St. George

[SteelBlue]

Way to go man. Sorry I couldn't meet up with you guys at some point.

Yeah that was a bummer. I had a decent shot at meeting both you and Archaea but it just didn't work out.

Your wife is an amazing athlete. All of those problems and stops and she still turns in a great time. Congrats to her.

[SteelBlue]

You should be hobbling fairly well now. I can usually walk down stairs without using the handrail by Wednesday after a Saturday race.

I need to thank you cowboy. I had written this marathon off when I was hurting so bad last month and as I started to heal a bit you mentioned that you'd run it with an injury and survived. I got to thinking "what the heck, why not give it a shot?" I had a great experience there and am really glad I went.

[cowboy]

I need to thank you cowboy. I had written this marathon off when I was hurting so bad last month and as I started to heal a bit you mentioned that you'd run it with an injury and survived. I got to thinking "what the heck, why not give it a shot?" I had a great experience there and am really glad I went.

Happy to help. It's the least I could do after all of the help and encouragement you and goose have given me this summer. I'm really happy it worked out for you. That's a great time for no more training than you've had.

[RC Vikings]

My wife ran a pretty good race. On the drive out to St George she started to get a stomach problem with some diareah associated. This continued on during the race. She started 10 minutes late, cause she was in the porta potty, which is fine because of the chip, but sucks when you have to pass people for the first few miles that have a estimated time of over 5 hours.

She stopped to pee in the bushes once, had to hit the john around mile 13 and then really had to hit one at mile 19. She said the last one was a 5 minute stop, not fun.

The worst part was not the stomach stuff, she hurt her quad this week and really hurt it during the race. She is not really walking now, and is in a lot of pain. Luckily it really didn't affect her much during the actual race other than make it hurt to much to really push it the last few miles.

Ended up 10 minutes off her goal time, but wasn't entirely unhappy with a 3:31 considering everything. St George puts on a good race. I would be tempted to do the 1/2 ironman if they had one next year in the spring.

Cowboy and Steel I don't want to rub it in but she beat you both after suffering with diareah and a bad quad. Cowboy up men.

[cowboy]

Cowboy and Steel I don't want to rub it in but she beat you both after suffering with diareah and a bad quad. Cowboy up men.

Next Big Piney's gonna tell us that she was nine months pregnant and went into labor at mile 23 but decided not to push it out until she crossed the finish line.

Seriously, she was probably 5 lbs lighter after the runs. That had to take 40 minutes off her time..

[bluegoose]

In keeping with Seachicken's mile-by-mile race report, here is a summary of my experience at St George this past weekend. Its long, so proceed with caution.


Pre-race – We arrived at the bus loading area just before 5:00am to see an entire fleet of yellow school buses with masses of people crowded around trying to get on. We were fortunate to only wait about a minute before seeing a new bus open up and getting to be the first ones on. 45 minutes later we arrived at the starting line to see spot lights lighting up the sky, about 70 large bonfires along the road, and hundreds of outhouses, each with dozens of shivering runners waiting in line. Seeing everyone huddled around the fires looked like a scene from “March of the Penguins”, with constant movement of people rotating around trying to work their way to the inside of the pack, and closer to the fires.


With about 5 minutes to go, the Clif Bar “Pacers” lined up with their signs and balloons indicating their estimated finish times, spread 10 minutes apart. I latch onto the 3:30 group, just for fun. In addition to my running clothes, I was wearing a beanie, gloves and sweatshirt that I had picked up the day before at Walmart to chuck along the course route.


Mile 1 – 8:22. Very crowded from the start. Takes me almost 2 minutes to get to the starting line. It seems like every other person in the pack has a Garmin forerunner watch. At each mile marker along the way, everyone who has it set for “Auto Lap” simultaneously beeps. (I can't believe how accurate those things are.) We do the shuffle for about 100 yards before it opens up enough to actually take a full stride.


Mile 2 - 8:05. Still a lot of jostling for position, with people weaving all over the road looking for an opening. Head is burning up, so I donate my beanie to the pile by the side of the road.


Mile 3 – 8:11 – What is this?!?! Shin Splints? 900 miles of training and not a hint of shin pain, and now 3 miles into the marathon, shin pain? It could be a very, very long day.


Mile 4 – 8:11 – Shin pain still there. Everything else feels great. I hope this goes away soon. Hey check it out – a newlywed bride, complete with bridal veil. Gorgeous sunrise over the desert landscape about now.


Mile 5 - 8:18 – Shins starting to feel better, thank goodness. Lets give the MP3 player a try. After all, I'd hate to drag it around for 4 hours and not use it. First song on the playlist shuffle – Sweet! Barenaked Ladies “For You”. Second song - Carbon Leaf “Life Less Ordinary”. Its going to be a good day. Take my first Shot Blocks of the run and chuck my $3 sweatshirt to the clothing drop box.


