I was more prepared for this race, in terms of gear, than any other. I had gloves and arm warmers (just in case),
GUs, Garmin and even my ipod which I never use packed up the night before. I set my alarm for 2:19 for good luck (yes, a
little optimistic) and I was out the door at 3:10. Sat with Albert on the bus then listened to a few tunes on the way up. We arrived at the
start at 4:30 and the porta potty lines were already packed. I proceeded up the hill and luckily found the
permanent bathrooms, which don’t stink, to be empty. Apparently people who wake up at 3 aren't observant. After the nonstinky PP I laid in the weeds for the next half
hour and rested. At 5 AM I started
getting ready and walked over to the tent.
At that moment I couldn’t find my Garmin so I quickly retraced my
steps. I got a phone with a light from a
friend and I even got a flashlight from the Forest Service lady; after 15
frantic minutes of searching I had to give up.
Miraculously, Brandon, my new BFF, graciously offered me his basic wrist
watch that had a chronograph. It was now 5:25 so I quickly rushed over to
the baggage drop and then to the start line.
I had a watch but where were my GUs???
Oh #%(#@! I can run without a watch
but I can’t run without energy. John
Rosswog and Annie O’Donnell, the eventual women's winner in her first marathon, bailed me out once again and
each gave me a GU, with 30 seconds to spare.
Brandon, John and Annie are the
BEST!!!
For the 30 minutes leading up to the race I hadn’t thought for a minute about
the race but now it was go time. Gun
went off I went off the front. Alden
caught up to me at 1 mile and our 5k split was about 14:40. We went through the 4 mile split in something
like 19:30 so possibly a bit fast. After
we came off Big Mountain we ran at decent unknown clip (no GARMIN!) up Little
Mountain, where Amiee was taking pics, and then picked up the pace down the
backside. Alden wasn’t breathing hard
and it he looked smooth so I figured he would be there to the end. We stuck together through the halfway point (split
1:09 on the dot) and then at mile 14 he put in a surge, or maybe I slowed down,
so he had about 30 seconds on me as we past the zoo. I was hoping I could catch him on Wasatch
Drive but he actually widened the gap to around 45 seconds. We proceeded to Foothill and the gap
remained. Finally as we were going down
5th east I started pulling him in and right as we turned down South
Temple (mile 22.5) I passed him. He didn’t
attempt to stick with me and kindly offered up a high five. I was impressed that he held up that long
and I think if he hadn’t surged down Emigration we would have been neck and
neck to the finish. His ~2:25 is still a
very impressive first marathon. After I
passed him I picked up the pace as much as possible down South Temple. I saw Melody and Josse running up the street and I hope I at least waved. I am guessing my splits were around 5:20 to
5:25 for that stretch. At mile 24.5 Rob
paced me for a few seconds which is exactly what I needed at that point. Thanks Rob! Amiee and my sister were also great cheer leaders out on the course. The last 1.5 miles were miserable as usual and the last stretch up 8th
south seemed like forever. FINALLY that
stretch ended, I turned south and then east onto 9th and I put in a
final push to get under 2:22. This time
I think the clock read 2:22:01 but they said my official time was 2:21:58. For Ogden the clock read 2:22:58 but my
official time was 2:23. I HOPE I got the
:58 this time. J
Overall I was obviously happy with the outcome and I am glad
the pre-race debacle didn’t affect the results. I did go back to Black Mountain after the race to find my watch but
sadly I couldn’t find it. In hindsight on a course like that maybe it was
better that I didn’t follow my splits and the watch I wore weighed less. What would have been disastrous is if I didn’t
get the GUs…so I am very very thankful to John and Annie.
Great job to everyone who ran the controversial 10k and the
marathon racers, i.e. James, Allie, John, Steve, Albert…I will add more
later. Off to work but luckily because it isn't Saturday I don't have to mow my lawn (RAD kindly reminded me of that).
| 
