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St. George Marathon

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Location:

Sandy,UT,

Member Since:

Sep 23, 2013

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Marathon Finish

Running Accomplishments:

5k: 18:34 American Fork 2014

Half Marathon: 1:30:30 Saltair 2013

Marathon: 3:44:22 St. George 2014

Long-Term Running Goals:

Continue running. 

Personal:

I started running in April of 2013 and I think I'm addicted.  I'm 37, married and I have 3 daughters.

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Nike Air Pegasus+ 29 Lifetime Miles: 658.15
Altra Instinct 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 529.10
Saucony Kinvara 4 Lifetime Miles: 679.85
Saucony Peregrine 3 Lifetime Miles: 164.60
Saucony Type A5 Lifetime Miles: 310.35
Altra One2 Lifetime Miles: 233.10
Asics Cumulus 15 Lifetime Miles: 508.00
Saucony Ride 6 Lifetime Miles: 361.40
Brooks Ghost Lifetime Miles: 114.70
Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles: 61.00
Mizuno Lifetime Miles: 4.90
Race: St. George Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:44:22, Place overall: 1051, Place in age division: 201
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.0026.2026.20

Coming into this race I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it.  Seven weeks earlier my heel started hurting and I didn't know what it was (now I think it was bursitis).  I cut my mileage down for two weeks hoping it would go away before the Emigration Canyon Half but it flared up during the race.  For the next five weeks I hardly ran any miles.  So during my whole training cycle I only got on 20 mile run it and next to nothing for the last five weeks.  My goal for the race was to DNF if my heel started hurting and to just finish if it didn't hurt.

I entered the lottery with my friend, Brent, from elementary school and a few of his friends that I didn't know.  We all rode the bus to the starting line together.  When the bus stopped at about 6:00 AM we saw the flags at the starting line blowing in a nice tailwind for the race and were glad that it wasn't too cold.  We didn't even try to get close to the line and stayed back near the 4:15 pace group before the race started.  For some reason the race was delayed by about 15 minutes and when we crossed the starting line we were about 6 minutes behind the gun.

Not 30 seconds after I crossed the starting line I stepped on a discarded trashbag that was caught on the foot of a lady in front of me.  She tripped and then went down to the ground.  I apologized and helped her up.  She may have gotten a little road burn, but didn't seem hurt.  Now it was just me and Brent's friend Ben.  I stayed with Ben for a couple of miles and then picked up the pace.

Splits 

Avg Pace

Elev Gain

Elev Loss

Comments

1

9:38

--

86

Stayed with a friend for the 1st 2 mi, testing out my heel.

2

9:14

27

23

3

7:32

--

110

Sped up at a reasonable pace.  Not too fast.  Still trying not to inflame my heel.

5k

27:16

4

7:35

--

119

 

5

7:18

--

84

 

6

7:06

--

191

 

10k

49:50

7

7:10

--

205

Quick bathroom break.  Took a Gu and some water.

8

8:27

202

101

Veyo hill.  Felt good and kept a nice conservative pace.

9

7:57

89

30

Rolling hills slowed me a little.  Took some Gu at 11.

10

8:01

--

16

11

8:14

88

--

12

7:54

26

14

13

8:32

--

90

Not sure why I ran this mile slow.  I was still feeling good.

13.1

1:45:49

14

7:43

--

75

Started running with the 3:35 pace group about now.

15

7:20

--

166

 

16

7:37

--

258

 

17

7:51

--

136

Calves started getting tight.  Walked for just a bit.

18

8:11

--

183

Quads started getting tight.  First big cramp on the inside of my right calf and had to massage it out.

30k

2:28:41

19

9:11

23

48

Lost the 3:35 pace group.  More walking.

20

9:35

--

104

 

21

8:29

--

289

 

22

11:33

--

72

Bowel problems.  Had to walk a lot.  Maybe the Gu disagreed with me.

23

12:16

--

200

Made it to a port-a-potty.  Saw my family at Snow Canyon Parkway and they really boosted my morale.

24

8:10

--

184

 

25

9:21

--

111

 

26

9:46

--

110

Stopped to massage cramp in calf.

27

8:36

--

--

Tried to speed up a little for the last 0.2 mi.

26.2

3:44:22

Summary

8:34

455

3,005

 

Luckily, my heel never started hurting throughout the race.  Unfortunately, the multiple weeks without long, downhill runs really hurt my performance.  But at least I was able to finish.  The last few miles were extremely difficult with legs that were not accustomed to the long miles and elevation drop.  I just did not anticipate it being as difficult as it was.  For some reason I thought if my heel didn't hurt I could just continue at a moderate pace fairly easily.  26 miles is a long way for a beginner.  But I had a lot of fun and would do it again.

 

Saucony Kinvara 4 Miles: 26.20
Comments
From Jake K on Mon, Oct 06, 2014 at 07:53:02 from 199.190.170.24

I'm glad the race didn't damage the heel any further.

You did well under the circumstances. I mean, what could you really expect given that you missed over a month of training. Getting through 26 miles after hardly running for so long is an accomplishment in and of itself.

You've made such a great improvement over the past year - get healthy now, and give the marathon another go... you'll smash up your new PR next time out :-)

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