Well, I took forever in posting here... sorry. I've been up to quite a lot since I last wrote here. I have been training like mad and loving it. I have been racing a few times and doing quite well. And, I am set to go to New York for the Olympic Trials (Nov 3rd) and Japan for a 1/2 marathon the next week.
To get to the trials I had to run under 2hours and 22 minutes in some marathon. I decided after thinking, e-mail, and talking to people that the St. George marathon was the best race to enter. It's a net downhill course, previous winners have times under the 2:20 A standard qualifying time (so that I don't have to pay for the trip to NYC), and it was the most beautiful marathon that I could run. So, I trained a bunch and got to Utah with my dad a couple of days before the race. I had the privilege of going over the course with another runner, Sean Sundwall, who's run the race a couple of times and himself was trying to make the Olympic trials. The night before the race I told my dad that I was confident the I would be able to run under 2:20 in the race and that I "Kinda want to win it too."
So, race morning.... I'm excited, but not nervous. It's 4:15 AM when I finally get to stop pretending like my lying in bed is sleep. I get a cup of coffee (not something normal for me) and ride the bus up to the top of the course (you can't drive up). It was a beautiful drive up the day before, but at 5AM there is nothing to see and the lack of a view isn't subtracting from my body constantly reminding me that I have to pee, and badly. We get off the buses and I'm the only one around running up to the bathrooms.... which are blacked by lines of people. Hey, it's totally dark, so I did what any other guy would in my shoes... go the other way and find a tree or two. I was actually surprised to see trees, but it was a happy discovery. Fastforward to the start of the race.
I've warmed up lightly and the 36 degrees doesn't feel too bad w/ short shorts, a jersey, long-sleeve dri-fit, gloves and an ear warmer. The starter gets us going and after a 1/2 mile we have our "elite" pack. I'm totally new to there being preferential or at least different treatment of me as a "fast" runner, so this was exciting... to be with other "elite" guys. We talked a little bit here and there... it was good. We shared with each other some of our race goals (making the trials for one) and tried to keep a realistic, decent pace. My strategy for the race was to think of it was a 20mile long-run with a 10k finish. This would allow me to enjoy the first part and not freak out about things so much (i've had problems mentally in the past). So, I ran with "the guys" for about 11 miles, then started thinking that I could go a bit faster. There was one guy ahead of me leading the race... maybe 30 seconds or so ahead. So, I decided to go after him. I caught him around mile 12 and kept up the same pace. He didn't seem to want to hang at that pace. I kept going and lost track of him.
At the 1/2 marathon I went through somewhere near 71 minutes. I looked at my time on mile 12 and realized that I was going to be a bit high and I picked it up... I really didn't want to see 71 minutes. The nice thing was that tt didn't phase me when I did see it. Miles 14-16 had quite a drop in elevation and I sped up considerably there. Afterwards I was looking at splits each mile and noticing that despite my easy gate and relaxed feel, I was flying. This was the best part of the race. I am running miles 16-19 and feeling amazing! I've never felt better and run so fast in my life. The sun was finally up and hitting the beautiful orange and red hills all around. The beauty of my surrounds really helped me along. At about mile 19 I started getting tightness in both hamstrings. It was too low to really be able to massage on-the-run, so altering my stride a bit was the only recourse. I was a little concerned that after mile 15 where I threw up about 5 times I might have started to get dehydrated. The fluids that I had prepared ahead of time were not sitting well in my stomach, so I took water the rest of the race. I got to mile 20 and remembered "10k to go."
This is the section in the race that is beautiful, but in addition, you can finally see the city. 6 miles to go and I had to run something like 35 minutes to go under 2:20... that doesn't sound too bad. The miles are taking longer now "in my head", but I keep hitting low 5's for splits. I felt goo d enough that I would have been able to pick up the pace, but I didn't want to limp into the finish with the possibility of terrible hamstring cramps... so I stayed consistent. The last two miles were some of the most fun. You are finally really in town and people are lined up sheering you on. There were a couple of bands along the way too. At a mile to go I picked it up a bit (why not? I had 8 minutes to finish it!) and kicked the last 400m. All in all, it was AMAZING! My dad was there at the finish on the phone jumping around. People I didn't know were smiling and I felt like I could have kept on going for miles more. God granted me quite a day. I've never felt better in a race. I've never been more relaxed in a race. I've never felt like it was easier running that speed. I've never had such a positive mental race either. TGBTG. 2:16:42
From winning the race, I won a trip to Ibigawa, Japan where I will run in their sister city marathon... though I will only run the 1/2 marathon distance as this race is only 8 days after the trials in NYC.
Since St. George I have been training and preping for NYC and considering when to move to Seattle. I am excited to enjoy NY and the trials, where I don't have any idea how my body will hold up or how well I will race. I will attempt to leave the results up to God and do my best to run even splits and finish with nothing left in the tank. That would be a good race. Well, I hope you enjoyed the read. I will post more later. Have a great day!
