Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Wow! You ran great at Pocatello! (Is it too late to add my congratulations?) You could really smoke your time at TOU if the weather cooperates. Take it easy till then and you will be chomping at the bit. See you at the Dinner.

Thanks Cody. I hoping things will look good in TOU. Maybe taking Pocatello conservative will benefit me int TOU.

Kory - do you have any lingering soreness from Saturday? If not, I would say that your recovery is going very well and you should be safe to race all-out at TOU.

Paul - I really don't have any soreness to speak of. I ran this morning at a 6:50, and the last mile in 6:31 for only 4 miles and feel really good (thank the lord for strength). The funny thing is I could wait to get back to running after the Marathon on Saturday, and I took one rest day.

I think my problem is I don't know what an all out effort will be for me. I know that's probably a stupid thought but I felt in the Teton Marathon that I gave an all out effort when I ran the first half in 1:22 than I had the side stitch that destroyed the rest of the race on mile 18.

I think I can probably average between a 6:10 and 6:20 in TOU. Anything lower I don't know yet if I could average for 26.2 miles, or do I try to run TOU at a 6:10 to 6:15 pace the first half than try to drop the pace below that? I can't remember what the second half of the course is like.

Kory - the course is downhill through Mile 18, and then rolling the rest of the way. There is a decent-sized uphill from Mile 18 to 19.5 (followed by a nice downhill to 21.5), but nothing is terribly difficult. You can see the course profile here:

http://topofutahmarathon.com/maps

We will have a pace group running 5:55-6:00 pace for a sub-2:40 finish. This may be a little outside of your window, but you could always try just tucking in the back for a while and seeing how it feels, and let the pace group do the work for you.

Paul- I'll try the pace group. I'll never know what I can do unless I try. If I feel fatigued I can always drop the pace.

Thank You

You should do great at TOU. Are you planning on running STG then in addition to TOU?

Jeff, it's a tough decision. I figured if I don't run St. George well this year by running both, than I could always run it next year and skip TOU. I new I'm gambling on a peak performance.

What are good places to stay at in St George? This just happened all of a sudden so I'll have to get a hotel.

Kory, can you save your entry for next year? 3 marathons in 5 weeks is a bit much.

Finding a place in STG (unless some of the bloggers have extra room) is tough at this point. I made reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn in January 2007! Good luck making your decision, you should run well in either race.

Paul- I don't have a clue. I wasn't expecting to get in, nor do I consider myself an elite category runner. This just happened fast where I received an email from "Leisure Services" saying they would let me in the marathon as an elite runner.

But this really isn't fair for those that have a better time than 2:51 that didn't get in. I think I would be better off running it next year, but I've really been wanting to run this one for the last three years.

I do not think anybody who could do faster than 2:51 on the Pocatello course who wanted to run St. George did not get in. There are not that many people who could do it, as evidenced by your win. The bloggers will probably have room, this is Utah, everybody has cousins/brothers/sisters/uncles/aunts/fellow church members if they do not have room in their own house. You have nothing to lose by running St. George unless TOU gets you injured, which is unlikely from your past history, and you can run a screaming time compared to TOU. Plus you have three weeks to rest this year. Even though my key race is St. George I am going to floor it in TOU, although without a taper, for a practice run to get a feel for the all-out marathon pain.

Sasha you've convinced me I'm going to do both. I need to learn to push hard and what better way to do it than in two conservative marathon's where it will build my mental toughness. If I feel pain at the end than I left everything out on the run.

Kory,

I think you could do well at Both TOU and even St. George. Even if things do not go great you can always back off as needed. I think it is a good idea to jump in with the pace group at TOU as I really think you are ready to run with them at that pace anyway. Your miles and workouts indicate you are ready. At St. George maybe we can run together as well as I am thinking a sub 2:40 is possible if all goes well. I am still working on a place to stay as well but as Sasha said we should be able to find someone that can accomadate one way or another. I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Ted, thanks as always. I tried finding a hotel from several places and their all booked.

That would be great to run together in St George, that would keep me motivated. I might have to hang on just to keep up with you I really have no idea how the course is. I've looked at the elevation chart and it looks mostly downhill with a major loss in altitude from start to finish.

TOU, I'm going to just see what happens with the pace group. If I have to slow down at some point than I'll do so. I've always seemed to be a very strong finisher when I pace correctly. But there comes a time where you need to see what you can do.