So, for this marathon, I have some mixed reactions as I think about how things went. On the plus side I reached my goal of placing in the top 5 and I got $100 dollars for my efforts (I already got the check! No waiting for a year!). I also now know how much more I need to improve before I can really say that I am an elite marathon runner (I hung close to the 3rd place finisher through about 18 miles). I also ran an equivalent of my best marathon to date. On the negative side, I have still not yet broken the 2:30 mark in a marathon as I crashed yet again (although my slowest mile was a 7:44 uphill mile in comparison to an 8:15 flat mile at St. George). Crashing yet again was disapointing as I felt that my preparation for this marathon was so much better than in the past. Anyhow, overall I feel that this was a positive experience. I will learn from it and do better next time, just as I did better this time than the time before. Here are my mile splits as I remember them.
1 - 5:22 felt really easy
2 - 10:55 (5:33) still easy
3 - missed the mark, but passed the aid station at 16:30
4 - 21:40 not completely sure on the time, but it is close
5 - 27:12 we head into sugarhouse park. There are rolling hills throughout the next few miles.
6 - 32:44 (5:32) not completely sure on the split, but fairly certain
7 - 38:24 (5:40) There is a decent sized hill during this mile and Ezekiel Ruto and I let the top 2 Kenyans and Seth go. again, not completely sure on the exact split, but this is pretty close.
8 - 43:53 (5:29) From here on, the overall splits are correct.
9 - 49:37 (5:44) The last few miles have been at a consistent effort, but have been rolling so the times jump around a bit.
10 - 55:00 (5:23)
11 - 1:00:20 (5:20)
12 - 1:05:53 (5:33) I take my first (and eventually only) gel during ths mile.
13 - 1:11:38 (5:45) I start to have stomach cramps due to drinking some gatorade as well as from taking the gel.
halfway - 1:12:13 I still feel strong, but I am a little worried because I felt better at the end of the Provo City Half than I felt at this point of the marathon even though I was running slower and the weather was better.
14 - 1:16:59 (5:21) Ruto is starting to push the pace a little more
15 - 1:22:30 (5:31) Ruto gaps me by about 13 seconds during this mile. At the beginning of this mile I was messing with my shirt and trying to untuck it, and my second gel fell out onto the ground. I decided to just leave it.
16 - 1:28:00 (5:30) Uphill mile. Average is exactly 5:30 through 16 miles
17 - 1:33:41 (5:41) I made the decision during this mile to slow down a little and to try and run 5:40's to the finish. The first mile of this was right on.
18 - 1:39:25 (5:44) A little slower than I wanted, but still acceptable since the mile had a slight uphill in the second half.
19 - 1:45:17 (5:52) I realize that I am about to hit the wall as my effort is staying the same, but I am starting to slow a little more. I am determined at this point to not crash as bad as last time.
20 - 1:51:25 (6:08) Second 10 mile section in 56:25.
21 - 1:58:03 (6:38) I was surprised that my pace dropped so quickly. I thought that my slow death would be a little slower.
22 - 2:04:44 (6:41) I pushed a little harder this mile because I was trying not to slow down as much.
23 - 2:11:52 (7:08) During this mile I had to start fighting to pass the half marathon runners who were getting in the way. I ended up stopping at the aid station to grab gatorage as I couldn't do it on the run, and I bumped into a lot of people as I tried to get away.
24 - 2:19:19 (7:27) Sasha gave me this split and the split at 25, so as far as I know these are correct. Sasha and James (fiddy) joined me to pace me this mile. They also helped me grab gatorade at aid stations, although I still collided with a couple of people
25 - 2:27:03 (7:44) Considering what seemed like a massive hill that we had to climb during this mile, I don't think that the time is as bad as it looks
26.2 - 2:35:07 (6:37 pace from 25 to the finish) We had a downhill mile to finish the race and I was able to get a better rythym going. I was glad that I was able to pick it up towards the end, but at the same time I was a little disappointed that I was too weak to push it harder during the few previous miles when I think I should have been able to
So, all in all I think that placewise I finished where I was supposed to finish, I just came in 7-10 minutes slower than I wanted to. I didn't feel as rotten at the end as I did at St. George, and I was able to speed up the last mile with an uphill mile that was still 30 seconds faster than my last mile at St. George last year. I think that things will work out eventually, and I will run a great marathon, but it just might take a couple more years. | 