This was a great race for me for a number of reasons. I am working myself back into shape after I stopped running last summer when I got sick and couldn't run for a couple of weeks. I didn't pick it back up after I felt better to help Stacie focus on training for her first marathon. (We have a 1-year-old daughter with HD ADD--she can rarely focus on anything, but when she does, the picture is unbelievably clear. I was trying to train for the TOU marathon with her last year, but it became evident that we both couldn't spend that much time running with everything else we had going on. Without a goal, I just quit running and didn't start again until January.) I am currently training for the St George Marathon and this race seemed like a good gauge to see how that is going. I have only run one half marathon before, the 2009 Provo River Half. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours and I did: 1:56:24. I figured I was going to beat that time this year, but I got sick a couple of weeks ago and stopped running for a week and a half. I missed two Saturday long runs, so I wasn't sure how I would do. I was hoping to beat 2 hours, but didn't think that I would. I certainly hadn't been running that fast at all since starting up again in January. Mostly, I was using this to figure out an in-race nutrition strategy for the marathon. I'm too heavy to be a distance runner. The running is keeping me under 200 lbs., but just barely. From what I have read, I need more calories every 20 minutes than the standard 100 in most gels to sustain me through a marathon. I also sweat a lot, so I figure I need a lot of electrolytes. I decided to try e-Gel because each one is 150 calories with tons of electrolytes. I first tried e-Gel to get me through a 15 miler a few weeks ago. Nasty stuff. The packets are a bit smaller and slightly easier to carry that your standard salt lick with all the flavor. (If you want to see a congregation of wildlife gather on a trail run, I believe you could rip open a packet and leave it along side the trail and then hide behind a tree and wait.) I was able to find one flavor, the lemonish one, that I could tolerate so I brought a couple of those to see how it would go. I choked one down 15 minutes before the race started. I decided I'd down the other at the next aid station I got to after 40 minutes of running. I figured I'd take a GU thirty minutes after that (mostly for the caffeine.) I started the race with my wife, her sister, their niece, and a couple of other women. My plan was to stay with them for the first mile and kind of ease my way into things. Now, I have to say that I get claustrophobic in large groups of slow-moving people. I just have an insatiable desire to get out of the crowd. I once almost punched a lady while trying to exit a crowded chapel after Sacrament Meeting, so I tend to go a bit bananas at the beginning of races when I am too far back in the crowd. I think it was about 20 seconds after crossing the starting line when I said, "This is too slow," to my wife and I took off outside the orange barrels because that was the only place I had room to move. I didn't see her again until she crossed the finish line. I caught up to the 2-hour pacer and decided to see how long I could stay with him. I stayed just behind him for the first couple of miles. I looked at my GPS watch and saw that we were running under 9-minute miles, which seemed a bit fast for a two hour half. It also surprised me because it was faster than I thought I was going and I felt pretty good at that pace. After the first uphill section, I let loose on the downhill and passed the pacer and started making my way up the crowd. I got just behind the 1:55 pacer and stayed there until after the second uphill section. This was the steepest downhill section and I took full advantage of it. My high school cross country coach taught me to relax when running downhill and let gravity do the hard work. I always do that because it just seems the most efficient way to go. I overtook the 1:55 pacer and a number of runners during the steepest section. That was my fastest mile (8:10). It was at about 50 minutes that I saw and aid station and decided to try my second e-Gel. Now, I had taken power-aid at the first aid station and I think this was a mistake. After I took the gel and a cup of water at the aid station, I slowed down a bit. It felt like a lot. I think power aid + e-Gel = running funk. A number of the people I had overtaken on the downhill started to pass me. One was a tall woman with curly blonde hair and compression socks. Another was the 7:55 pacer. I managed to stay within sight of them for the rest of the race, but I was bummed that I lost my momentum. I got to 6.75 miles at just under an hour, so, with the race course leveling out a bit, for the second half, I thought I might not make two hours. I just plugged along down University Avenue trying to look at intermediate goals and not the large building where I knew the finish line was. With about 5 miles left, I realized I would finish under 2 hours if I kept my pace around 9 minutes--which felt comfortable. I took the GU a little more than 20 minutes after the e-Gel. It felt too soon--especially after the lag I experienced from the e-Gel, but I was running out of time for it to be useful. I held on at around 9 minutes most of the way down University. With two miles left, I knew I was going to make it and I started picking up the pace. I had been steadily overtaking people who had passed me during my e-Gel funk and was catching up to the tall blonde in the compression socks. While running Ragnar Relays, I always enjoy seeing the "1 Mile Left" sign. I have a tradition of kissing my fingers and hitting the sign as I pass. When I got to the "Mile 12" sign, I did the same thing. I knew I had a little over a mile left and I was feeling good. Something about that energized me and I just started going for it. I passed the blonde and was well on my way to the finish line. Then my body rebelled a bit and I knew I was pushing too soon so I backed off a bit, but still faster than I had been going. Getting to 200N, there was a large gap between me and the next group of runners so I started picking it up to close the gap so I could pass someone in the chute. I caught the group at the chute and went into a full sprint--passing several people and almost catching the 1:55 pacer at the finish line. I've never finished a race that strong and I have to say that it felt pretty good. My last mile was my second fastest at 8:14--only four seconds slower than the big downhill section. I came in at 1:53:37, a PR, and about 50 seconds a mile faster than I thought I was going to do. I'm not sure if it was the GU or the e-Gel that helped me stay strong while everyone around me was slowing down--probably a little of both. I'm going to have to play around with this on my long runs this summer and figure out the best way to go during the marathon.
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