St George Marathon – Oct 1, 2011
Pre-Race
Flew to Vegas Friday morning. Ronnie and his wife, Candi, were kind enough to let me hitch a ride with them to St George. Got to expo around noon. Met up with Tom Slick at the expo. Also ran into Mark (Fly on the wall) at the expo and went with him to lunch at Taste of Asia (had sweet and sour shrimp w/ rice).
Went to the Pasta dinner at the convention center around 4:30. Ran in to Runnin’ Ute (Brad) and Pron8r (Don) at the dinner. Chatted for a bit, went to the expo, again – walked around a little and bought nothing (I think that’s a first).
Was in bed by 7:30pm. Watched some TV and dozed on and off until getting up around 3:00AM. Showered, dressed, grabbed my cinnamon pop-tarts, went searching for a cup of coffee (but none was to be found). Ronnie picked us up at 3:30, and we drove the 3 blocks to the buses. Got in line for the first 4:00AM bus. The temperature was 80 degrees in St George at 4:00AM.
Riding to the starting line, it definitely go cooler. By the time we reached the top, I needed to put on my sweats. I’m guessing it was about 50F at the starting line.
Hung out at the fires for a few hours. Mingled with some old friends (most I had met 4 years ago when I ran my
first St George Marathon).
People I saw at the fires: Tom Slick (aka Lloyd Hansen), Ronnie Dunn, Kimmy and Kathie, Mark (fly), MarkO (Huans32), Jeff (RdRunner) and Meg, Runnin’ Ute, Lark, Hawkeye, Brent (Bdz), Julie Ann (BeMo),,,and I’m sure a few others I’m forgetting.
The Running
I had no definite plan for today. My stretch goal was to run a PR (3:19:47), but I knew I hadn’t put in the mileage to make it a certainty. My happy goal was to BQ for 2013 (3:25). My satisfied goal was to finish upright.
Around 6:45 the crowd started shuffling forward and soon we were walking, then jogging, then running…into the cool darkness.
I wanted to run the first 3 miles easy, then try to maintain a 7:30ish pace for the rest of the race. As is always the case for me – I didn’t pay much attention to my watch..and just went with what seemed like a fairly easy, maintainable pace. Kind of fast down the hills, and slower up the hills.
I looked to my right and saw a familiar runner – Teena. I waved to her, wished her luck and was off (I think she was battling a cold or something…she sounded a bit horse.) That’s the last I saw of Teena (similar to what happened at Boston in 2010 when I saw her running down the middle of the road near Hopkinton).
Around mile 5 I came up behind Ronnie. At that time my average pace was about 7:14 (according to my Garmin). Ronnie said his was about 7:24 (he crossed the start line about a minute before I did). I knew that even though we run similar paces overall, we attack the ups and downs differently. So, I ran on by myself – as it was a downhill section – and I always take advantage of the gravity aid when it’s available.
I walked through every aid station (every other mile) and made sure to drink 2 cups of Gatorade or water at each. This worked out well. I kept passing the same people over and over throughout the race. I saw Ronnie a few more times throughout the race, and walked with him for a few steps as we crested the hill at mile 19.
At the 20 mile mark I still felt surprisingly good. I was still on track for a PR. Calves were a bit tight, but no cramping.
With 4 to go, I didn’t feel quite as good, but I was still OK.
With 3 to go, I started that sinking feeling. The urge to walk was getting too great…and I gave in to the temptation. I walked a little every ½ mile. With about 2 to go, the walks become more frequent. My PR chances were blown with 2 miles to go…but, I could still BQ, if I didn’t fall apart completely.
As I rounded the last corner, I took one more short walk break, then made my way down to the finish line. I heard my name called as I go close, raised my arms as best as I could, in case anyone was watching on the live feed, and crossed the line with a 3:21:43. I qualified for the 2013 Boston Marathon by 3:17 (I hope that’s enough to get me in, if I decide to sign up…it’s such a long ways off.)
Post-Race
I limped around Worthen Park for a while, looking for familiar faces. I saw Brent, Mark M, Mark O, Susanna (I’m sorry we didn’t get to visit long, and I missed seeing Larry this trip), Lloyd, Lark, Brad, Bradley, and Hawkeye. I ate an ice cream, drank a coke, and a couple bottles of water. Sat on the grass, and had a tough time getting back up. J
Later on, after showering, I walked back to the park in time to see Lloyd collect his award for winning his age division in the Grand Slam (Congrats, Buddy! – you have had quite a year of running. 60 isn’t slowing you down)
After an early dinner at Chili’s with Ronnie and his wife, we drove back to Vegas. Spent a low-key night at the Stratosphere (avoided “The Strip”), and flew back to Dallas on Sunday morning.
It was an excellent weekend!
Lessons learned:
- St George is brutal on the muscles. Maybe not during the race, but in the days following – especially if you try to run fast, and don’t have quite the mileage base needed. Make downhill running part of the training plan.
- Flying to Vegas then driving to St George is a good way to go. Even better would be to fly to St George.
- Don’t get on the early bus to win a prize – it won’t happen! J Get on the early bus to mingle with friends..and contemplate the 26.2 miles ahead.
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