Overall Place: 15th
Division Place: 2nd
SGM
What a great race. SG does a tremendous job with this race. I love how the whole community gets involved. I haven't ran a race where people gather in the masses just to watch and cheer on the lead group since XC days.
Huge thanks to Clyde for giving me a ride to the buses in the morning and thanks to a great training group in the Lehi area in preparing for this race.
I knew coming into this race that I didn't have the best marathon buildup. Over the summer during my first PT internship in Idaho, I ran probably 5 days a week 55-60 miles a week and after a disappointing Hobble Creek half I wasn't sure if a marathon was in the cards this fall. After encouragement from Matt and Mike, I decided to be committed to the training necessary to run SG in 6ish+ weeks. I had a consistent microcycle, solid long runs and workouts and got in the shape I needed to what I sincerely felt to break 2:30 easily and go as fast as 2:25. My main goal was to break 2:30 as that is usually the marathon standard to get in the elite groups in several races. My next goal was to compete for a top 10 spot and if I was having an amazing day go after 2:25 and see what I could do if I really pushed for it.
The race started a little late, with a slight tailwind, mid 50s prob at the starting line. Race started out exactly how I anticipated. The BYU group with Fritz and Metler, Clyde and Nick all formed the front group. Ben, Mike, Dave, Logan formed the chase pack and I assume Justin and Nate formed a 2nd chase pack. After 1/2 a mile, I found myself half way between Justin and Nate and the 1st chase pack. I made the decision at the starting line to go for 1:14:15ish through the half, neg split and go after 2:25 feeling confident in a 2:30 race might not be an all out effort. So I decided to go with Ben, Mike, Dave, and Logan. The pace felt comfortable, not too fast, sometimes a little too slow, but it felt good. We talked and chatted about the race, and planned on staying together as long as we could. I knew they were shooting for a little faster through the half, but I decided to hang at least till Veyo, knowing I was going to slow it down at that point. We watched and chatted about what was going on in the front pack knowing there would be a few who would come back to us. We got liquids early at mile 3 and then when we came barreling down towards Veyo, the crowd there was awesome! I saw Karl Siebach and the crowd made the adrenaline flow a little. At the water stop, Ben's bottle got dropped so I gave him some of mine and Ben and Dave took off up the hill. I laid off the pace a little even though I knew Ben and Dave wanted another to go with them. I just knew it would take more than I could handle if I didn't chill going up the hill. Mike was about 10-20 meters behind me at this point and so I tried following his lead there and just lay off and pick it back up. Mike passed me at the top of Veyo and started catching back up to Dave and Ben. Logan also went by me with Nick. I knew the hills weren't my strong point, but tried to relax and just keep everyone in distance knowing I would catch back up. I think I got a little too relaxed through the 3 mile climb to Dammeron and Ben, Dave, Mike, Nick and Logan pulled away a little too much from me. One of my training partners, Nate Clayson pulled up along me half way up Dammeron and I picked up the pace with him. It was a lot easier when I had someone to run with. We passed Pepi at somepoint and started closing a little more on Ben and crew who were about a 1:15 in front of us. At the half, Nate and I went through 1:14:28, slightly slower than what I was looking for, but not too far off.. We really started rolling and after the half, I couldn't believe how great I felt. I felt better at this point that during the whole race and suddenly I knew that I was going for it. I planned a 2mi-2:30 neg split and so I was ready to get rolling. No signs of GI issues, I had 12 oz of water at mile 3, 24 oz of gatorade at mile 7, 18 oz H2O at mile 11, just felt great. So I started moving down the canyon and left Nate to go after Logan. Felt smooth not to the point where I was hammering down the mountain, but tried to keep it controlled so I'd have legs left at 20. I passed Logan, got another 24 oz at mile 15 and kept moving. I hit mile 16 and the steep downhills must have taken a toll on my legs already and they were starting to tire. It didn't make sense to me as I really trained well on my long runs and workouts to have solid legs through 22. About 16.5-17 miles, I knew I was in trouble. Logan passed me, Nate and Justin came flying by me. I tried to latch on, but nothing was there.
