Well truth be told I thought I had a slight chance of qualifying for Boston at this race. I was probably not as trained as I should have for the attempt but the course elevation profile looked promising so I decided to make it an honest effort. Well, I definitely was not in BQ shape and the course (as many have said before) was brutal. The elevation profile does not do it justice in the least.
The bus ride up there was pleasant and I enjoyed the company of a serial marathoner (I don’t remember his name). Good guy, good conversation. We were dropped in the middle of nowhere but luckily I was in the first bus that got there so I had quick dibs to one of the four porta potties at the start. It was horribly cold at the start. It was probably colder at the start of the Ogden Marathon but at least there we waited in front of a fire. Luckily I was able to catch up with Walter, Becky, Tyler and Burt, which made it a bit more bearable.
The race started in short order and we were off and running. The initial downhill was pretty steep and my legs were getting quite a pounding but overall it was a beautiful start. The desert sunrise was beautiful and the run eventually felt great. I eventually warmed up and the run became near perfect. I definitely caught a glimpse of the runner’s high during those first eight miles or so. It was also pretty amusing to cross the border into Arizona while running a marathon.
After mile eight I started feeling anxiety because I knew that the beautiful downhill was coming to an end. My wife Jolynne and my youngest daughter Sofia (9 yrs old) were waiting for me at mile 10 right before I-15. They surprised me with a big old poster that said “Don’t Let it Defeat You!” (Scott and Kelli should appreciate this reference) on one side and “Leave it All on the Course” on the other. Sofia also had the cowbells from the Ogden Marathon and she put them to good use throughout the rest of the race. Sofia and Jolynne are the best race crew one could ask for. They even took over one of the aid stations for a little while when they saw that it was not manned. The manning of the aid stations was a definite problem. Most of the second half aid stations were “self-service”.
By the time I got up the hill at mile 12 I knew the fun was over. Climbing the hill brought me down to an 8:00 min/mile pace. However, I was able to recover somewhat and get to the half at my planned time of 1:36. But nothing could have prepared me for the upcoming hills. I had not faced anything like these hills in my previous marathons. My training, which was full of hilly courses, did not come close to prepare me for these type of hills at the second half. I cursed at myself for trusting the stupid elevation profile. I should have trusted Superfly’s assessment of the course that he posted in the discussion forum. I would have at least been mentally ready for the pain and agony accepting the fact that this is definitely NOT a PR course. My only consolation was thinking of all the rants and raves that I would enjoy hearing from the other bloggers once the race was over. For the best example of this I refer you to Burt’s race report, which constitutes the ultimate guide to this race experience. It’s a must-read.
I caught up to Becky around mile 17 and we leapfrogged each other until about mile 20 or 21 when she finally smoked me and dropped me for good. That woman can definitely run. Finally at mile 22 things started to level off but miles 24 and 25 are what I call Crash and Burn. My body started giving up completely and I ended up walking quite a bit. My legs were on fire and I was locking up. I don’t know how but I was able to somehow muster up enough strength at mile 26 to pick up the pace a bit and I finished, finally, at 3:36:45; 35th overall and fifth out of 20 in my age division. I was very disappointed to not come close to a BQ but I was happy to at least PR from my previous 3:42:52 PR at TOU two months before. By the way, one point of feedback for the race organizers: PLEASE put the post race drinks and food close to the finish line!!! I hated walking all the way across the white tent to get drink and food. Another thing, I liked the shirt, the medal sucked, however an overall pretty good job for a first marathon. I will remember it fondly.
Will I come back? Definitely, now that I know what to expect. However it will not be next year since I will be closing the running year with St. George. So maybe I will get my revenge on this course in 2011, who knows… Congrats to all my fellow Mesquite survivors out there and Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Mile 1 – 6:56
Mile 2 – 7:22
Mile 3 – 7:16
Mile 4 – 7:17
Mile 5 – 7:14
Mile 6 – 7:20
Mile 7 – 7:09
Mile 8 – 7:18
Mile 9 – 7:25
Mile 10 – 7:21
Mile 11 – 7:21
Mile 12 – 8:00
Mile 13 – 7:58
Mile 14 – 7:36
Mile 15 – 7:41
Mile 16 – 7:41
Mile 17 – 8:33
Mile 18 – 8:58
Mile 19 – 8:39
Mile 20 – 9:11
Mile 21 – 9:11
Mile 22 – 8:43
Mile 23 – 9:41
Mile 24 – 10:14 (crash)
Mile 25 – 10:46 (burn)
Mile 26 – 9:53 (last feeble attempt)
Mile .2 – 9:51 (finish!)
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