I had two main goals going in: 1) 3:35 or better; and 2) Run my first race of at least 13.1 miles w/o any stomach issues. My goal time was within reach right up until mile 24 or so but I'm happy to report that finally I had no stomach issues to deal with during or after the race.
Brought the family down early Friday. My youngest developed a horrible cough and ear infection sometime that evening which led to an interesting night's sleep. As best I can remember, I fell asleep sometime around 130 am and woke up at 345 am in order to get a quick breakfast before heading downtown to catch the shuttle bus to the starting. I always have trouble sleeping the night before but 2 hours sleep is likely a PR. I have to give a shout out to the Hagan's(?), a nice couple from Heber City, UT for letting me hitch a ride from the Holiday Inn Express so I wouldn't have to wake a sleep deprived wife. I arrived at shuttle bus-pickup and in my haste I got on the half marathon bus. After sitting there for a few seconds it finally occurred to me that I didn't actually look at a sign or ask the driver where the bus was going. I swallowed my pride, asked the person seated in front of me which bus I was on, and took the walk of shame down the aisle to dismount the bus. Luckily, I arrived plenty early and still ended up on the first bus up to the starting line which meant a significant amount of down time consisting of huddling next to the fire barrels, 3 potty breaks, a half mile jog, and some stretching. I had hoped to find my law school buddy in the crowd. Somehow, it didn't occur to us that the mass of humanity at the start would make that darn near impossible. I eventually found him though, in the last 3/4 mile of the race. We ended up mustering one last charge together and he edged me by 3/10's of a second (I laughed when I found out later that my official time was 30 seconds faster due to his earlier start time). He was injured (mountain biking accident a couple weeks ago) so I can't really claim any braggin rights. He's much faster than I am when healthy and backpacking with him was a prime motivator for why I got into running in the first place.
At the starting line, I was conscious of Jeff's admonition not to go out too fast. In retrospect, my first 8 miles were probably too fast for my 8:12 goal pace, but they felt comfortable. I didn't wear a heart monitor but I could tell that my breathing was relaxed and I had really easy turnover. Around mile 4 or 5 there I got some comic relief from a hilarious dude cracking wise and singing about every 3rd word to "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes at the top of his lungs. I laughed out loud. This was all the music I had during the race as my headphones crapped out shortly before the gun. I've never run so much as a 5k w/o my Ipod and I was more than a little nervous about the relative impact of not having a good beat to run to, especially late in the race. Turns out that I didn't really miss it all that much. Go figure.
At mile 14 I silently repeated Jeff's advice to "run strong" through the only real climb during the race. I hit the top and I was breathing heavy but not winded. At this point I was still in the 8:04 to 8:05 range and remember thinking that the worst was behind me. How wrong I was. Whereas I ran the first half in what felt like a comfortable 1:47+, I ran the second half in 1:51+. It's actually not too wide a disparity- especially since in my last marathon I had a 20+ minute margin- but intuitively I just thought that I was capable of a much faster second half given the amount of really fast downhill in miles 19-24. The rollers of 15-18 really took care of that notion. Just before I got to the dam crossing my left calf and left hamstring took turns going into brief spasms. Each time I felt that little twinge I was just waiting for a full on cramp to seize my leg. That didn't happen- at least not until later. Right before the course leaves the pavement and heads into the tunnel my left hamstring finally seized up in a horrible cramp. It felt like I had just been shot and I briefly glanced at the cheering crowd to see if there was a sniper among them. No sniper, just a couple of smiling faces that quickly turned to winces as my pained expression met theirs. It hurt, it hurt like a SOB but I managed to keep walking/hobbling through it all until it subsided. I remember thinking that if I stopped I probably wouldn't start again.
The cramping was extremely unfortunate because my legs were already really tired and now I couldn't get an extension. I ended up running the last couple of miles on the park path w/ a modified gait. My hamstring wasn't so much painful as it was stiff and restricting. That said, even though my pace slowed I was still able to pass quite a few people in the last couple of miles because the overall pace was even slower for most of my group w/ more than a few people walking. In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king!
In summary, I'm really pleased with how I performed. I ran through the wall and some cramping and didn't totally shut down. I improved my time from the first/only other marathon in August '08 by 23 mins. Part of that was the course, part of it was learning from past mistakes w/ regards to pre-race carb loading, fueling/hydrating during the race, and race strategy. I'm definitely fitter than I was last year. Looking forward to running Top of Utah in September and seeing if I can meet or exceed this level of improvement.
Lap (#) Time(m:s) Distance (mi ) Max Spd (mph) Energy (Cal)
1- 8:14 1.00 8.0 140 (The hordes kept me from running too fast which was a good thing)
2- 7:57 1.00 7.9 144
3- 7:48 1.00 8.6 144 (Got a little carried away here)
4- 7:52 1.00 8.2 144 (Pass the stand up comedian and I can still hear him singing more than a 1/4 mile away)
5- 8:08 1.00 8.3 143 (1st piss break)
6- 7:57 1.00 8.0 145 (Make conscious effort to slow down and I'm still sub 8, not good)
7- 7:59 1.00 7.8 144
8- 8:07 1.00 7.9 143
9- 8:03 1.00 7.7 144 (1st gu; chocolate outrage not too bad)
10- 8:23 1.00 8.3 142 (Make the right turn toward Pineview and the rollers start; I got confused as to which side of the road to run on as we were being shifted to various sides of the road by LE and race officials)
11- 8:17 1.00 7.8 143 (For the next 3 miles I took turns drafting behind a powerlifter whose shoulders were considerably wider than his waist and a sixty something, 6'6" behemoth w/ an incredible amount of back hair)
12- 8:14 1.00 7.8 142
13- 8:18 1.00 7.8 143
14- 8:16 1.00 8.0 142
15- 8:24 1.00 8.1 143 (I summited the hill w/ a 9 min pace for the mile but quickly made it up on the flat and downhill immediately after that)
16- 8:14 1.00 8.1 143 (2nd gu?; starting to get my rhythmn back)
17- 8:13 1.00 7.8 143
18- 8:13 1.00 8.8 141
19- 8:55 1.00 8.9 141 (2nd piss break; starting to really notice the heat)
20- 8:09 1.00 8.0 143 (Got back on track w/ some really steep downhill)
21- 8:19 1.00 7.8 143
22- 8:24 1.00 7.9 142
23- 8:16 1.00 9.7 140
24- 8:23 1.00 8.1 143
25- 9:08 1.00 10.2 138 (This is where the phantom sniper popped my left hammy) (The tiny uphills on the park path may as well be the Tetons)
26- 8:59 1.00 8.1 143 (Meet up w/ my buddy; he's hurting bad and tells me to not wait on him; I respond by advising him that I can't see the finish line banner yet, and besides, his pace feels much better)
27- 3:24 0.37 8.9 54 (My 13 yo son leaps over the barrier and begins filming me up through the finish line; He peppers me w/ such pertinent inquiries as "How you feeling?" and "Are you tired?"; Apparently, I ran an extra + or - .15 miles; Didn't shut off the garmin until a few seconds after the finish line) | 