This would actually be the story of 2 races....
At the starting area the winds were SUPER strong, 20-25 mph, gusting to 35-40 straight out of the Southwest, which is the direction we head the most. I figured it would be a LONG day and I would be lucky to break 4 hours.....
The first miles were BRUTAL. Straight on Headwinds, in the dark, not very fun. I noticed when we were in the starting area that the skies were clear as I could see lots of stars. When daylight came, it was suddenly cloudy... As we turned North, the winds switched, and it was a headwind from the opposite direction. Weird.
As I made the turn on the dirt road at mile 6, the winds suddenly diminished. They were probably 10mph instead of 20-30. It was very encouraging. I started clicking off better miles and got in to a nice groove
I hit the half in 1:50:02.
In the 2nd half I was actually feeling pretty good and had a great stretch from miles 15-21. Mile 15 was actually my best mile all morning.
At mile 18 it actually started to rain. It was a light rain so it wasn't really a problem, it just made us all wet. I made the last climb to mile 23 and just stayed steady on the rollers for the last 3.
I finished in 3:38:03, a far cry from the 4:00:00 I had expected earlier.
2nd half split was 1:48:01, so I was 2 minutes Negative in the 2nd half. I don't think I have ever run Negative unless the course has a downhill back half (like St. George, Mt. Nebo, etc).
I am actually pretty pleased with today. I had almost no expectations due to the conditions. I won my Age Group by a huge margin again and even helped a gentleman named Bryan (34 yr old) get a PR today!
Due to the cool temperatures I got cold pretty quick at the finish and didn't hang around too long.
I did see Penny Parrish today! She won the Women's race again in 3:08!
This also marks the first time I have completed more than 1 Marathon in a year since 2013.
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