Well, the results of my experiment of trying to run two marathons in two weeks are in. I finished St. George in 03:32:47. This was 4 minutes slower than TOU two weeks ago, and 5 minutes slower than SG last year. Nevertheless, I consider the whole experiment a success. I know various people who ran TOU two weeks ago and still managed to run faster at St. George. One older guy I met while eating after the race ran SG 11 minutes faster than TOU this year. And I remember seeing Dean Karnazes, running his 21st marathon in 21 days, blow by me on his way to a 3:20 finish. It appears that there is a fitness level at which running multiple marathons with little time for recovery is not a problem. I apparently have not yet reached that level of fitness. I felt great for at least the first 10 miles, but then my legs began to feel tired earlier than expected. By mile 16 I began to feel tightness in my right calf and upper right thigh, the exact areas that were hurting at the end of TOU. Those areas had apparently not fully recovered. By mile 18 my right hip had started hurting me to the point that it was slowing me down. I had been runnning with Kerry the entire race up to that point. We were on pace for 3:30 and easily beating his qualifying time of 3:35. I didn't want to hold him back so I urged him to go ahead without me. The next 4 miles my hip seemed to be getting worse. I dropped from running sub-8:00 miles to 9:32, 9:10, 8:34, and 8:47. My hip hurt badly with nearly every step, and every once in a while it felt as if it would give out completely. I was beginning to wonder if I would even be able to finish. However, at mile 22 my hip began to feel a little better. I remember finally passing someone (instead of getting passed). I liked how that felt. I gradually pushed the pace back down to sub-8:00 and got so carried away I actually ran 7:13/mi for nearly a mile. Of course I couldn't hold that pace, but I did manage 7:43 for mile 25 and averaged 7:35/mi the last 1.2 miles. Luckily for me, my wife and three youngest daughters were watching along this last stretch. They said I looked good, and my 14 year old daughter actually told my wife she wished she were "as fit as Dad." For those of you with teenagers, you know that is a reward well worth the effort to train for and run a marathon. The weather was perfect. I enjoyed seeing and running (at times) with so many of my friends along the way, and I really enjoyed spending the weekend with (part of) my family. I look forward to next year. | 