I had some tightness yesterday in my legs and didn't feel quite 100%, but I got most of it worked out with Logan's stick while watching Prefontaine. I had fun at the dinner, seeing old faces and meeting new people. I also won a pair of shoes from Steve Hooper and his St. George Running Center, so it was a good day.
When my Dad and I got to the starting line all of the bloggers were hanging out around the burn barrel in the elite section. I borrowed a pair of gloves from Ted ( which I wore until I ran into Jon around mile 17), and went to the start with Jeff Shadley and his friend Brett. The start was a shotgun start a couple minutes early and caught us off guard. I only have some of the splits so I will break it down the best I can. Pretty much I ran the race about exactly how I planned it out. The first half was 1:19:03 and the second half was 1:14:35.
My whole plan was to go out with some people and hang around 1:17-1:19 for the first half and then see what I had left in the second half to break 2:35:00. I took off with Jeff as we had planned since we ran together at Ogden, his friend Brett was with us too. We lost everyone else, like Ted and Chad, at the start. I ran the first five miles with Jeff and then lost him at a water stop and a good stretch of downhill. I could see him the for the next 19 miles as he slowly inched away from me. I just put my body in cruise control for the next few miles hoping to see Ted, Chad and their group eventually. I took it really easy up Veyo and kept a relaxed pace going up Dammeron. Finally I could hear Ted and Chad coming so I eased up a bit so that I could get sucked into their group. The group was fair sized, but I didn't look around enought to notice who was there besides Chris and some French/Canadian named Pepi. It didn't take long for their little group to desolve and pretty soon it was just four of us. We worked the next couple together, and I visited with Ted, who was really hoping for some downhill at the time.
After half way Chad and the Pepi guy started to cruise ahead. Ted was claiming some tightness, which is always present at that stage in the marathon. I kept telling Ted stick his body in cruise and he would be fine. He finally figured it out because he started to pull away from me and chase the first woman around mile 17. Jon Allen pulled up and ran with me for about one minute, long enough to ask if I would live and take my gloves for me. I was on my own from then on. I kept looking at my watch at certain mile markers to figure out what pace I needed for my desired time. I never felt really good, but always felt strong the race. What I mean by that is I didn't feel like I could start going much faster, but knew I could hold my pace for a long time.
I hit 20 miles and knew I could run a 2:35, and figured if I could run the last 10k in 35 minutes I could break 2:34. I worked the downhills and finally caught the first woman before 22 miles. Her coach and husband who were on a bike and running told her to go with me, I just laughed because there was no way I would let that happen. One of my Cross Country guys (Zach), that I coach had a dad running, was waiting for me at mile 22. He was on a bike and would pull up every half mile and get up in my face and yell at me to catch the next guy. He did it the whole way in, and it was kind of fun and took my mind off of things at times. He was getting a little pay-back for all of his workouts and and races that I tell him to get up on the next guy or give him crap for letting an old man (me) beat him. By this time in the race there weren't too many guys to catch because of a big spread in runners. I hit the last mile and felt some relief because I felt okay and knew I was going to break 2:34:00. I could hear people yelling my name before the banners but never saw who any of them were. I always get excited to see the clock and hear the roar of the croud. I raised my hands with joy as I crossed the line. I was happy that I actually accomplished one of my goals this year. It has been a hard and stressful year for me, with alot of things going on in my life, and I have fell short of most of my running goals. My training has been very limited the last couple of months, and having pneumonia on top of that did not install confidence in me. Never the less, I knew I could run as well as I did, and was glad that I actually did it.
Splits:
Mile 1. 6:06
Mile 2. 6:01
Mile 3&4. 11:23
Mile 5&6. 11:23
Mile 7 and Veyo. 12:30
Mile 9&10. 12:31
Mile 11&12. 12:27
Half way. 1:19:03
Mile 13.1-14. 4:56
Mile 15&16. 11:04
Mile17,18,&19. 17:39
Mile 20. 5:41 (1:58:25)
Mile 21&22. 11:13
Mile 23&24. 11:13
Mile 25-25.2. 6:48
Last mile. 5:56 (Last 10K in 35:13)
One of the coolest experiences of the race came as I crossed the finish line. I had no sooner stopped when I was greeted by Clyde who congratulated me as told me his own great time. Logan was next to greet me and told me that he had qualified, we gave eachother a big hug, and I was couldn't have been more happy for him. Dave, Jeff, Ted, and Chad were all standing and waiting for me as well, and we all gave our congrats as the seven of us hobbled over to get our finisher medals and greet others. What a great experience, it is almost better to see friends and training partners accomplish their goals and dreams as it is to achieve your own. I was excited to hear of other great times like Paul's and Dan's when I ran into them later on.
The conditions were the best I have ever run in and my post race massage was a close runner up to perfection, but it was freezing after the race. It took forever to get my clthes, the good part was I had a lot of good company while waiting. The awards were fun too. We all sat by each other and went crazy when one of us was called upto the stand. Kent Perkins and the rest of the people weren't too sure what to think when they called Paul and Logan up and we all went crazy!
It was a good race for me and a good experience overall. I was almost more excited about my friend's performances than my own. I knew Paul would do what he did, but Logan was the story of the year. Many people ran a killer race, and I had a lot fun socializing with all of you and giving each other support. This was by far my favorite marathon experience ever, what a blast! It was an excellent race for many of you and and eventhough some fell short of goals, many still ran PR times. I look forward to many more fun experiences with some of you.
(Tangent 2- 40 miles)
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