Wow. This was an absolutely amazing experience and I am hooked on running marathons now. I woke up at 4:30 and was shaking like crazy. I guess I was just worried about what was going to happen. Had some oatmeal and then my dad and I left to pick up his friend and go to the buses. I was still scared about what was to come until the race started. Luckily I had my warm-ups on because it was cold and rainy at the starting line (and for the entire race). I thought I was going to freeze if I took my stuff off, but it actually felt good, like the weather in Provo. I never had any harmful effects from the wind, and I think that the weather helped me more than hurt. I was just disappointed that people not native to Saint George didn't get to see how beautiful the course really is. There were so many people there and it took about six minutes before I crossed the starting line. I should have gone up and started with the elite runners instead of back in the pack. Here are my mile splits. I hit the half at 1:36 and thought I was looking for a negative split to qualify for Boston, but the second half was 1:48. Maybe I went out too fast, but I think I got caught up in the race and when some FRB members passed me, I sped up to stay with them for a half mile. I think that doomed by sub 3:20 time. I still took second in my age division (15-18) and second in the Spectrum Silver Shoe, losing to the 14 year old who got 3:08.
1 - 7:20 - Running on the shoulder and sometimes the dirt. I passed hundreds of people here.
2- 7:17 3 - 7:08 - Passed my three friends that were running too. I ended up beating them by half an hour.
4 - 6:56 - I found my weight training teacher and ran with her and her friend until Veyo Hill. It helped me so much to have someone running with me.
5 - 7:04 6 - 6:47 7 - 6:53 8 - 7:43 - Veyo Hill. My training lacked any emphasis on hills and as you can see, it took 4-5 miles to recover. I still took it hard and fast and left my teacher behind.
9 - 7:51 10 - 7:42 - Somewhere around here I noticed a guy was running with me. I started
talking to him and we ended up pushing each other the next 8 miles. I saw him at the end of the race and he wanted my phone number, gave me a big hug, and had his wife take a picture of us.
11 - 7:51 12 - 7:42
13 - 7:24 14 - 7:29 15 - 7:00 16 - 6:48 17 - 7:14 18 - 7:52 - Death. Some FRB guys passed me right here. I still felt really good and was hitting good splits so I thought I could speed up with them. Horrible idea. Maybe I was just burning out anyway, but this was the point I will remember losing it.
19 - 9:20
20 - 8:26 21 - 7:57 22 - 9:01 23 - 9:05 24 - 7:35 - My weight training teacher and her friend caught back up to me here. I stuck with them for the mile going into Saint George and then hit the wall.
25 - 10:13 - Yuck. I walked a lot of this mile. The last two miles seemed like they would never end, but I knew I had only this little bit left to go.
26 - 8:28 26.2 - 1:48 - Sprinted into the chute w00t. DS Trainer 13 - 134.01
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