"!
| 