Another hot St. George! Someday, I will run in this "perfect race conditions" St George is known for. At the starting line the announcer told us it was 60 degrees...a new record high for the start...great. I was wanting a sub 2:50 today, but with the conditions I knew 2:55 would be work . Luckily, before leaving my house in Salt Lake I grabbed a two year old packet of salt tablets. I know the rule of never trying anything new at a marathon, but I made an exception for this one. Started of with a buddy and a few of his friends. We started a little slow, but I had warmed up and they had not. Mile 1: 6:54. Mile 2: 6:39. The group warms up a little and we begin to run faster. Mile 3: 6:22. Final out of the crowd in a good pace. Still nice and dark. Mile 4: 6:14. The pack we had was pretty social. There was a lot of talking during the first 10 miles or so.
Mile 5: 6:28. Mile 6: 6:07. Mile 7: 6:11. We can see Veyo and begin preparing our strategy to take it easy. The plan was to run conservative until mile 14 or 15 then really push it. I take my first salt cap.
Mile 8: 7:02. Veyo. It was a good pace up the hill and we all high-fived at the top. I knew the course was tough the next 5 or 6 miles and the sun began to come out...worst, there was a head wind. Mile 9: 6:59. Rolling uphill with wind.
Mile 10: 6:40. Mile 11: 6:58. Mile 12: 6:36. Glad that was over. Some nice level and downhill work ahead. 2nd salt cap.
Mile 13: 6:21. Our group begins to split. I'm able to latch on to the 4th-6th girls, including Julie (won it last year). This helped a lot with the wind. We came through the half about 1:26:30. I was aiming for closer to 1:25, but the course turns a little easier now. I took my only gel at this point. It took me forever to swallow it!
Mile 14: 6:28 I lose my running buddy.
Mile 15: 6:08 The girls picked up the pace because they could spot the 3rd place girl. I just went with them. Mile 16: 6:00 Mile 17: 6:13 We catch the 3rd place girl.
Mile 18: 6:22 Mile 19: 7:03 This is a horrible stretch that goes under an overpass. It is uphill and very draining. Mile 20: 6:25 Downhill again. I take my last salt cap. Mile 21: 6:18. This is where the heat finally hit me. My head felt like it was on fire. I knew it was going to be work to the finish. Mile 22: 6:47. The 3rd-5th girls have kept the pace and left me in the dust. Mile 23: 6:57. Doing the math just to make sure I could still break 2:55. Mile 24: 6:49. Nice crowd support, so tried to run a little harder. Mile 25: 7:30. Toast. I'll make it to finish but it will not be pretty. Mile 26: 7:33 +1:49 to finish. I can see a guy 100 yards behind me kicking hard, but my poor attempt at a sprint is ugly. He easily passes me. 2nd half 1:27:36. No negative split, but glad to be done (last 5K ruined it)!
All and all, it was a fair time. In tough conditions, you really have to look at your placement and not your time. I should be placing in the 50-100 range at the marathon and I was 70th. Someday I will run St. George and it will be 40 degrees at the start and 62 degrees at the finish! In review, I probably ran the Top of Utah marathon two weeks ago to fast. I pushed the pace the first half (1:25) then coasted the 2nd for a training run of 3:04. Next time, I'll do this 3-4 weeks out. I am also a NEW believer in salt caps. I simply have to find something beside gel for fuel. It slows me down to eat it. I am so ready for winter.
| 