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St. George Marathon (Read 997 times)

    Here it is-the good, the bad, and the oh-so-close. The good--great weather, loved the course (third time running it), ran with some friends, enjoyed the day. I slept ok the night before (at least as well as can be expected the night before a marathon). Got up at 3:30am Sleepy, got dressed, got downstairs to catch the hotel shuttle and rode over to the bus pick-up point. With 5,000 runners, St. George has done a good job coordinating all the busses it takes to get runners to the starting line. The weather at the start seemed warmer than last year, which in my book is a good thing. Probably mid-40's to start; about 80 when I ended Cool. A little delay before the race started, but no big deal. I have been worried about my left leg all week long. While my 20-mile training runs went ok, I always am thinking about my ITB flareup at DesNews, and am a little nervous when I run. This past week, my ITB didn't really bother me, but muscles all around my left knee seemed to ache in different areas each day-sometimes it was the quad, other times an ache just below the knee, other times somewhere else. I even thought about dropping out 3 days before the race, but decided that maybe it was just taper madness. At least, that's what I hoped. When the race did begin, I started too far back. I wanted to start a little back, thinking that would keep me from going out too fast, and allow my leg some time to warm up and loosen up. Good news-it worked. Bad news-it worked too well. It took a long time to run the first mile because of the crowd. In fact, it took over 3 minutes just to cross the starting line. Next time, I'll start closer to the front and just force myself to go at a measured pace. At any rate--the time I was actually shooting for on race day was below 3:30:00. If the leg held, fine. If it didn't, oh well. I wore a 3:29 pace band, and here's how the miles unfolded (cumulative times listed): Mile Target Actual 1 0:08:23 0:09:08 Too crowded at start. Need to move up next time. 2 0:16:23 0:17:31 Crowd still hasn't thinned. I'm sure I can make it up 3 0:24:17 0:25:17 4 0:32:07 0:33:04 5 0:39:57 0:40:54 6 0:47:42 0:48:35 7 0:55:27 0:56:10 8 1:04:43 1:04:29 Veyo Hill (one mile up). Made up difference 9 1:12:42 1:12:39 10 1:21:11 1:20:43 11 1:29:39 1:28:51 12 1:37:48 1:36:47 13 1:45:47 1:44:33 Last 3-4 miles were probably a little too fast 14 1:53:42 1:52:19 15 2:01:27 1:59:50 16 2:09:02 2:07:25 17 2:16:52 2:15:03 18 2:24:42 2:22:49 19 2:32:36 2:30:59 Drug myself thru 17, 18, 19 20 2:40:21 2:38:56 Only 6.2 to go! I'm on track 21 2:48:06 2:46:24 22 2:55:56 2:54:39 23 3:03:41 3:02:52 Entering the city--great community support & crowds 24 3:11:31 3:10:48 Starting to slow down 25 3:19:21 3:18:58 26 3:27:15 3:27:26 I'm off pace. Can I make it up? 0.2 3:29:00 3:29:50 Garmin says 0.29. All right! I was under 3:30 (not by much, but under nonetheless). And, my garmin indicated 26.29 miles, so maybe my chip time would be a little better. Now for the bad and oh-so-close. I checked my on-line results this morning. My chip time was 3:31:08. My garmin has never been off by over a minute in a race. Initially, I couldn't figure it out. I checked my garmin again-there it was. It shows "Rest Time" of 1:17 Shocked. The bad? I had forgotten to take it off autopause when I started the race, and I had to stop at mile 13 to use the facilities (I tried before the race began, but no luck) Roll eyes. The oh-so-close? That 1:17 was the time I needed to finish under 3:30 Sad . Had my watch kept running, I would have been aware of the fact that I had fallen behind, and maybe I could have made up the time difference. Maybe not. It's history at this point. Nevertheless, it was a good day, and I had a great time. My left leg ached for about the first 10 miles, then started feeling better. I did have some twinges of cramping along the way, first at mile 13 for a brief moment, then off and on from about mile 21 to the end. I had previously qualified for Boston '06, and today's time qualifies me for Boston '07 (since I'm getting to be an old guy, I only needed a 3:45 to qualify for '07). My next race-Valley of Fire Half-Marathon in November
    My Masters (>50) Race PR's: 5K - 20:17 10K - 42:36 HM - 1:31:22 Marathon - 3:20:48
    Mile Collector


    Abs of Flabs

      Pron8r, You got me going there for a second, because I thought you missed BQ by 1:17!!! You ran a fantastic race, and kudos for sticking to your plan. Congratulations for BQ'ing. Isn't it nice that it's applicable for two whole years?! eric Smile
        Congrats on a great race Pron8r! Sounds like you really enjoy the St. Georges Marathon. I might have to give that one a whirl one of these days.


        You'll ruin your knees!

          I hear oh so good things about St George! Congrats on the BQ and nice job of capturing the details...I think I would have taken the Garmin back to the store for that little miss! Oh, wait, I did take the Garmin back to the store! Confused Anyway, WAY TO GO! Lynn B

          ""...the truth that someday, you will go for your last run. But not today—today you got to run." - Matt Crownover (after Western States)

            Congratulations for BQ'ing. Isn't it nice that it's applicable for two whole years?! eric Smile
            Thanks. For sure. Gives me a couple of years to BQ for "08.
            My Masters (>50) Race PR's: 5K - 20:17 10K - 42:36 HM - 1:31:22 Marathon - 3:20:48
              Congrats on a great race Pron8r! Sounds like you really enjoy the St. Georges Marathon. I might have to give that one a whirl one of these days.
              I do enjoy it. If you get a chance, give it a go. Weather and crowd support is great!
              My Masters (>50) Race PR's: 5K - 20:17 10K - 42:36 HM - 1:31:22 Marathon - 3:20:48
                I hear oh so good things about St George! Congrats on the BQ and nice job of capturing the details...I think I would have taken the Garmin back to the store for that little miss! Oh, wait, I did take the Garmin back to the store! Confused Anyway, WAY TO GO! Lynn B
                Thanks for the comments. It is a good race, one of my favorites. And yes--I would take the Garmin back if it wasn't for the fact that I am the one that screwed up by not taking it off autopause. No one to blame but myself.
                My Masters (>50) Race PR's: 5K - 20:17 10K - 42:36 HM - 1:31:22 Marathon - 3:20:48