I made this a race report for a couple of reasons, 1- cause it's the only way anyone will read it, and 2- cause its probably the highest placement I've had in a marathon. I'll start by saying, great race, most fun I've ever had running a marathon. I have no idea why anyone would drive down to St. George and deal with that misery when this awesome marathon is right in our backyard. My only regret is that I didn't race it cause the winning time was 2:47 I think, so I'm pretty sure I could have got on the podium. I probably wouldn't have had as much fun though. The buses started at my office so I had a key to get in and use nice bathrooms at right away, met the other pacers, got my pace band and glowy stick and hopped on the last or second to last bus.
Got up to Brighton, it was cold but the lines for the porta potties were very short, maybe 5 deep, and we only had to wait about 20 minutes for the race to start, when they announced that the race would start in 5 minutes so get lined up I went up about 20 feet back from the start line and held up my sign, I was the first in line. no one would step up to the mat, I yelled out that I better not win this thing and a few guys finally came up to the front. The race started and the front runners were all pretty content running with me, they asked what pace I was going to run the canyon and I told them about 6:40 average and everyone seemed happy with that. I was actually in 3rd or 4th place with a bunch of guys behind me through mile 3. I felt weird being the pacer and running right behind the police escort but I knew I was running the right pace for 3:05 so I stayed. Finally a few guys took off, one guy named James said this was his first marathon and was trying to Qualify for Boston (which is what my goal was) so he ran with me and we chatted quite a bit. At mile 8 he went ahead, the racer in my wanted to stay with him but I had to hold back and be a good little pacer. We started hitting the 1/2 marathon runners around mile 5, I gave all the other pacers for the 1/2 high fives as I passed. I kept freaking people out with my 3:05 sign and had to explain that I was the marathon not the 1/2. I felt really good down the canyon, I could tell that racing it would have really hurt but I was having a blast telling everyone good job as I ran by. Mile 14.5 you leave the canyon and break away from the 1/2 path, it all of a sudden got very lonely, there was 1 guy with me and was content running about 10 feet behind and listen to music. Then we hit the hill, around 17 miles I couldn't hear him anymore, I looked back and he was gone, I felt bad and wanted to wait but he was walking so I couldn't. Once you turn down 33rd or whatever it is it's really steep, I started passing a few people here and then at the mile 18 aid station I caught up with James again, I told him to stay with me, which he did for 2 miles but said he was hurting and his calf was cramping up. I kept slowing down, telling him we were ahead of time about 2 minutes so I could wait. I really wanted to get him in on time, but around mile 21 he crashed and there was nothing I could do. I felt like a failure but couldn't slow down anymore. Mile 23 turns into Holladay Blvd, I could see quite a few people ahead and really wanted to run faster to catch them but I controlled myself and stayed back, I was still about 1 minute fast and was worried about getting in to fast. People started dropping like flies though, I kept catching them, slowing down and telling them to stay with me, but at mile 24 of a marathon your pretty much spent (I've been there) you don't want anyone talking to you telling you to run faster. So I just chugged along, wishing I could go faster cause I thought it would actually fell better on my legs. I hit the final uphill and there was an older guy struggling up it, I really tried to push him along but we were going 9:00 pace so when I hit mile 26 right on schedule (first accurate time of the day) I took off, when I got to the top of the hill my watch said 3:04 and 26.1 miles but I could see the finish line was way further than .1 away, I thought "Oh crap, what happened" and started sprinting, got to the start of the chuts and my watch turned to 3:05 and I knew I failed. Luckily there was no one anywhere near me to get mad. Very happy with my pacing skills actually, I think I did pretty good even though I was over. Pretty sure I want to race this race next year but I have a feeling the winning time will be faster than 2:47. | Mile | Time I was suppose to be
| Time I actually was :)
| | 1 | 6:38 | 6:40 | | 2 | 6:30 | 6:33 | | 3 | 6:34 | 6:40 | | 4 | 6:30 | 6:33 | | 5 | 6:42 | 6:34 | | 6 | 7:04 | 6:45 | | 7 | 7:21 | 6:50 | | 8 | 7:08 | 7:01 | | 9 | 6:59 | 6:58 | | 10 | 6:51 | 7:05 | | 11 | 6:38 | 6:55 | | 12 | 6:47 | 6:42 | | 13 | 6:38 | 6:41 | | 14 | 6:38 | 6:32 | | 15 | 7:08 | 6:51 | | 16 | 7:33 | 7:20 | | 17 | 7:16 | 7:25 | | 18 | 7:33 | 7:29 | | 19 | 7:08 | 7:20 | | 20 | 7:25 | 7:09 | | 21 | 7:25 | 7:27 | | 22 | 7:04 | 7:07 | | 23 | 6:55 | 7:07 | | 24 | 7:21 | 7:29 | | 25 | 7:42 | 7:38 | | 26 | 8:07 | 8:26 | | 26.2 | 1:25 | 2:13 (.3 miles)
|
| 