I didn't know what to expect, but 26.2 miles is a lot of miles. The course for the Utah Valley Marathon is beautiful--about 10 miles in the canyon, 10 miles on the Provo/Jordan river trail, and 6 or so on the roads through the neighborhood near Provo Towne Centre. Here's how the race went. 1--8:45.50 2--8:05.03 3--8:17.29 4--7:49.45 5--8:20.14 6--8:00.64 7--7:59.41 8--7:58.28 9--8:01.45 10--8:05.96 11--8:04.84 12--8:11.21 13--7:59.01 14--8:02.98 15--8:09.86 16--8:16.49 17--8:02.54 18--8:22.06 19--9:47.16 20--8:55.16 21--9:17.19 22--9:24.97 23--10:59.69 24--10:06.07 25--10:19.72 26--10:16.95 .2--3ish (I forgot to flip the switch when I crossed the line). I was cruising at roughly a 3:30:00 marathon until mile 18, and then it all fell apart. I was still on track for 3:45:00 with 3.2 to go and only had to hit a 30:00 5K but couldn't quite do it. I'm thankful for the marathon experience and am glad that it's over. But mostly I'm thankful for Jerry--a guy I met running on the shoulder--and his pacing skills. We kept each other going, and I never got a chance to thank him after the race. Thanks, Jerry. After mile 18, it was all about gutting it out. Overall, I'm very pleased. I hit 2 of my goals and nearly licked the 3rd one. Now I know what to expect, somewhat. It's the legs that were giving out today, not the mind or the lungs, which is different than other days. BTW there were quite a few STG runners and bloggers who ran great races today. Way to run.
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