It was a good day for me. I finally qualified for Boston!!! I am extremely excited. This was hard work for me. I don't have an extensive running background. I only started running (and lightly at that) in 2007. My first race in 10 years was Wasatch Back in 2008. In 1998 I ran the Crazylegs 8K in Madison, WI where I was attending graduate school. That had been my one and only foot race since elementary school. So, like I said, not a huge running background. After running the TOU Marathon in 2008 I was hooked and knew that someday I wanted to qualify for Boston, which was a ridiculous idea at the time. Well, I finally did it qualifying with a time of 3:11:36. I desperately wanted to qualify with a better than 3:15:59 time before I gained 5 minutes by virtue of getting old (I turn 40 next year).
St. George is definitely a fast course but I can see how it can chew you up if you don't run it smartly. I used the Scott Zimmerman race-time planner and this served me well. It was hard to hold back during the first half of the race since I felt so good, but it was worth it. A slow first half allowed me to kick things into high gear for the second half and to tackle that hill at mile 18 with confidence. I was able to get my first ever negative split for the marathon and achieve a big-time PR. However, I saw a lot of people stopping and in distress in the last 10K , which I think was complicated by the fact that it was so hot.
I am happy to get that BQ monkey off my back and to have achieved an important goal for me. Now on to Boston! Hopefully I don't have any trouble registering here in a couple of weeks.
It was fun to see Smooth and Walter and other people from the Blog. Of course I hung out with Scott and Kelli, who deserve a lot of the credit for my running achievements. I am also very lucky to have a wonderful wife and supportive kids that are the best cheerleaders a person could have. However, I am firstly grateful to Heavenly Father to allow me the opportunity to be able to run. It's a blessing I don't take for granted.
Probably one of the best things that I did the day of the Expo was to take my wife’s aunt Marsha out for a drive of the course. Marsha has been a volunteer at the St. George Marathon for the past 20 years. She knows the course intimately and has even viewed it from the helicopter that keeps buzzing around as the race unfolds. The best thing about this preview was that it got me mentally ready for the hill at the Ledges Parkway (mile 18), which I was not expecting to be so severe. Thanks Marsha!
Here are my splits:
1 – (7:36) Loved the “Elite” area at the start line. I’m glad Scott found me and told me I could get in there since the porta-pottie lines were much smaller and the area was not crowded. The temperature at the start was nice and cool and for the first time I didn’t go out too fast. I started running with Scott and Kelli.
2 – (7:23) Lost track of Scott and Kelli and would not see them until the end.
3 – (7:09) Feeling like I’m jogging. Very hard to stick to my plan since I am feeling so good.
4 – (6:59)
5 – (7:14) The jogging continues.
6 – (7:13)
7 – (7:14) As I am approaching Veyo I can hear the crowds and the cows. Man, those cows were freaking out, they were loud! Veyo looks imposing as you are approaching it but I was feeling so good that I did not stress out at all.
8 – (7:57) I ran up Veyo a bit faster than planned but it was all I could do to hold back. I’ve concluded that the hill at Ogden is a much greater challenge than Veyo, mostly because of where you hit it (mile 15). I did take the opportunity to look back on the course when I was halfway up the hill and the view was imposing. I have never been in a marathon this big and I could see people as far the eye could see. I wish I would have had a camera.
9 – (7:35) The start of the Dammeron Valley hills. The incline was not bad at all and I found it fairly simple to keep pace. However my right hamstring started bugging me a bit here. Why is it always at mile 9?
10 – (7:45) I think the 3:10 pace group passed me here (it could have been at mile 9, I can’t remember). I would keep them within eye’s view for the rest of the race.
11 – (7:49) Still feeling good although worried about my hammie getting any worse.
12 – (7:25) Finally getting to the end of the hills but I am a bit concerned about being ahead of schedule by over a minute. I start wondering if I will be able to negative-split. I am also getting worried since I know my wife will be cheering me on at Snow Canyon and when she sees I’m ahead of schedule she will be livid. We wrote down my plan with permanent marker on my arms before the race and she also wrote on my right arm “STICK TO THE PLAN”. Now here I was over a minute ahead of plan. Oh boy...
13 – (7:13) (1:36:32) (1:37:20 for the half) Got to halfway 1 minute ahead of schedule. Still feeling good and happy to have the downhill. The hammie is just nagging now.
14 – (7:05)
15 – (6:54) This part was steep and my schedule called for stepping up the pace. My legs are starting to feel a bit tense and I do all I can to relax and keep pace. I am really enjoying the scenery in the canyon. I love running in southern Utah.
16 – (7:04) As I am coming around the bend I see the mass of spectators and I locate my family. They have no clue I’m headed for them and so I start pointing at them and yelling. Finally just as I am almost to them Jolynne recognizes me and starts cheering loudly. Then the kids started cheering and it gave me great boost. Later I found out that the reason they almost miss me is because they were not expecting me so soon. At this point I was back again about 1.5 minutes too fast. Jolynne had also just got done cheering for Kelli and then Scott. They expected me to be quite a ways behind Scott but I came up right behind him and it caught them by surprise. They also did not expect that I would be so close to the 3:10 pace group. As I suspected Jolynne was furious. It’s a good thing I BQ’ed because I would have had an earful at the finish. There was a kid here that had a poster that said “Punch Here for Power”. I thought this was clever and punched it for whatever it was worth.
