What a crazy race. Here's a quick recap of my 2006 St. George Marathon. I'll finish up the rest when I have more time. 1. 6:25 - started with Bill and Dustin. 2. 6:35 - Decided to hang back a little from Bill and Dustin and try to conserve. 3. 6:35 - Hooked-up with Joe Peterson of St. George. He said he was planning on hitting the half in 1:26. 4. 6:21 - Just cruising along into Brookside. 5. 6:23 6. 6:07 - Still running with Joe Peterson down into Veyo. I could still see Bill but had lost sight of Dustin by this point 7. 6:42 - Tried to conserve going up the Veyo hill. I noticed that I was starting to gain on Bill and ended up passing him in the middle of the hill. I could tell something wasn't right with him. 8. 6:42 - Kept "drafting" and hanging on to other people over the crest of the hill. Started to stomach issues and felt like I might need to stop for a pit stop. 9. 7:08 - Tried to ignore the stomach and still feeling like I was recovering from Veyo hill. 10. 6:42 - Started Feeling Good again thought I had my stomach under control through Dammeron Valley 11. 8:00 - My Stomach started acting up again and couldn't settle it down. So I made a visit to the water stop Bathroom and did my #2 business. 12. 6:30 - Started feeling much better after the bathroom stop. I realized that I was off a little from where I wanted to be for the half by about 1-1:30 min. tried to make-up for some lost time. 13. 6:30 - Came across the 1/2 at about 1:26. I was hoping Bill would catch-up so we could run together. Looked over my shoulder to see where he was but couldn't find him. 14. 6:20 - Decided it was time to start kicking it into gear for the last half. I was feeling really good. 15. 6:02 - Really started feeling energized and excited for getting the time I wanted. Passing a ton of people. 16. 6:02 - Going past Snow Canyon gave a little more of a boost with all the people clapping. I continued to pass people. 17. 6:01 - Started to feel a little tightness in my calves. Didn't think too much about it. Still feeling really good and thinking I was really going to pull off my time. I was anxious to get past Winchester so I didn't have to think about anymore hills. 18. 6:02 - Calves became a little more tight and I started to get a little concerned. So I cut back a notch while running up the Winchester/ Ledges hill. By the time I got to the top and at mile marker 19 I needed to stop and stretch. I was pretty upset at the time about my situation. Something must have happened to my watch after 19 because I don't have any split times. It doesn't really matter because you can just assume the splits were between 8-12 min miles. I cramped pretty hard about 19.5 and never fully recovered. After getting into St. George and turning on the diagonal I heard Clyde on the radio while passing Fab. Freddies. He was talking about his time at Boston and how he really wanted to improve. It was pretty exciting to hear. I then started wondering where Bill was. I was surprised he hadn't passed me yet and assumed something must have happened. By the time I reached 300 West he caught up to me and we ran together down 300 W. I tried keep the speed but my legs just kept cramping. I really wanted to cross the line with him and felt pretty disappointed I wasn't able to hold on. Overall I wasn't too happy about my race. I think the only thing I could have done differently was train better and possibly not drop my mile splits as much as I did after the first 1/2. If I would have held back and maintained 6:30 pace I might not have cramped like I did. I just felt so good and really wanted to utilize the downhill and make-up time from my slow first half and my bathroom stop. I'm really anxious to get recovered, start my training cycle again and set some new goals for the end of 2006 and 2007. | 