I went into this hoping finally to get under 4:00. Most of the predictors had me right around 4
flat, but I hoped to find a few seconds somewhere and squeak out a
3:59.59. I knew it would take a perfect
race on a perfect day for it to happen, though.
My previous road marathons had been disasters. I trained inconsistently and went into each
race without a plan, and the results showed that. At Hartford in 2001, I went through the half
in 1:59 before finishing in 4:25. At
Colorado in 2010, I went through the half in 2:02 before finishing in
4:27. Ouch. This time my training was pretty consistent
and I had a plan.
On Friday night, I made a pace band that accounted for the
course profile to wear for the race. I
set it with my garmin, gels, and other race day necessities so that I wouldn’t
forget it. In my 3:30a.m. stupor, I
somehow left with everything but the pace bracelet.
I made it to Ogden around 4:45 and got on a bus. I forgot
how much I hate bus rides to a race start.
It was so hot on my bus that I had peeled all my layers off. I also get motion sickness so I could not
wait to get off that bus. After a few
minutes of being outside in the crisp air, the queasiness went away. It looked
like it was going to be a perfect day to run. After several stops in the
bathroom line, it was go time.
These are all Garmin splits (different from the race mile
markers.) I knew that it would read
long, so I tried to be mindful of that while running.
Miles 1-6: 8:41, 8:53, 8:51, 8:47, 8:58, 9:00
I knew these downhill miles should be faster than 9:09, but
I couldn’t remember how much faster. I
shed my gloves and long sleeves by mile 3.
At this point, everything felt good and I was super confident. Took a
clif shot at mile 5.
7-13: 9:06, 9:14,
9:05, 9:06, 9:10, 9:07, 9:17
I was still feeling good.
Took another clif shot at mile 10. Reached halfway at 1:59:38 (this was
according to the race markers. My garmin
was at 13.2 something at that point).
The 4 hour pacer passed me right around this point.
14-20: 9:19,
9:41, 9:24, 9:17, 9:05, 9:41, 9:22
Things were getting harder now. I was chatting with another runner and
realized that I was slowing down. I
increased the effort, but now I was at the hill. I caught back up with the 4 hour pace group
going up the hill and tried to stick with them. They pulled away on the
downhill, but I tried to keep her balloons in sight. I was feeling a little discouraged, but then
we turned down the canyon. Took a third
clif shot at mile 18. A quicker mile 18 increased my confidence. I was certain I could pick it up again. But then almost instantly, my quads started
aching. I just couldn’t stay in the low
9s anymore. I started to shuffle. The balloons disappeared in the distance and
sub 4 slipped away. The new focus would have to be sub 4:05.
21-Finish: 9:43,
10:17, 10:15, 11:02, 10:59, 10:20, 9:12 pace for final .45 (Garmin read 26.45)
I was really hurting now.
Sharp pains were shooting up both of my legs. Just keep each mile below
10 I told myself, but that slipped away, too.
The blow up was on. I had shifted into survival mode. It was all I could
do to keep my legs shuffling. I walked
through the aid station at 23 to take a clif shot, and starting to run again
was so painful. I knew that I couldn’t let
myself walk again until the finish. I
just kept plugging along. This stretch
was very hard mentally. There was a lot
of carnage, and it was so tempting to join in and walk. But I kept shuffling and when I realized that
I could break 4:10, I picked it up to the finish. I think my time was
4:09:42. A PR by over 15 minutes.
As I worked my way through the finish area, I saw Nate along
the barricades. I went over to him and
just started crying. I don’t know if I was crying because I missed my goal or
because everything hurt and I was just so glad it was over. He was so happy because I had set a big PR,
but I was just so disappointed.
I was in so much pain after the race. I sat down in the shade and could not get up
without assistance. But after I got some
food and water down, I started to feel much better, both physically and about
the race.
Things that went
well: - My stomach and breathing felt fine.
- Except for walking through two of the later aid
stations, I ran the entire thing.
- I made it to 20 feeling better than I ever had
at that point before. While I still blew up, it was much better than previous
blowups.
- Mentally, I believed that I could do it for most of the race. While it didn’t quite work out, I did run 15+ minute PR.
Things that need
improvement:
- I clearly went out too fast for my goal/fitness
level. If I had dialed those first few
miles back, could I have prevented the later blowup?
- More long runs. I only fit in 2 20 milers this cycle. A few more would have helped a lot.
- More downhill running in training. My quads were not prepared for the late
downhills of this race. I knew this was a weakness as I’ve had quad problems at
downhill races before.
So while I’m still a little disappointed, I did PR and learn a lot
from this race. I now have all summer to
get it right for a sub 4 at St. George. I foresee lots of runs up and down
Emigration Canyon!
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