After the Mesa Marathon, COVID-19 emerged and became a global pandemic, and all society interaction in person stopped. Global quarantine and social isolation were vital to slow the spread and flatten the curve of infection cases and hospitalizations. Races were the furthest from anyone’s mind. Back in February, Matt, Jayna, Jeff, Daniel, Tiffany and I, had registered for the Mt Hood Marathon in Oregon. In April, Jeff and I did a 20-miler together and 3 days later the Mt Hood race was cancelled. We were not surprised, but we were still disappointed. We started talking about other races and settled on doing St George again. Coach Derek also organized a half marathon time trial on the loop so that we could use our fitness and push ourselves. We adjusted our training to fine tune for the half and then did 13 loops. I ran it in 1:26:58 with the help of Allison, Blake, and Derek, beating my previous best by more than 2 minutes.
We settled into a marathon build in June and tragedy struck. Jeff had a significant mental health episode
and then an accident and was hospitalized and in serious condition. We rallied as a team to support his family
with meals and prayers and hoped that he would recover. When he contracted COVID and passed away a
few days later it was devastating news. We
missed him immensely. Running was one
thing that helped me to get through those days.
Each workout we remembered his speed and spirit.
Training for a marathon over the summer in AZ is exceedingly
difficult. Even in the early hours the
temperature can be high 80s or low 90s and with the arrival of the monsoon
season the humidity ticked up a few notches bringing stifling conditions. Nevertheless, putting in the effort develops
the fitness. It is important in those
conditions to run more by effort than by pace.
Some days were so difficult you could only cover the distance, and
sometimes not even that.
We continued to build but knew that St George was also at
risk. In mid-August we ran a 20-miler in
the heat and struggled to get through the workout portion. It was a big run. The thought occurred to me that cancellation
could be imminent. Sure enough, we
received the email the Tuesday after. Again,
it was expected, but still disappointing.
We quickly started talking about what other race we could aim for,
thinking virtual might be our only option for a while. Then Greg found the Mt Nebo Marathon in
Payson, UT. I had never heard of this
race and it was in just over 2 weeks! It
was a small race and Greg had confirmed with the organizers that they planned
to go ahead with the event. So, we
decided to jump in. Matt, Jayna, Daniel,
and I joined Greg and signed up. Tiffany
wanted to also run but she was nursing an injury, so she came to cheer and
support.
That Saturday we did another 20 miler and then tapered for 2
weeks. It was not an ideal build, but we
had the fitness and strength to run safely; we just didn’t know how well we
could do. Mt Nebo starts above 9,000 ft
and has 3 decent hills to climb in the first half. The course stays above 8,000 ft for the first
13 miles. Then there is a large descent
into the canyon and the finish flattens out a bit but is still downhill. At first, I thought that the elevation and
climbing would make this course too difficult to try for a PR or sub-3. Then we found a runner on Strava that had run
the previous year and we could see the detailed elevation and pacing that she
did. Seeing the one mile splits the
course looked better than we expected.
The descending was never more than 350 ft/mi and there was some
descending right through to the end. We
started to get higher aspirations and I settled on the approach that I would
aim for a 1:34 first half and then a negative split to finish strong.
Taper went fine and I had no injuries or even niggles to
deal with. I experienced some tenderness
in my left leg in early July but when I rested from running for a week that
went away and I have not felt any weakness there since. It might have been due to a change in shoes
and a hard run. The build was unusual in
the heat and humidity for many training runs.
It forces you to run by effort and not pace and I have developed a
stronger feel for the effort I can sustain for various distances.
We flew up to Salt Lake on Friday and had time to go drive
the course after the expo. It was a
stunning drive with many vistas on both sides of the road. All the way up we were making mental notes of
the hills and grade. It was easy to find
the start because it was a parking lot with a dozen port-a-johns. We reset the odometer so that we could see
what mile markers each hill was at on the way down. The course had an out and back for mile 7-8
that was on a gravel road; it would be a great place to see where everyone was
at. We generally had a positive view of
the course and expected the good parts to outweigh the difficult parts. That night I had a Café Zuppa’s grain bowl
for dinner, and as usual, I avoided dairy all day.
As I prepared my gear for the next morning, I noticed that
the race bib had a space for a dedication.
I put Jeff’s name on my bib and then I noticed that the charity the race
associated with was for mental health.
Wow.
Gear: Nike Vaporfly 4% (orange), Wright double layer socks,
Adidas Delancey Loopers singlet, Lululemon shorts, Adidas BAA cap, Aftershox
Titanium earphones, Garmin Fenix 6, Nathan Exoshot handheld water bottle and
SPI Belt. Throw away gloves and arm sleeves. Warmup jacket and sweatpants for pre-race
warmth. I carried an e+Shot and one gel
inside my water bottle so that my SPI belt wasn’t as heavy. Race weight: 184
Nutrition: Peanut butter bagel, Picky oatmeal, and banana
early morning, AMPED Nitro before the race, 1 Honey Stinger gel, 3 Huma Mango gels,
e+Shot, and water during the race.
Need to add next time: cheap headlamp, anti-chafing stickers.
Before getting on the bus, we had our temperature
taken. We wore masks on the bus and at
the starting area until the race began.
The start time was 5:45 and it was dark!
I was anxious about the lack of light, but Matt just told me to follow
the other runners. I thought it would be
great to wait another 20 minutes before starting, but he calmed me down. We started in waves and I started with Matt,
Daniel, and Jayna probably about 6 minutes after the start.
It was warm enough that I did not need the gloves or arm
sleeves. I ditched my jacket and pants
in my gear bag, and I was ready to run.
