OK another marathon in the wind and rain, as if SLC Marathon wasn't enough
I had a great time hanging out with my wife at this marathon as this was her first full marathon since Boston last year. We were able to get a nice fire pit up wind from all the smoke and a couple log ends to even sit on so we didn't have to stand so much. Got our gear turned in and to the start line and was watching people peel there ponchos and trash bags off getting readyfor the start but desided to leave my poncho on for awhile and just deal with it until the rain stopped or I just got sick of it.
Race got started and on our way and felt good and just fell into a nice comfortable pace. Got through miles 1-8 good but at mile 9 I could feel my left hamstring twitch and I knew I would be fighting and nursing it the entire race. I don't know what it is or what I have to do to resolve this issue as it is the same hamstring and the same area as always. Miles 10-13 my hands now were very cold and was squishing water out my shoes. Got to the hill atmile 14 and ust wated to go up it a an easy effort and not spend alot of effort on the hill and just make up for it on the other side going down.
Crossed the dam and on the down side of the hill and thought I would be able to make up some time here but just had a hard time getting back into the 7:20's as the hamstring would just start acting up and had to just back the pace some and just settle for what it is, but was still happy with the pace as it was still in the low 7:30's and felt good about it. Hands were so cold at this point and had a hard time just hanging onto the cups at aid stations and dropped the fruit and had a hard time openning a gel.
As of mile 20 I still had my poncho on and at least my chest and back was not to cold and I really didn't bother me, but for what ever reason I had taken it off to see if I could give the last 10k a push witch proved to be a dumb idea as I would have been fine with it on to the finish. Miles 20-23 was ok still running low 7:30's and was happy with that but got to mile 24 and the hamstring was getting very tight and at mile 25 it locked up and had to stop and rub it out and got back going again and just wanted to get to the finish.
With the weather conditions and all I still had a great time with my wife and all our friends and love running marathons and am very happy with my time and placement and a great start to the UGS series.
Splits
7:20 - 7:22 - 7:12 - 7:17 - 7:17 - 7:19 - 7:21 - 7:19 - 7:29 - 7:24 - 7:32 - 7:26 - 7:37 - 7:29 - 7:56 - 7:28 - 7:36 - 7:17 - 7:26 - 7:45 - 7:34 - 7:36 - 7:31 - 7:53 - 7:46 - 8:33 - last .34 miles was 7:23 | 