Running On Purpose

Sat, Oct 6, 2012 6:49 AM Mountain Time (US & Canada) By wilkerk

Activity Type: Street Running | Event Type: Race | Course: 2011 St. George Marathon

New PR and Boston Qualifier!!! Scott Stoddart too (3:11) Yay!! Jen Park also bested her qualifying time from last year. Kelli went under 3 hours with an ubelievable 2:58!! Rachel also hit 3:23!! What a spectacular race and day. Tons of people out all over. Weather was just a little cooler than last year and it made a huge difference (checked and it was 8-9 degrees cooler in St George between 10-11AM this year compared to last). Stayed focused on the positive and on hitting my pace. Was still in the porta potty when the gun went off...long lines and we were in the 5:30 bus which is one of the last 10 or so. So I started about 4+ minutes behind the gun start which gave me lots of weaving and catching up to do those first couple of miles. No cramping this year...did water and gatorade at the aid stations and used polmagranate Honey Stinger chews for the first two carb doses...spread them out a bit as well. Then the next three were Cliff Blocks Margarita (3x sodium). Wore my Asics Gel DS Racer 9 shoes...first time i've run a marathon in anything that light...loved it. Had a 1 week old pair of new Adidas that I debated back and forth on, but finally decided to stick with the DS Racers. I'm now around 230 miles on them so they will probably be wearing down soon. I felt really quite good after this race...other than staggering around for a bit...I quickly got fluids and fuel in me (chocolate milk, water, fruit, roll and pulled pork from Texas Roadhouse, pop cicle, coke) Really didn't hit the wall on this one at all. Last year I hit it around mile 18 and it was a struggle the rest of the way. Wonder if this is mostly physical or mental because I had a completely different mindset going into it this year.

As for the race itself...felt good right from the start, but I will get there earlier next time...was stretching in the LONG potty line then in the potty as the gun sounded. Had to fight my way across the traffic to drop my bag then back to get in. 4 minutes and 18 seconds behind the gun start meant I had some dodging and weaving to do those first two miles, but that could have been to my advantage as it forced me to not take off too fast at the start. Anyway things were feeling pretty good and I kept doing mental things to keep me going. Recited WAYFO speach several times (from the training I do) and that is packed with positive thoughts...especially "energy and action follow thought" so I stuck to the positive all race. "It takes great courage for an individual to go into an uncomfortable situation and stay focused on thier positive outcome until they succeed..." and on and on...good stuff. I also targeted some of the ladies ahead of me to catch up to all the way through...picked on the ones wearing bright orange and bright pink...they were easy to spot from a couple of hundred yards and work my way up to. :) Thanks brightly dressed ladies! Last year by mile 18 I was toast! This year there was a good sized crowd close to that area lining the street and I gave them some big cheers as I came through which caused a great reaction...got me pumped up and I exited the ledges (last up hill part) with a huge smile and a feeling I was plowing through this thing! About mile 20-21 I watchd a couple of guys ahead of me peel off to the side and thought they were stretching...one was the other started vilantly vomiting as I passed and he was loosing a ton. I hope he was okay...gotta be hard to keep hydrated after that! Then it was on to the down hill stretches into St. George and more and more people cheering, kids passing out popsicles (i didn't stop for any...too focused, but I thought it was cool to see the community support) I was coming into the city a little behind my first targe pace of 7:37 at about 7:44 which I knew would get me under 3:25, but I wanted to get that down a little bit...so I kept pushing. It felt like I was flying and occassionally I would see my pace in the 6 minute range, but by the end of the mile I would be back around 7:30. Down that final stretch to the finish I was so focused on those balloons and the finish line that I didn't see any of my supporters. I did manage a big cheer and yell for the crowd which once agian livened them up as they errupted with loud cheers! Love to do that! Of course there has to be that final sprint drama...I was coming in at a pretty good pace for me in the 6 minute/mile range and passing a few when one lady decided she didn't want to be passed...so we raced to the end :) 3:23:32 (3:23:26 on my Garmen and 26.3 miles...same as last year on the distance). Yea!!! BQ!!!!!! PB by 11 minutes over last years 3:34!!!!!!!!

Post race analysis: I managed a negative split for the first time! I thought I had gone slower on those first two miles this year compared to last, but they were actually quite similar. I did take Veyo slower this year which may have made recovery at the top quicker/easier to get going without as much lactate build up.

From official race resullts:

	Miles	h:mm:ss	Avg Pace
First 6.2	6.2	0:48:05	7:45
6.2 to Half	6.9	0:55:36	8:03
1st Half	13.1	1:43:41	7:55
Half to 18.6	5.5	0:41:15	7:30
18.6 to Finish	7.6	0:58:36	7:43
2nd Half	13.1	1:39:51	7:37
Full	26.2	3:23:32	7:46

See detailed Garmin splits here:

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/230764279#

Running On Purpose

2012 St. George Marathon

Other Race Milestones/PRs: