Saw some FRB jackets waiting for the bus and went up to introduce myself. Rode up to the start with Jeff Shadley, Bill Mandler, Kory Wheatly and Walter Brown. Nice guys. Good to get to know the fast guys a little bit.
Race started off fine. Headed out in the top 25. Could tell right away I didn't feel as "ansty" to go fast and as fresh as I felt in other recent races. Ran with Richard Borget for a little while. Also ran with "Ryan" and a "Bill" who were also in the Grand Slam this year. Ryan finished a minute behind me in Ogden. Bill has been running for 4 years after smoking all of his life. I think that's pretty great to not only quit, but find some sort of hobby that puts you back into a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes that's the only way. The other Bill (Mandler) was up ahead of us by about a minute. Came out of the canyon and warned the others that the other 10 miles of "downhill" would not feel like it at all. Started feeling my right knee hurting at the end of the canyon. Knew it wouldn't hinder me other than just causing damage I'd be feeling the next few days.
I Really focused on running the tangents well this race; Way too many curves to be lazy at this. My Garmin ended up reading 26.23. . .not too bad. Passed my wife and girls at mile 18 (right next to my house) on the river trail, and that was the highlight. . . It was all downhill from there. I was starting to suffer. I don't know what to chalk it up to. I think a big factor today was the humidity. I was sweating quite a bit from very early in the race. That, coupled with the shot glasses of powerade/water, and I think I was behind schedule on hydrating. I've just got so used to getting enough fluids while keeping my run going that I didn't even think about stopping/slowing for a second to grab enough cups.
Heading back on Center street back east and Bill Mandler was about 20ish seconds ahead. I really hate long straight stretches of road near the end of marathons. They kill me psychologically. Unfortunately, Bill pulled up at about mile 23 with what seemed to be a pretty bad heal issue. He was having such a great race and this messed up the last miles for him. My heartrate was insane the last few miles. Saw MichelleL again at this point and encouraged me on at such a tough point for me. It must have been killin' her watching while still dealing with her injury; Hope there is an end to it soon Michelle!
I walked a few times the last couple of miles and was getting really dizzy. I felt like I could black-out and collapse at any moment. Heart rate kept climbing. Didn't even pay attention to time, but just wanted to hold off the two people behind me. I did, and finished with a 3:00:05 and in 12th place. Immediately after the finish, I staggered to find the massage tent (more to lay down than get a massage). As I sat in a chair waiting, I could barely open my eyes or drink from the water bottle. I really was having a tough time. After about 30-40 minutes I finally was able to walk around somewhat normally and started to put some food/drink back into the system.
Stuck around for the awards ceremony 'cause I actually got an age division award. That was a first.
Tough, tough race for me today, but happy with the place and the effort. I'm sure glad I've got a couple months until Park City. 3 in the last 3 months have been wearing me down.
Splits:
6:39, 6:24, 6:40, 6:38, 6:53, 6:26, 6:32, 6:34, 6:40, 6:34, 6:37, 6:38, 6:34, 6:37, 6:42, 6:46, 6:51, 6:55, 6:52, 7:02, 7:08, 7:09, 7:19, 7:35, 7:44, 7:57, 7:24 for last .2 | 