Mike, Matt, Nate and I had talked extensively how miserable it would be to run the last 10 miles feeling like garbage and the need to stay conservative through the first half. Now like any runner all the thoughts of "Did I go out too fast? Did I not get the hydration I needed? Did my taper not work? Did I train wrong the past 6 weeks?" all went through my mind. I was hurting bad, not aerobicly and didn't feel like I was too dehydrated, or low on calories, just felt like my legs were done and weak. I felt sooo terrible going up the hill near mile 18 I think that I thought I was going to stop and walk. I knew I had to fight through it all. I commited that I would fight to that stinking finish line and get there as fast as I possibly could. I did the math and realized I had to just keep fighting so I just focused on getting to the next mile mark one foot in front of another. I did the math and knew sub 2:30 was still in the cards esp if I could find a second wind. I took my 19 mile Gatorade/H2O mix and put the whole 24 oz down, hoping that I was just dehydrated and thought maybe it'd come back. I tried to go again at 20 and nothing was there. I was miserable, but I had to fight. I had nothing, but knew I couldn't just stop and embarrass myself in front of my friends and family. I fought to 23, got another 24 oz gatorade and just tried to focus on Logan and his team in front of me. I was looking at my watch calculating knowing that I was going to be close to the 2:30 mark and if I didn't fight I was going to be seconds off. I passed Logan right after mile 25 and pushed with all I could and when I turned to the finish line I gave it all I have. I looked at my watch at 2:29:30 and the sad realization came that I wasn't going to make it, I had about 200 meters left and had it been a 10k race, I could have closed in sub 30, but in a marathon, it wasn't going to happen. I fought and closed as hard as I could and finished seeing the dreaded 8 seconds over 2:30 before finishing. I was relieved that that fight was over and it was by far, the last 10 miles of that race was the hardest 10 miles I've ran in my life. I felt aweful and terrible, but didn't give up at any point of the race. Found my wife and daughter, talked with Matt and Nick and Mike briefly and just started getting calories and water in the system.
It was bitter sweet. I had gotten through one of the hardest battles I've ever had, in a time that was pretty close to where I had planned, finishing not too far behind my training partners and friends. But deep down there was a little bit of discomfort knowing that 9 seconds were going to haunt me until the next time.
This is a PR, my first all out marathon, first SGM, and first time I had to fight through such discomfort in a race. This is a victory and a positive expereince for me and though I can be happy with what happened today, I'm not close to being satisfied.
All in all, I'm accountable for what happened today, and I didn't run 9 seconds slower bc of anything or anyone else. I gave it all I have and just couldn't find 9 more sec today. I know I could have had better training leading into this race and that, in the end is the culprit. I wasn't prepared for the down hills leading up to mile 16 and didn't have the strength in my legs that I needed. I still feel like I am in better shape than this performance, but we all feel that way right? It's just finding how to maximize your potential. I'm relatively new to racing the marathon and am proud of a real Marathon PR. I just got 12+ minutes to cut off of that PR now in the next 5 years. Can't wait for another marathon, but I'm going to make sure I'm prepared for 26.2 miles of racing, and not 16-18 miles of racing.
It was great to run with many of you today. Congrats to those of you who had great races as well. It was fun running with many of you that I don't get to typically see or run with. Don't have enough good things to say about SG. It was great, but 9 seconds will haunt me till next time.
Splits:
| Mile | Split |
| 1 | 5:44 |
| 2 | 5:40 |
| 3 | 5:31 |
| 4 | 5:24 |
| 5 | 5:22 |
| 6 | 5:12 |
| 7 | 5:14 |
| 8 | 6:14 |
| 9 | 5:56 |
| 10 | 5:54 |
| 11 | 6:09 |
| 12 | 5:48 |
| 13 | 5:40 (1:14:28 half) |
| 14 | 5:36 |
| 15 | 5:11 |
| 16 | 5:13 |
| 17 | 5:37 |
| 18 | 5:44 |
| 19 | 6:13 |
| 20 | 6:00 |
| 21 | 5:43 |
| 22 | 6:07 |
| 23 | 6:00 |
| 24 | 5:53 |
| 25 | 6:03 |
| 26 | 5:46 |
| .2x | 1:14 (1:15:40 2nd half) |
This is about mile 16 with Nate Clayson in the background.
Mile 20ish
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