Prepped the day before by drinking lots of water (no caffeinated Diet Pepsi, which was really tough for me, especially being on vacation all week) and resting as much as possible. I also used a sharpie on my forearms for all my mile splits from allie & James' DesNews split calculator. I got a really good night sleep the night before the night before, so I knew that any sleep I got the night before the race would suffice. We were staying in Heber at a rental house so my family that was running the 10K and 5K drove down to my sister's house in South Jordan. This included my wife, so I didn't have to worry about waking her in the morning which was nice. I got to bed just after 10 and woke up on my own at 2:30 am and I felt very rested. Showered, got ready, and woke up my Dad. He drove me to the start of the race, so I got at least an extra 30 minutes sleep. I dressed for cold weather on the mountain top and while it wasn't super cold, I still was very glad for my sweat pants, down sweater, warm hat and gloves. It made the hour and a half before the start very comfortable. I had a chance to visit with allie a couple times before and I also tracked down Sasha and visited with him. Really nice people. I downed 32 oz of Gatorade and a bagel before the race. My stomach rebelled slightly so not sure if it was the raisins in the bagel or what, but I might rethink that strategy. I had the chance to use the POPs a couple times and I was successful, but maybe could've used a bit more time in there before.
In the POP lines I noticed a person wearing a pacer shirt and holding a 3:15:00 sign. I was stoked! Talked with him and sure enough, he and another guy were pacing. When they said they were going to "bank time" on the hills I should have veered away from them realizing they didn't have an actual plan, but I didn't. Big mistake. The race started right at 5:30 and I stuck on the tail of the 3:15 pacers. The first mile came through in 6:41 (should've been 6:59 or so) but I felt good, so stuck with it. Mile 2 was 6:52, then 6:46, then 7:11 with some uphill. The pacers were 10 yards ahead of me but still in striking distance. I had stop to pee at mile 5 and I lost the pacers for the rest of the way, but they had already done their damage. Mile 5 was 7:26, then the uphill began. 7:43 for mile 6, 8:38 for mile 7. The up was tougher than I expected, which I realize now meant that my legs were trashed from the fast first five miles (alliteration always awesome). Mile 8 was 8:08, more than half of it uphill if I remember right. I knew I was in trouble when mile 9 was 7:27 and I was going downhill. I read my forearm wrong and thought 7:25 was okay, but that was for mile 10. I knew mentally I should be around 7 on the down but I had a hard time convincing my body that was a good pace. I'd been following a group of disparate guys for a couple miles and now they started to pull away a bit. Mile 10 had the uphill out and back, 7:41, then I started feeling a bit better with mile 11 7:11. I took a gel every 45 minutes so I had one in there (all with 1X caffeine) and that must've kicked in. I knew that mile 11-15 were my last strong downhill, so I focused on hitting my paces. Mile 12 7:09, then 7:18, then 7:39 (don't remember why so slow), and I met Kam at mile 15 with a 7:22 mile. Along the way I hit the 13.1 marker at exactly 1:37:00 and the math told me news was not good. I had "banked" 1 minute in the first half, and I needed more time than that to conquer the second half. My legs felt way too rough for 15 miles. At the 16 mile aid station I think I dumped my first glass of water on my head and hit a 7:38 mile with the uphill to the golf course. I was struggling from this point on. 7:44 for the next mile with Kam cajoling me onward to hit that speed, which was now 20 seconds off my pace. Mile 18 was an 8:05, next 8:10, back to 8:05, then mile 21 a 9:14, my first stop to walk. I walked through most aid stations as I knew getting proper fluids was more important than gaining a few seconds, but I also stopped twice along the course to rest my legs. Mile 21 was tough. That uphill portion went on and on, and I was just waiting for the Boy Scout office to go downhill. Apparently that woke me up as mile 22 was 7:41, but then I reverted to an 8:12, then a 9:09 for mile 24. Mile 25 I improved to an 8:25 and the last 1.2 was an 11:20, which is a 9:26 pace. My brother and his wife rode their bikes next to Kam and me for the last couple miles and that was great. My kids met me at the last turn and I ran in with my 9 year old and 12 year old boys. That was a lot of fun. I was so happy to finish.
When I turned the corner I could see 3:24:33 and I thought that I could easily break 3:25, but I didn't realize how slowly I was moving. Even with my "kick" at the end I was probably still in the 8s, my legs were that thrashed. My watch said 3:25:03 but my chip time came in at 3:25:01. I'll take it. 43rd overall out of 420 finishers, 7th in my age group. 10 minutes and 1 second off my A++ goal of a BQ, but I'm really happy with my finish. I so appreciate Kam pulling me in. He definitely gave me the PR as I think I would've been well over 3:30 without his help.
Afterwards I ate creamies, had some french toast, congratulated allie and met James as well, I got a massage, and even ran into my wife's old roommate who was watching the parade, so I was able to connect those two. A truly great day. Congrats to allie for the win and PR and Sasha for 2nd place! A great FRB day.
I'm writing this over a week after the race, and nearly all soreness is gone. The first day after I could barely walk and the second day after when DOMS fully kicked in I was a major hobbler. On Sunday, 4 days after, when I could walk forward down stairs I rejoiced. DesNews is a great race, it is a heritage race for anyone with Mormon pioneer ancestors like I have, but I think I will give the marathon a fond farewell and stick to the 10K or Half from here on out. It is a brutal beast and I'm a better person for having finished it twice.
Paces: 1) 6:41, 2) 6:52, 3) 6:46, 4) 7:11, 5) 7:26 (pee stop), 6) 7:43, 7) 8:38, 8) 8:06, 9) 7:27, 10) 7:41, 11) 7:11, 12) 7:09, 13) 7:18, 14) 7:39, 15) 7:22, 16) 7:38, 17) 7:44, 18) 8:05, 19) 8:10, 20) 8:05, 21) 9:14, 22) 7:41, 23) 8:12, 24) 9:09, 25) 8:25, 26) 11:20 (last 1.2 a 9:26 pace). |
