The Long Run

Pocatello Marathon is an awesome course, great scenery and every detail is taken care of.  Starting line is at a small farm.  I had one small glitch, though with my garmin.  I turned it on and it was taking forever to get past the start screen.  This happened to me one time before, about a year ago, for some reason it was updating every stored run to today's date.  So, I waited and hoped and eventually it was ready.  While that was getting ready I was waiting for a trip to the POP, but somehow got in the slowest line.  Then with just two minutes left to start, I dropped off my bag at the UPS truck and squeezed into the second to the front group near the 3:15 pacer.

I had a TAZ running 3:20 pace tatoo which showed about a 1:37 for the first half so I thought I'd go out with the 3:15 pace group and stay behind them to make sure I didn't go out too fast just in case it was feeling easy.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason (partially at least due to getting no warm up due to time miscalculation) the pace did not feel easy.  But still, first mile was 7:24 for me and I quickly fell behind the 3:15 group.

The downhill was pretty windy at first and fairly steep but not scray steep.  Turning the first corner, it was still dark but with a faint hint of light just a few minutes into the race.

(former college runner Aaron to the left of me, marathon maniac Bob to the right of me (I'm in middle, #234))

I had driven the course on Friday and knew it was pretty easy to follow but was a little worried about what the first hill on the out and back ending at the 7 mile marker.  But, it wasn't that bad.  Also there, I could see that the 3:15 group wasn't that far ahead and I had a pretty good lead on the 3:25 group (which was the other plan I had thought about, just hang in with 3:25 group from the start, pick it up at the end if I could and if not just stay with them, miss the BQ but get a better time than the last two marathons and maybe even pick up a couple seconds from my Boston time if I could even pull ahead a little bit or if the 3:25 pacer came in a little bit early - like they did at Poconos).

Miles 7-12 felt pretty good, mostly easy and gentle downhill with a few spots flattening out and a few slight, short uphills here and there which felt pretty good.

I slowed down a little bit before mile 13 as I went by an aid station and couldn't seem to easily get back on the pace I was at and ended up with a 7:54 for mile 13.

Still under 1:40 at the halfway point - but I was also picking it up instead of cruising through, held the new pace through mile 14 which came in at 7:30.  But, that was going to be it as far as 7:30ish pace as I headed into the "rollers".

Not sure of the exact point, but maybe around 18 or so the 3:25 group came cruising up behind me.  Pacer Ryan encouraged me to keep up.  I didn't at first and thought I'd just try to keep them in my sight.  As they were maybe 100 or 200 feet in front of me I found a burst of inspiration and decided I'd catch back up.  And, at first it worked.  I must have been holding something back until then because it didn't seem that hard to catch up and once I was there I could slow down a little.  The slight drop in pace and running with the group made it feel easier.  The view of the road also was encouraging, it looked like downhill for a pretty good stretch.

But it didn't last long enough, they had pulled ahead a bit by the time I got to mile 20, but still not that far.  Mile 21 is almost at the top of the last big uphill (not that big, about 69 feet up).  Getting up to the 21 mile marker and staying under 9:00 was a little encouraging.  Was hoping that the switching back to flat to slightly downhill would help.

Unfortunately, hill went up a little bit more and didn't go down right away (mile 22 went up another 35 feet, not a huge uphill but not downhill either).

Earlier in the race I ran a little bit with a 20 something guy named Aaron, former collegiate runner doing his first marathon, originally wanting a 3:00 until a hamstring injury late in training derailed that plan.  But, he had been running pretty strong and had a pretty good lead on me.  Ran next to him for a while but we ended up splitting up at an aid station.  Also, came up to 55 year old marathon maniac Bob who I had also chatted with early on in the race.  I had been trailing him for some time.  Miles 22 and 23 were much slower.  Then, another runner from early on, Lisa, came up behind me and slowly cruised by me.  I was about a minute ahead of her at the half so the slower first half paid off for her with a good lead on me at the end.

Finally, miles 24 to the end were a nice and steady slight downhill.  But, there was also a fairly strong headwind (rare for this part of the course which usually has no wind or a slight tail wind due to the terrain).  But, the wind didn't bother me since I was already slower than originally planned and just wanted to finish.  Actually, I was thinking about how the wind was kind of nice at keeping it cool (temps were still in the 50's but sunny).

Sometime during this last few miles, a runner from another race (maybe 10K or half marathon) told me I looked like the happiest marathoner she had seen all day.  Definitely a nice thing to hear.  I must have been enjoying the race!

Finish line was wonderful with great food and lots of places to sit on the grass or on picnic benches and a DJ for entertainment.

garmin stats: 26.37 mi, 3:32:28, 8:03 avg

1. 7:24
2. 7:27
3. 7:31
4. 7:36
5. 7:23
6. 7:30
7. 7:31
8. 7:40
9. 7:32
10. 7:27
11. 7:28
12. 7:21
13. 7:54
14. 7:30
15. 8:04
16. 8:43
17. 8:37
18. 8:13
19. 7:54
20. 8:34
21. 8:55
22. 9:36
23. 9:25
24. 8:46
25. 8:51
26. 8:26  and 26.2 1:39 (7:36)