On Friday evening, Melissa and I headed to Orem to meet up
with a friend, Stefan that would be running the half. We followed him down to the expo, picked up
all the usual race schwag, and headed back to our vehicles. As we went our separate ways, my suv didn’t
want to start! Fortunately, Stefan had
some jumper cables. The only problem
was, Melissa and I could then head to our hotel for the night, but what would
we do in the morning if we ran into the same problem? I had a feeling it was just corrosion on the
battery terminals that needed cleaning.
If it were the battery itself, I would have to head over to the auto
parts store. Either way, I hadn’t
brought any tools with me.
Stefan graciously offered to meet Melissa and I at the hotel
at 3:30 to give us another jump start and alleviate the pre-race stress of
getting to the bus. He even offered to
meet after the race for one final jump to get us home post race. What a nice guy! I feel I owe him big time!
I bid Melissa farewell after parking and headed over to
catch the bus to the start. She’s been
of wonderful support to me through the years.
She doesn’t hesitate to climb out of bed at early hours, slumber in the
back of our suv, and then head over in wait of my finish. I feel grateful that she allows me to pursue
this sport I thoroughly enjoy.
I peered out the window
into the darkness and caught outlines of the mountains cast against a starry
sky. I could see the big dipper for
several miles of the ride. It’s always
interesting to listen in to conversations of other runners and to hear their anxiousness
of the challenge lying ahead. Nowhere
else can you find that sort of energy at 4:00 in the morning!
I just sort of milled around the start area with the hour
and a half I had to burn. I enjoy
seeing some familiar faces and compared notes on how the each one’s race might
enfold. My friend, Layne Koldewyn had
flown in from Lexington Kentucky on Friday after a business trip. He has been so busy with all his work travels
that he thought the marathon was next week.
To his surprise, he received an e-mail about prerace details for the
following day. He had recently been
doing some speed work, and his legs were still recovering. He’s a veteran of 25+ marathons, so I knew he’d
fare well even if not achieving a pr for the day.
I have been chasing the idea of a sub 3 marathon for a while
now, but my main motivation was to avoid a slow crawl to the finish along
University Avenue. Fading into oblivion
is not how I enjoy finishing any race, but has been the case at the last couple
Utah Valley’s. I suppose I am still
learning how to run the course. I believe
it to be the fast downhill burn until reaching Deer Creek, followed by the mid
race rollers that zap a bit much of my reserves. A lot of events are touted as “A fast
downhill course.” While this race does
have an overall net loss, I have not found it as user friendly as many other
courses.
Sometimes you just have to take a chance to see how your
body will respond, and if the many variables and factors are in your favor, it
can lead to positive results. On the
other hand, it could be the crossing over to a major crash late in the race,
with maddening consequences. I know my
level of fitness is greater this year than it has been in my last couple
attempts, so with that in mind and a willingness to take a chance, I exited the
start line and ready to see what the day would bring.
I felt decent in the first half, and had moments where the
pace felt fairly effortless and fluid.
The best success I have had in this race was in 2010, where I ran very
conservatively in the first half with a time of 1:37:57, and then ramped up in
the second half for a time of 1:30:03, therefore realizing an overall time of
3:08:00. This year I hit the half faster
by 7:16, and was about to see if that had left me zapped. Maybe I’d be fortunate
enough for a near equal split with having the major inclines completed, and a
gentle decent along University Avenue.
I continued to feel my running was in sync until around mile
17, when keeping my pace began to feel a bit labored. It was the start of having a good mile
followed by a not so good mile. I had to
tell myself to keep it together and just focus on the few steps ahead. I wasn’t really pleased to have a few runners
begin to pass me. I may have been doing
the same at times, but those with a greater pace than I is what I noticed. By mile 22, I felt like I was crawling and it
was somewhat frustrating to have legs that wouldn’t respond. I could see the race slipping away from me.
Just beyond mile 24, a couple women passed by and really
seemed determined to finish with all they had.
It was a sort of epiphany for me, as I thought, “I’m just being weak and
must dig deeper!” The finish line arch
was off in the distance, and I looked down at my Garmin and could see that a
slightly sub 3:05 was still within reach.
I’d really have to work for it though.
At that point I really didn’t care about the discomfort I was feeling,
and remembered the saying “Pain is only temporary, but results are permanent!” Some might find it funny to think I was also
pushing to get the freebie shirt for Boston qualifiers as well. I wasn’t about to give that up in the final
yards! I ran Boston in 2010, and really
don’t know if I’ll run it again, but that damn shirt is what mattered! My final time was 3:04:41. I had finished with 19 seconds to spare.
I met up with Melissa near the finish, went over to the Wasatch
Running Center canopy to collect some schwag for Grand Slam runners, and then
plopped down on the grass for some recovery time. We were later joined by Layne, Daren and his
wife Jennifer. They had all had a good
race experience. Layne chauffeured
Melissa and I back to our suv and gave us a jump start to get us on the road back
home. As we started out of the parking
lot, I had the urge to puke. I quickly
flew open the door and let it all go on the ground. I used to have this problem in my early
marathons where I would over hydrate and it would catch up to me post race. This served as friendly little reminder to
watch my fluid intake a little more closely at aid stations!
Upon arriving home, it turned out that dirty terminals and
cable ends are what had given us fits and therefore necessitated the need for
jump starts. It took less than five
minutes to remedy with my tools at home.
My Garmin splits were:
1st. half: 1:30:41, 6:55/Mi. 2nd. Half:
1:33:59 7:10/Mi.)
1. 6:40 2. 6:44 3.
6:34 4. 6:36 5. 6:38 6. 6:52 7. 6:49 8. 7:21 9. 7:09 10. 6:40 11. 6:44 12. 6:59 13. 6:47 14. 7:24 15. 6:50 16. 6:57 17. 7:11 18. 6:55 19. 6:49 20. 7:02 21. 7:03 22. 7:22 23. 7:23 24. 8:17 25. 7:34 26. 7:00 .20. 6:30 (Read .39, 2:30)
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