17 – (7:06) Felt good but it was scary to see the upcoming hill at the Ledges Parkway. I told myself to focus on the moment and on my pace for each mile. I was also encouraged by the fact that I knew the top of that hill was the last difficult part of the course. I passed Scott at this point but I don’t know where since I didn’t see him (it was probably at the aid station).
18 – (7:08) I hit the hill feeling good and easing a bit on the pace since I had banked some time. I felt good but was a bit surprised to see so many people walking. Then the heat started becoming a factor. Heat usually doesn’t affect me that much but I started to feel it at the top of this hill.
19 – (7:25) I felt great at this point. I had crested the hill and knew that I had enough in me to make a good showing for what is really the easiest section of the course. Downhill all the way to the finish line. What’s more, I was still ahead of schedule.
20 – (7:07) This was a bit tough since I was running next to some woman who was totally pushing her friend to go faster and she was annoying the crap out of me. You could have sworn that girl was a drill sergeant. She was definitely not motivating her friend to perform better. She was just annoying her and me and the rest of everyone within earshot. Luckily I passed her while she backtracked to keep harassing her poor friend.
21 – (6:59) I feel better but I can tell that glycogen depletion is settling in since I find it difficult to keep a clear head. For some reason I thought I was running mile 22. That was a mental challenge but I shook it off and eventually the Gel I took at mile 20.5 kicked in and I felt better. I think this is also where I passed the first water misters and they felt awesome.
22 – (7:11) The heat is getting to me now and my legs are feeling really heavy. I tell myself that I need to keep it together until mile 23 then I can start breaking down if necessary. I have about three minutes in the bank so I don’t panic.
23 – (7:16) I hit this mark and it was a psychological boost for me. All I had to do now was hold on. By this point I was dog tired and the casualties were all around me. People were stopping all over the place. All I kept thinking was “I’ve been there brother...not fun.” I decided that I would find people running off my pace and draft off them. I found two guys who were looking strong and their help was invaluable at this mile but unfortunately they fell behind before we hit mile 24.
24 – (7:18) Once again I went under the misters and felt much better as I headed into Diagonal Street. With 2.2 to go every step was a struggle. However, somehow I was keeping a 7:22-7:30 pace. I guess those hard-finish long runs really paid off here. A boy held out his hand to give me a high five. I gave him the high five and it almost spun me around. That was the last high-five of the race for me since I realized that all I had energy for at this point was putting one foot in front of the other.
25 – (7:25) This was pure torture. I was having a very hard time and my pace started to break down. I knew by now I had the BQ but I wanted to see how far I could take it. A woman passed me at this point and I decided to hang with her. She took me through most of this mile but then faded with about half a mile left to the finish. At this point I could see the balloons at the finish and I mustered all the strength I could to focus on only that. I entered the finishing chute and I saw a guy who had gone down with only meters to go. I started stopping but saw that the National Guard guys were coming to help so I kept going. At this point I experienced tunnel vision and could not hear anything. I seriously thought I was about to pass out and so I held back a bit. All I could see were those stupid balloons and the clock.
26.2 – (7:37) (6:50 pace for the last.2) (3:10:00 at 26) By the time I crossed the finish line the clock read 3:12 something. I raised my hands in the air and did my best to smile for the camera as I crossed the mat. The feeling was amazing. I BQ’ed! By a lot! Holy Cow, it was unbelievable. My chip time was 3:11:36. I did a negative split by about 3 minutes! I was about to drop but felt awesome at the same time. I congratulated my fellow finishers and spent a bit more time than necessary under the misters (they felt so good!). I then got my medal and moved to the Runner’s area and on to get some liquid in me and find my family.
I found them and they were totally excited. Their enthusiasm was contagious and made me feel great. I think my wife had serious doubts I would make it after she saw how fast I had done the first half. The relief on her face was clear.
I asked them about Scott and Kelli and they said Kelli had come in a few minutes before me, which did not surprise since I knew she was in shape to be significantly under 3:10 (she came in 3:07:59, amazing). However, when they said Scott was not in yet I was floored. I have never, ever beat Scott in a race. He is probably one of the strongest runners I know. Kelli is lightning fast but Scott is definitely an incredibly mentally tough athlete. He came in a bit later and he said that it was just an off day for him. He hit a rough spot around mile 16 and never got the groove back. I am glad I didn’t notice I passed him then since this probably would have messed with my head for the rest of the race.
I hung out and visited with other people I knew. I talked to Walter for a while and was glad to hear he had a good race (he came in 10th overall). I also talked with Daryl Guymon who I have seen at a lot of races for the past two years and have stood in awe of his speed. I was excited to hear that I was only a minute behind him. All in all it was a good day for me and I thank Heavenly Father for allowing me to have it and allowing me the opportunity to reach my BQ goal. I also can’t stress how indebted I am to my wife and family who have cheered me through quite a few disappointments. I was able to finally achieve my goal and show that their support was not in vain. And again, without Scott and Kelli’s friendship and encouragement I would still be running 2 mile laps around my house at 9 minute pace.
After I left the runner’s area I stopped in for a free massage and my mother-in-law got my medal engraved with my name and my finishing time. This was very nice of her. My kids treated me like a super star and I appreciated every bit of it. This is by far the best race I have ever run and I hope to be back someday. But for now I will focus all my energies on fantasizing about April, 2011. Boston, here I come!!!
P.S. I forgot to pick up my Runner Series T-Shirt. Were they giving these out somewhere? I don’t remember seeing a Runner Series booth.
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