This was my inaugural marathon in 2006, so it holds a
special place for me and I have run it every year since. It’s one of the more challenging Utah courses
to run as it has a general elevation increase from the start until mile
16. My legs are well worked over by the
time the course starts its descent, and so even though a negative split would
seem feasible; it has never been the case for me. I lack the energy to force an increased pace and
typically drag along the last 10 miles.
Melissa and I drove up to Newpark in her 1967 Ford Mustang
that my father and I finished restoring last summer. A car show is held within close walking
distance of the start and finish line of the race, so it’s a perfect
opportunity to participate in two events on the same day. I bid her farewell after parking the car and
headed over to the start area. It was time for her to prepare for the show, and
for me to pick up my bib & schwag and to get ready to race.
I was able to converse with a few friends and met a runner
from the UK, named Chris. He had the
look of an elite and I wished him well in dominating the field. (He ended up finishing 2nd
place.) This was to be his first
marathon in the U.S. and he just looked at it as a casual part of his ‘holiday’
here. In the last moments before the
race began, it was clear to see that most of the runners, I would dare say, 90
percent, appeared to have never run the race before. An announcer on a bullhorn had to direct the
crowd in the proper position to the starting arch. I could see that there were fewer participants
than prior years, and a friend claimed to have heard the field was less than
300. I hope this marathon doesn’t quietly
die off in years to come from lack of attendees.
The race began a few minutes late, as a vendor truck had
parked directly in our path. It actually
worked in my favor though as it gave me time to reset the display options on my
Garmin. I last used it on a hike up
Timpanogos and had changed the settings.
I swapped elevation for pace, and time of day for elapsed time.
I headed into the race opting to go by feel rather than a
notion of pace or splits to adhere to.
Based on how my energy exertion felt, I’d make adjustments along the
way. My main unit of measurement is
respiration. I know it goes hand-in-hand
with heart rate. It tells me how deeply
I am dipping into my glycogen stores.
The goal is to pace conservatively enough to have a strong kick in the final
miles, but not too much left in the bank upon finishing.
My pacing felt good and maintainable for the most part of
the first half, with a moment here and there with a momentary slog. It was mostly along the trail section of the
old railroad bed that seemed to go on and on, but I let my mind kind of wander
and take in the sights around me as well.
I observed a small stream, the distant traffic of I-40, and a couple of
hot air balloons beginning to take flight.
There was also a runner with a blue shirt averaging a similar pace to
mine that I tried to reel in. I saw this
same shirt for most of the race and while the gap would vary slightly, I never
did overtake him. He ended up finishing
27 seconds ahead of me.
From the half, until the turn around at mile 16 at Deer
Valley, the course has its greatest increase in elevation. I really look forward to having these miles
over with. I saw Fritz, who would be the
winner, around mile 15 in a section where runners get to see who’s ahead and
behind them. I continued on to 16, and
began charging downhill while glancing across a parking area to see the roadway
I had just ascended. My curiosity was to
see how far the nearest runner was behind me.
To my surprise, there was no one in sight. The gap had to be at least a quarter mile, so
I was kind of running an empty stretch on my own.
I plodded down to the intersection where runners heading up,
and down cross paths. It was a steady
stream of runners passing by, and shouts of encouragement flew during that
stretch. I was happy to have finished their
challenging climb. The course passes by some store fronts and across a
pedestrian bridge over the Park City Main Street. Shortly thereafter, there is a short stretch
of very steep uphill. I had caught up
to a runner in a bright yellow and white shirt at this point. I am inclined to climb, not run here. The runner ahead of me pushed with some
precious energy upward. I had a pretty
good idea that my slow and steady push was more efficient, and I’d pass him
just beyond the top. That ended up being
the case.
I continued onward and downhill and it was nice to give the
climbing muscles a break. At an aid
station around mile 18ish, I caught sight of the first place female pulling out
of a p.o.p. That break had allowed me to
catch up to her, and she ran slightly ahead of me as we meandered through a
neighborhood alongside a golf course. At
the next aid station, around mile 20, she pulled into another p.o.p. and I
passed by. I felt some sympathy as she
must have been having some issues holding her back. My energy levels were holding steady, and I
was pleasantly surprised how good I felt going into the last 10k.
I took nothing for granted and really enjoyed having some
fuel still left in the tank. It was a
nice contrast to other years on the course’s final miles and just wanting the
struggle over with. I passed many half
marathoners in the remaining couple of miles, and that is a mental boost to see
people walking while I felt great running.
It’s not often I want to keep running beyond the finish line!
Melissa was at the finish to greet me, as well as my
parents, who had walked over from the car show.
I enjoyed their support as I crossed the line. As I said earlier, I ran on feel and other than
glancing at my Garmin to see my half split (it was around 1:33). I was blind to
the overall lapsed time until seeing the clock at the finish line. It was a pleasant surprise as I had pr’d for
the course by almost 13 minutes. With the
chip time, I had shaved off 12:43 from my best time on the course from 2010.
My Garmin splits were:
1. 7:02 2. 7:07 3. 7:14 4. 6:48
5. 6:52
6. 7:15 7. 7:16 8. 7:10 9. 7:00 10. 7:01
11. 7:17 12.
7:09 13. 7:11
14. 7:42 15. 7:59
16. 7:50 17.
7:00 18. 7:57
19. 7:07 20.
7:12
21. 6:57 22.
7:22 23. 7:14
24. 7:07 25.
7:30
26. 6:58 Last .20, not measured as GPS read short.
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