I climbed out of bed at 2:30 a.m., so I could get ready and leave the house by 3:00. The drive would take about 45 minutes to get to Provo so I could board a bus to the start. After all the races I’ve done, I still get anxious with the logistics until I’m actually seated on a bus. Then I can relax during the ride.
A runner named Hattie Hutchings sat next to me, who was set to run her 18th marathon. It turned out that she is a speedy runner, having done a top ten finish at the St. George Marathon last year. This race would yield her an age group win, and a 6th place overall women’s finish. Coincidentally, she finished just 13 seconds ahead of me today. Chatting with her helped the ride to the start pass by quickly.
The wait at the start was about an hour and a half. I laid around a bit, and it gave me a chance to visit the outhouses a couple times. As race time approached, I became a little concerned about having some G.I. distress during the run. My stomach felt a little heavy. Fortunately though, it never became an issue.
My plan of attack for the race was to charge the downhill’s, and slowly tackle the climbs. Basically, I went by feel, and as much of an even effort as possible. I figured a time of 3:05-3:10 would be within reach based on my Salt Lake and Ogden marathon times.
The weather conditions played out favorably; as it was a little cool at the start, but not too hot at the finish. There were some occasional tailwinds and I appreciated one of those times being as I made one of the rolling climbs mid race.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have G.I. distress, but I did have to stop a couple times to ‘drain the tank.’ At the half, I noticed that it came out dark red. That’s not usually a good sign! I felt fine, but thought back to drinking a can of beet juice last night. There were free samples at the expo, so I tried one. Could the natural dyes be the cause, or was I passing blood?! I quickly decided to press onward, and would just monitor if I started to feel ‘off.’
Nothing too monumental occurred for the remainder of the race, but sometimes that’s a good thing. I stuck with my even effort plan, with an exception to the last 5k, as I watched the time and tried to come in just under 3:05. I figured it would be close, but I knew it wouldn’t be a big deal if I didn’t make it. Looking back on my splits for those miles, I see that the perceived effort was off and I must have begun to fade.
I didn’t have Melissa cheering me at the finish this time, as she went on a short vacation to Montana to visit her grandmother. A good friend I run with, Stefan Wells, stopped by on his way to work to see me through. Sometimes I linger at the finish just trying to recover and feel good enough to make the drive home. Fortunately, today I felt good enough to head on out. We grabbed a ‘Boston Qualifier’ shirt, my drop bag, and headed to our cars.
My splits were:
1st half: 1:31:52, 2nd half: 1:33:27
1. 6:34 14. 7:38
2. 6:41 15. 6:45
3. 6:38 16. 7:04
4. 6:42 17. 6:57
5. 6:36 18. 6:53
6. 7:20 19. 6:49
7. 6:49 20. 7:02
8. 7:19 21. 6:58
9. 7:18 22. 7:10
10. 6:53 23. 7:14
11. 6:56 24. 7:40
12. 7:09 25. 7:16
13. 6:56 26. 7:26
.37, 2:38 (7:13/mi.)
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