Keeping myself sane!!!

I don't know my official time yet, but the timer at the finish was about a minute off my Garmin.  I wanted to beat my last year's time of 1:26:55.  This has always been a fun race, especially with all the chaos and confusion at the start.  At least I've learned what to expect, so I can take it with an air of humor.  I stuck to my guns with the best overall pace I had in me.  There was a female runner in a blue shirt that I exchanged positions with a few times in the last 3-4 miles, and therefore; she unknowingly became my pacer.  I believe she finished 3rd. in the women's.  It's nice to find a runner that tows the line and forces a better performance on one's self.

This was my fifth time running this race, which was my first marathon ever in 2006.  One would think by now that I 'd remember how tough this course is with a majority of uphill climbs the first 15 miles.  Maybe I choose to block this from my mind and that's why I keep coming back to this race!  J/k.  I actually really do enjoy this race but know that the hills combined with elevation will not lead me anywhere close to a pr.

My goal, like other races I've done before, was to improve over last year's time.  I managed to do so, but not in a big way.  I shaved off 2:02 from last year.  I guess a personal course pr. is nothing to complain about.  The two things that really weighed me down this year were the headwinds along the rail trail, and the heat.  I don't do well in the heat, but a constant splash of water over my head at each aid station in the second half seemed to really help.

There was a runner I must have exchanged positions with at least 10 times from around miles 16-23, and this really helped me to keep my pacing in check when I felt like fading into oblivion.  It turned into a joke of  "see you soon" when one of us would pass.

It was an overall decent race for me and I look forward to running it yet again in 2011.  With this race behind me, I can now focus on doing what it takes to (hopefully) reach my goal of breaking 3 hours at St. George in Oct. I have had the bad luck of not having my name drawn for the lottery to run St. George for 4 years now, and have used the Grand Slam each year as a means of entry.  I would probably run the required races anyway, and so it has only made sense for me to sign up.

 The marathon course started along a rolling, yet overall down hill dirt mountain road that continued for about 9.5 miles.  It then followed along a main highway, with a very short segment passing along a single path paved trail aside the lower Mesa Falls.  We went back to the highway where we came upon the half marathon start area.  I scanned the crowd of half marathoners, and located Melissa.  I found it only appropriate to momentarily throw on the brakes and gave her a hug and quick peck.

I didn't keep track of my mile splits, as I managed to join in with a group from the start that seemed on que for my pace.  It was a lot of fun running with 3-5 other runners that I'd just met and to carry on great conversations for a bulk of the race.  I believe we hit the half in around 1:34.  I became a solitary runner around mile 22 as our paces were no longer meshing due to a 3 mile of uphill from 17-20.  After the uphill, the course meandered through the countryside of fields and quaint neighborhoods, and then joined the main street of Ashton.  We proceeded for several blocks through the middle of town and made a final turn to the finish line alongside a town park.

After the finish, I back tracked the course a 1/4 mile to the cabin Melissa and I stayed in, to pack all our stuff.  I then drove the car to the finish area, and once again back tracked the course, but this time about 3 miles from the finish until I found Melissa pounding away at the pavement.  I figured that she would need some good morale support in her final miles of her inagural challenge.  I really enjoyed seeing her through and am proud of her.  She had a rough race, as she took a fall around mile 2 when she tripped on a rock and scraped up her lower right leg and left knee.  Her diligence kept her from a DNF even with her unsightly gashes.

I would highly recommend running one of these events and may come back again sometime in the future.  The organization was first class, the scenery is quite enjoyable, and it has a wonderful small town and not over-hyped feel.