With the early wakeup, the nerves, and the rush to get everything together, Marathon Morning never gets old. You have to love it!
I rolled out of bed at 4:30 am in order to make final preparations for the race. After an hour-and-a-half of getting prepared (i.e., stretching out, completing 200 sit-ups, making sure I had all my GU gels, confirming the timing chip was firmly tied to my shoe, and preparing my drop-off sack) I left for the University of Utah. It took just over 40 minutes to get to the starting line at the Olympic Legacy Bridge, also known as the “World's Greatest Starting Line.” Since I usually get pretty nervous before races (and this race was no exception), I never like to arrive too early because it tends to psych me out.
At 7:00 am the cannon shot off from historic Fort Douglas and the 6th Annual Salt Lake Marathon was on! The range on my minutes per mile was 6:00-7:13; that is, the 4th and 25th miles, respectively. In past races, I have had 2-3 minute ranges, so this 1:13 range is excellent and reflects the solid pace that I was trying to maintain throughout the course.
My slowest miles were the 1st and the 25th. Since I commenced about fifty or so runners back from the starting line (i.e., I actually crossed the starting line 36 seconds after the boom from the cannon), it took me 6:56 to run the first mile as I worked my way through the crowd. This conservative start was a little bit unorthodox for me since I am usually a fast starter (e.g., my last four marathons--especially Boston). However, I think this slower-than-normal start worked to my advantage near the end of the race. I don’t know if my legs were actually fresher, but after mile 20 (i.e., when my legs started feeling a little bit heavy), I kept reminding myself that I started slow so I must still have a lot in the tank. As a result, the slower start was a bigger boost mentally than physically.
In regards to my slowest mile, it was the 25th, which I ran in a time of 7:13. I expected this mile to be the most challenging because it is near the end of the race and it entails a gradual uphill climb north on State Street to South Temple. For the most part, this mile was new to this year’s race and I had never practiced running it on any of my training runs. From my experience and from hearing other runners speak gloomy about this uphill climb, if they keep this straight-stretch climb as part of the course, it definitely merits an infamous nickname; for example, maybe something like Predatory Hill to go along with the Golden Eagle Archway overlooking the State-Street-South-Temple intersection.
Overall, I was fortunate enough to set a personal record with a time of 2:51:46 (i.e., a per-mile-pace of 6:33). More importantly, I had a lot of fun on this absolutely beautiful day and I'm so happy for everyone that participated and I'm extremely grateful for all the spectators that cheered so hard for family, friends, and complete strangers. It was truly a great day for Salt Lake City! | 