In hindsight, I should have had a cheap headlamp to run with in case of
the dark start. Next time I’ll take one
and leave in gear bag if not needed.
The first mile is generally a climb and I started off at a
conservative pace. Right away I felt the
higher effort due to the elevation and by the end of the first mile I knew that
this was not going to be a sub-3 day or even a PR day. When this thought came to my mind, I first
dismissed it figuring that it was negative thinking, but as I assessed the pace
and effort of that first mile, I just knew it was higher effort than I could
sustain. I carried on and after cresting
the hill I nudged up the pace for the next two miles on the descent and tried
to do it with lower effort. The pace
went up and the effort stayed manageable, but it was still too high for this early
stage of the run.
The views off both sides of the road were spectacular as the
dawn twilight started to color the sky.
At mile 3 I was able to see the road under my feet. The temperature was perfect, and the
afternoon winds of the pre-drive were nowhere to be felt. I became lost in the views taking mental
snapshots. The second climb is during
mile 5 and gets back up to nearly 9,000 ft again.
After another 2 miles of descending there is an out and back
on a gravel road that is about a mile long.
This section required attention to avoid rocks and ruts and was a little
loose for traction, but not terrible. It
was a slight descent to the turn around and then back up to the road. I expected a mat at the turn around but there
was nothing and nobody was there watching, just a cone marking the spot. I enjoyed seeing all the other runners on the
other side and I counted them off. I
don’t know if any runners had finished the out and back before I entered, but
if not then I counted I was in 59th place. I saw Greg in front of me; he had started
right at the gun and I did not know the gap.
Daniel was not too far behind me and I saw Matt and Jayna before I got
back to the road. It was nice to see
some familiar faces!
Back on the road was the start of the last big climb through
mile 9 up to 8,600 feet. By this time, I
knew I was going to be slower than my target of 1:35 for the half. I didn’t stress about it; I just focused on
getting the best pace at a manageable effort.
The road starts descending, but there is a flat section just before the halfway
mark. I noticed the start area for the
half to my left and soon was passing through the start line. I checked my watch; I was at 1:39 and 8,000
feet. It would take a 1:25 half to set a
PR and even with the long descent I knew that was not in the cards. But I knew I had a real chance at winning my
age group since it was a smaller race. I
put my mind towards running sub-7 pace as efficiently as possible. I had a few, but then drifted into the low
7s. Mile 16 had the greatest descent and
it was also my fastest split at 6:38. It was incredible how much energy it took
to run at altitude.
I had used gels at about mile 7, 12, 17, 22 and took the e+Shot
at around 19. I grabbed a swig of water
at each aid station and used my carried water to chase down the gels and sip
between aid stations. I did not experience
any GI distress or cramping so I think my nutrition execution was effective.
After the out and back, I paid attention to the number of
runners that I passed and that passed me so that I could keep track of how many
were still in front of me. One runner
passed me but then I passed him back later. I got down to 39 but then there were so many
half marathoners on the course late I don’t know if I passed any more
marathoners that were running slowly.
About mile 20 I was going around one of the hairpin turns and a woman
passed me. That made me realize that my
pace had been slowing and so I tried to pick it up. I used her pace to stay steady through the
maze of slower runners over the next few miles.
I eventually lost sight of her and I didn’t notice any other runners
that were marathoners. I missed having people
to use as pacers late in the race.
There is a beautiful waterfall splashing the road that I ran
near. The canyon kept the sun off me
until about mile 22. The course flattens
out a bit in the last few miles and eventually at mile 25 it leaves the canyon
and enters the town of Payson. My pace was fading more, but I did not feel near
as rough as in recent marathons at Mesa and Utah Valley. I knew my quads had taken a beating, but it
was not crippling like Big Cottonwood.
Once in the city there are a few turns on the way to the
park. I did some mental math and I knew
I was in good position for a negative split.
I saw Tiff in the last mile, and she cheered me on and took a
picture. I think I was smiling because I
was delighted to be finishing. I was
also pleased I wasn’t completely crashing!
I came through the shoot at 3:21 or so, but I knew I was in
the 3:15 range because of the staggered start.
I grabbed a bottle and quickly found a spot to sit down. Much later I found my chip time was 3:15:53
and I finished 1st in my age group and 38th overall so
only 1 off my counting estimate! I must have passed another marathoner near the
end that was walking. My first half was
1:39 and 2nd half was 1:36 for one of only 3 negative split
marathons for me, the other 2 being St George.
I sat under a tree to wait for the others to come
through. Daniel came next and then Greg
found me; he had finished at 3:08. He
found out later it was a qualifying time because he would be older at the next
Boston marathon! Jayna and Matt came
through together, Matt having run the whole race with Jayna providing support
in the form of water and encouragement.
We all lingered having many otter pops before making our way to the food
buffet.
The medals were large and in the shape of 10 as this was the
10th anniversary of the race.
I also received a medal for winning my age group. I stood alone on the podium as they did not
do an award ceremony on account of COVID.
My finishing time was not what I had thought possible the
day before, but I was very happy with my race execution. I recognized the conditions and the effect on
my running and adjusted accordingly. I
took what the course gave me and that allowed me to negative split and not slow
drastically at the end. My time was very
similar to Utah Valley, in fact a little slower, but I felt so much
better. At Utah Valley I had splits of
1:30 and 1:43 and that 2nd half was very rough. Here my pace was fading in the flats but not
crashing. A conservative start and
negative split take confidence and courage and usually result in the best
outcomes.
Despite the 4,500 feet of descent, this is a very hard
course. The first half is all above
8,000ft, which may as well be the stratosphere.
Nevertheless, the course was beautiful, and the support was excellent. I
am so glad I got to run this race with good friends and with Jeff.
