Hurricane Headwind Hoedown!! Originally I wanted to use a different word for the last word of the title that starts with 'H' and is 4 letters but in keeping with the family-friendly spirit of the blog and because I want to focus on the POSITIVES of the race I decided to go with the "Hoedown" headline. Like every else has already mentioned we had a lovely time today running in a driving rain and headwind for the ENTIRE RACE! It was FUN FUN FUN!!! Actually in a weird way it was kind of fun and I'm not really all that disappointed I didn't get the sub-3. So far looking at the race reports of everyone in our sub-3 group who has posted it doesn't look like anyone was successful at finishing with a time starting with a '2'. Looks like Riverton Paul was close, and I haven't seen Andy's report yet so maybe he or someone else in the group was able to pull it off. Kinda tired right now so this may not be the full report.....here are the splits:
Mile 1 - 7:07 (a bit slow but nearly impossible to go much faster with slower runners in front, running with Terry oldBean and running into other sub-3 group bloggers here and there)
Mile 2 - 7:00
Mile 3 - 6:40 feeling pretty good for the next 4 miles or so, Terry is pulling me along)
Mile 4 - 6:33 Mile 5 - 6:48 Mile 6 - 6:24 Mile 7 - 6:24 Mile 8 - 7:54 Mile 9 - 7:43 Mile 10 - 7:24 (starting to not quite be able to hit our splits, off by 5-10 seconds due to the dang headwind) Mile 11 - 7:35 Mile 12 - 7:13 Mile 13 - 6:57 (splits starting to be off by more like 10-20 seconds but still 1:33 at 1/2, not quite the 1:31-1:32 as planned but sub-3 still doable if we can nail the 2nd half and negative split) Mile 14 - 7:02 Mile 15 - 6:33 (liking the downhill, but calves are starting to complain) Mile 16 - 6:26 Mile 17 - 7:01 (Terry's legs are shot so he drops back, my wheels are starting to wobble as well) Mile 18 - 7:26 (Wheels wobbling badly, calves starting to cramp up and I can't hold pace. Not breathing very hard but nothing I can do) Mile 19 - 8:22 (Realize the sub-3 isn't going to happen, just going to try for PR at this point - anything under 3:17 Mile 20 - 7:49 (Calves are totally shot and in major pain, not fun at all and can't make any use of the downhill) Mile 21 - 7:16 Mile 22 - 7:54 Mile 23 - 8:02 Mile 24 - 7:44 (Somewhere around here Marcie J catches up to me and gives me a bit of motivation to pick up the pace. Ran with her for a bit until her shoelace unties for I think what she said was the 3rd time. She has to recruit a volunteer to do the tying as it looks like her legs are as shot as mine and bending down is major pain and maybe won't be able to start up again. I can totally relate) Mile 25 - 7:59 Mile 26 - 7:42 (Marcie J catches up again and give me some motivation. Then dang Terry old Bean who I thought for sure I would BEAT for the VERY FIRST TIME EVER shows up out of nowhere and blows by me. I accept defeat momentarily then get really, really mad and actually yell at the top of my lungs "NO - YOU AREN'T GOING TO BEAT ME" and I speed up to about 7 min pace for about 50 yards until the calves do some major cramping and I just can't hold the pace. I have to let Terry go and hope that my day to defeat my high school buddy and running mentor will come on another, better day. Also see James W walking about 2-3 blocks from the finish. I yell at him to run in with me and appear to awake him from his momentary funk and he takes off like a wild man and leaves me in the dust. I'm happy I was able to provide him a little boost). Mile 26.2 - 1:58 (7:57 pace). Nice to meet and talk to lots of bloggers. Looks like many folks are off by 10-20 minutes so I don't feel quite as bad being well off the sub-3. Congrats to those few who were able to find a way to overcome the headwind and reach their goal times. Highlight of the race was finding Kim for a big hug and kiss after she finished her very first marathon in just over 4 hours despite some hairy knee problems. Great job Babe!
UPDATE: One other "positive" I just noticed. I finally beat the guy from Payson who beat me at Speedy Spaniard by 3 seconds and at Provo River 1/2 by 4 seconds. This time I beat HIM by 4 minutes! Terry - you're day is coming...... :-)
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