Top of Utah Marathon - RunMarathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Logan, Utah
United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 3h 50m 54s
Overall Rank = 459/2027
Age Group = M 30-34
Age Group Rank = 54/154
Pre-race routine:

Woke up, got dressed, hopped in car and drove to the park. Made sure I had everything and then headed over to the buses. Met up with the others in the group.
Event warmup:

Light stretching, pitstop at the porta-john. The usual. Stripped out of warm clothes right before the run started.
Run
  • 3h 50m 54s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 08m 49s  min/mile
Comments:

I was feeling good and stayed running up until mile 18. Up to that point my avg. pace was about 7:50/mi. I was on target for about a 3:30 marathon, but I knew that was very optimistic. I assumed I'd hit the wall at some point. After I started walking, I avg'd between 11 and 10 min miles. Found a "second wind" after about mile 23 to drag myself into the finish. Beat everyone else in my group. The others really struggled with this event and missed their goals by 40+ minutes, so I am very happy I only missed my goal by 5 min! :)
What would you do differently?:

Drink more, and spread my eating out more and start it earlier. I think maybe part of my problem was that I didn't start soon enough and I had too much all at once. My body may have been working hard to process too much of the food I consumed (it was mashed potatoes, by the way :)).
Post race
Warm down:

Stretch, collapse, and enjoy NOT RUNNING :) Man it feels good to sit down after a marathon.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

26.2 miles of distance to run :) Actually, I think it had something to do with what I mentioned above. My legs were done after mile 18- not sure what to do to keep lactic acid from building up in them, but they hurt to run on.

Event comments:

There seemed to be alot of dehydrated people despite all of the aid stations. My theory is that the cups were too small- they should have used larger cups - I had a tendency to only take one and you needed about 2-3 to stay properly hydrated. I started taking multiple cups toward the end and managed to keep my hydration in better check than others, but I suspect many were only taking one cup. The race was great other than that observation.




Last updated: 2009-09-20 12:00 AM
Running
03:50:54 | 26.2 miles | 08m 49s  min/mile
Age Group: 54/154
Overall: 459/2027
Performance: Good
Course: Mostly downhill for 16 miles, with a couple very mild inclines/flats. After mile 16 the course flattens out and has a few rolling hills and winds around Logan to make the last part feel VERY long. Mentally challenging.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Average
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4