Salt Lake City Marathon - Mike Nelson

Place Overall: 1
Time: 2:33:41

Fritz suggested I do this one after Striders Half. I knew I didn't have the training to run a great time (for me) but I decided last minute to give it a go.

I caravanned up to the finish line with Ty and some of the other Utah Race Pacers at 5:00am. We got on Trax to get to the starting line and got up there at 6:40. I didn't have time for much other than getting my racing shoes on and jogging to the starting line.

I was surprised to find I didn't know many people at the starting line. I recognized Patrick Smyth and was grateful I wouldn't be racing him!

I ran the first part of the race with Chris Lundberg who was racing the half. I took it easy up the first few hills and just tried to stay relaxed through the declines down to the Capitol. My stomach was not happy and I was regretting the bowl of cereal I had 2 hours prior.

The full course splits off at mile 9 and we start heading uphill towards Sugar House park. I slowed down a bit up the hills and saw my first splits above 6:00, hoping they'd be my last. I caught a glimpse of Daniel and Noah during the out-and-back in Sugar house. They were about 1 minute behind.

I crossed 13.1 at 1:14:52, about exactly where I wanted to be. I was feeling good and tried to stick with that pace.

13-18 is all rolling hills but my average was about 5:40 and I was still feeling good. 19 and 20 are more uphill and I started to feel it. 21 and 22 are flat and down and they went well.

23-26 are mostly flat. At 24.5 my left calf started to cramp. Despite feeling decent I was forced to slow down to prevent the cramp. The rest of the race was a balance between pace and calf cramp.

The last .2 were a mix. I was in the lead and getting a lot of fanfare but my calf was on the verge and I had to slow down to around 8 min pace and run kind of dramatically on my heels! Thankfully I crossed the finish line before it went completely.

After a few short, awkward interviews, and the awards ceremony, I headed home.

I am glad I did it! Despite the kind-of-disastrous race, it was fun to win and all in all a great experience.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865626742/Salt-Lake-marathon-is-first-win-for-Lehi-father-who-started-running-marathons-at-10.html

I took water at nearly every water stop. I took a Roctane Gu at the start, 7 and 14. I really should have taken another at 19 or so but my stomach was upset the whole race and I didn't want to push it. It's possible I could have avoided the whole cramping thing with better in-race nutrition.