It was actually very nice weather for a race, especially compared to the stuff I had in Moab 2 weeks ago. The temperature at the start was 38 degrees (at least that's what the gas station thermometer at mile 1.5 said). It was overcast at the start and I was at mile 17 before the sun started to warm things up. There was some wind here and there...but nothing serious. Ok....to the race. It took me almost an hour on the stupid train to get to the start. People kept trying to get on a full train and we were at each station for 5 minutes. I did not get to the start until less than 20 minutes before the gun. I did a quick warm-up jog with Barry and downed a gel and some water and away we went. Barry and I ran together until the half/full split at Sugarhouse Park. We paced each other and he was going for a sub 1:28 in the half (he got a 1:27 something, CONGRATS BARRY!). I was feeling pretty good until mile 7 and my stomach started getting cramps pretty bad. My splits started to sag and I was starting to think I would be lucky to get a 3:15. I hit the half in 1:28 and I normally am 5-7 minutes slower on the 2nd half of this course so I knew a sub-3 would be tough. But then my stomach either started to feel a little better or I got better at ignoring it. Someone told me at the 1/2 that I was in 29th place and that seemed to motivate me. My splits from the half until about mile 20 were much better and I picked-off 6 runners by mile 18. I could see the next 3 ahead of me but I could not reel them in. 1 runner passed me in Liberty Park with 3 miles to go and I lost one of my goals of not getting passed in the 2nd half. I was doing OK until the 25th mile which had a "new" hill on State St. that we never had before. At this point I was weaving through all the half-marathon walkers and almost had to stop in this narrow section on S. Temple in a construction zone as the walkers were 4 abreast and blocking my way. I finished in 2:59:13 and came in 3rd overall in the Masters category so I finished in the money :-)........I know it's only 50 bucks but hey........I'll take it (if I ever see it, this is Devine racing ya know). I also got 3rd in my age group so considering my stomach issues, if I can still sub-3 on a bad day only 2 weeks after my last marathon I am doing OK. I am tired from the drive home and will post splits later. OK....here's the splits. You will see that they are all over the place 1. 6:21 2. 6:29 3. 6:24 4. 6:21 5. 6:40 6. 6:47 7. 6:55 8. 6:50 9. 7:03 10. 6:35 11. 6:42 12. 6:52 13. 7:07 14. 6:33 15. 6:29 16. 6:32 17. 6:42 18. 6:47 19. 6:48 20. 6:58 21. 7:08 (starting to fade)
22. 7:04 23. 7:19 24. 7:18 25. 7:46 (stupid hill anyway!) 26. 7:13 .023 6:39
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