St George marathon. What can I say about it. You just don't know what to expect going into a marathon. And this one I felt good about going into it. Went in with a few goals and felt good with the outcome. I trained the best I could with my grand slam and tri training. Trained for the 3:10 finish and hoped to come in under 3:15. But was really happy to just finish it under the hot conditions. Most of my training if not all of my long runs I have done when its nice and cool. Well feeling that is where I could of done more training in looking back. With this race being a big decider of where my focus will be for the coming year. And I am happy with which ever way it was going to go. If I was to BQ I was going to continue with my marathon training. If not my focus was to go into doing my tri training.
Had a great time though on my training. Running with Vinh, Marty and the Chumps was alot of fun. And have met alot of people and enjoyed running with them. Coming into this race though I was more at peace within myself so things have been going right for my in my life. More outside of running then with my running to be honest. So Kristi was going to be volunteering at the first aid station. And was happy with driving us down. So I was able to chat with Jeff Rowland, and Vinny.:) Had a great ride and we got there in a good time to get everything done. We stayed at my parents house and Vinny had to stick with his room at the motel. But he was only walking distance away from the bus. We meet up with a huge group of like 25 people to get on the buses and rode up to the start. Was awesome to sit with Jeff again and RAD. She is really a wonderful person to chat with. And very inspiring. And meet with her sister in law. Meet up with a few at one of the fire pits and then a few more getting ready to start in the elite corral. Sorry making this kind of sweet and short. It was just great to see everyone that I wanted to either before, during or after the race. Hooked back up with Jeff at the start right before the gun went off. So was running with him and feeling good. I wasn't to worried about the heat since I thought I had my plan down. I was carrying my own hydration and for the heat would just dump the water on my head to help cool me down. Was going to run nice and smooth up the hills and take advantage of the down. So first few miles things were going good feeling good. Didn't have any clothes to peel off since it was already close to 60 at the start. As the sun was starting to come up as we were coming up the hill at veyo you could feel the heat when you ran in the sun. And the nice and cool colder temps in the shade. But the shade was quickly fading. And the water at the aid stations were no relief. I felt pretty good on veyo hill. And then the next few miles I was just getting sapped in the heat. I should of changed my race plan before that point. At mile 11 I was really starting to run out of steam on the hills. The hill training I had done before hand really wasn't enough. And the sub 8 I was needing for this hill was only tougher on my. When I started to hope I could stay just under 9 mins. So I just started changing plans. Not really to discouraged. It was actually good to see so many people running by. Saw Teena fly by me at 13. And it made me happy to see her running strong. Next Ronnie then Slick shortly after that. Ran with him for a while but my body just wasn't responding. I would push the pace to that comfortable pace I was use to in training the downhills. And when I would hit the flat or uphill my body would just not respond. Right before the downhill at snow canyon. Vinny came by and I tried to hang with him for a while. But found that comfortable pace and outran him a bit on the downhill. Only to lose him for the rest of the race. I saw 5 sets of balloons go by. It was kind of interesting and just kind of watched at they ran by. Some times I would try to hang with them but it just wasn't happening. I sure did alot of praying on this race. More then I have before. I wouldn't say I was really fighting the bad negative thoughts like I have in the last few times. I was really just happy and content to be doing it. I was doing my best out of the situation. The plan of dumping water on my head to cool me wasn't working. The water was warm and so it didn't help much at all. Just listened to my body and really didn't look much at my watch. Ran into Canyon(Marcie) at about 5 miles out. She was struggling with breathing and so I just hung with her the best I could to help her out. And she was helping me. I lost her a couple times when I couldn't go anymore. But made it back up to her. And we pushed on to get her a sub 4 and me just over 4 hrs. I really loved seeing my wife at the first aid station and even happier seeing her by the finish line. I am really not disappointed in this race. It really is what it is. And now I have more direction in what way I am going to go next year with my training. I will focus more on doing tris and some half marathons in there. I haven't given up on my BQ goals. Just working on my tris with my partner. She has missed me the last few months and we are looking forward to doing the training and love the support I get from her.:) Mile 1 7:31 Mile 2 7:24 Mile 3 7:10 Mile 4 6:53 Mile 5 7:09 Mile 6 6:59 Mile 7 6:58 Mile 8 8:15 Mile 9 8:12 Mile 10 8:03 Mile 11 8:53 Mile 12 9:14 Mile 13 10:24 Mile 14 10:23 Mile 15 8:15 Mile 16 9:16 Mile 17 10:27 Mile 18 10:34 Mile 19 10:34 Mile 20 11:31 Mile 21 9:14 Mile 22 13:15 Mile 23 10:25 Mile 24 9:41 Mile 25 10:43 Mile 26 10:24 .26 2:25 TT 4:00:42 AP 9:10
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