Mile 6 – 8:13 – Excellent. Shins are back to normal. That was scary. Hit my fastest pace of 7:17 for a short distance here. Kristy and Merete were way wrong – Duran Duran IS good running music. And I DO have good taste in music. I do. I do. I do.


Mile 7 - 7:57 – Slight downhill leading into Veyo. Legs feeling great right now. Hundreds of people lining the roads, cheering us on. It really helps to lift the spirits. The highlight here in Veyo – a classic Norwegian brass band playing out of the back of a pick-up truck. They actually sound pretty good.


Mile 8 – 9:37 - Here is the start of the first big hill. Main climb is about 1 mile long at a pretty good grade, followed by several more gradual uphill miles. Steve Miller Band is doing nothing to get me up this hill. Fast forward to next song - “Help” by the Beatles. How appropriate. Next song – “Hoodoo Voodoo” by Wilco. We're flying now. Whoa!. HR is way too high. Have to walk for about a minute to get it back under control. Hopefully that little burst didn't burn too many matches for me.


Mile 9 – 8:56 – The worst of the climb is over and now its just a steady grinder up the hill. Legs and lungs are feeling great. Time for another Shot Block.


Mile 10 – 8:43 – Still climbing. This sucker is a lot longer that I expected. Oh man. There goes the 3:40 pace group. Accelerating away from me up the hill. Hopefully I can catch them on the other side.


Mile 11 – 9:09 – Starting to level off now. That climb cost me quite a lot. The legs are feeling a bit fatigued now. Can still see the 3:40 balloon less than 100 yards ahead.


Mile 12 – 8:57 – Trying to keep pace with the 3:40 group is not going well. They are now a good quarter mile ahead. Oh well, I didn't want to run a stupid 3:40 anyway.


Mile 13 - 8:26 – Crossed the half way point at about 1:50. Still on pace for my 3:45. Barely. Time to gag down a GU. At least its chocolate. Mmmm.


Mile 14 – 8:55 – A big crowd of people along the road at some junction as we approach the Snow Canyon descent.


Mile 15 - 8:20 – Still clinging to my 3:45 finish time by the skin of my teeth. Beautiful scenery here as we pass by the Snow Canyon overlook. First glimpses of the bike path that parallels the road all the way into StG. Look! Two unmanned bikes by the side of the road. What I wouldn't give for a free into town....


Mile 16 – 8:34 – Downhill getting steeper through here. Sign next to the road indicated a podiatrist at the next rest stop to fix blisters. Feet feel great so far, which is good news considering I've had some mild plantar fasciitis in recent weeks.


Mile 17 – 8:29 – The Killers “Are We Human? Or are we dancer?”. Thats a very good question. Shot Block #3. These things are getting hard to get down.


Mile 18 – 8:52 – Here is the last of the “climbs”. Although its not so much of a climb as it is a slight upgrade in the road. I'm really starting to feel the legs fatigue through here. Calves are starting to get pretty tight from all of the downhill. Not a great sign, as the really steep stuff is yet to come.


Mile 19 – 10:04 – Legs are dying now, so I take a quick walk break. After taking some time off of the MP3 player, I turn it back on. First two songs on deck - “Living on a Prayer” and “Highway to the Danger Zone”. How can I not run through these songs?


Mile 20 – 9:10 – Climb is over and now its basically all downhill from here. I'm 2 minutes off pace for my 3:45. Oh well. I've got over 70 minutes to cover the next 6+ miles to break 4:00 even. Shouldn't be a problem.


Mile 21 – 8:44 – The mile 20 downhill wasn't quite as brutal as I was expecting. I can definitely tell I haven't trained much for the downhill with my recent knee issues. I'm getting passed left and right as we descend. Can't stand the thought of a Shot Block, so I skip it this rest stop and opt for some extra Gatorade instead.


Mile 22 – 9:59 – Road starting to level off quite a bit now. I took much longer walking through that last rest stop, burning through an extra minute or two. Still in good shape to finish under 4:00, and 3:50 is still a good possibility.


Mile 23 – 9:26 – The first real signs of civilization. I see my wife's aunt next to the road, who is cheering on her 74 year old husband. (He finished in 5:55, by the way). Aw crap, here comes the 3:50 pace group. Have I really dropped off that much? I'll try to stick with them as long as I can. Last Shot Block of the day.


Mile 24 – 8:32 – Legs feel great for about a half mile, so I pick up the pace a tad and leave the pace group 50 yards or so in the rear view mirror. I wonder if I am going to pay for that little burst?


Mile 25 – 9:45 – Yep, now paying dearly for that little mile 24 burst. Legs feel like lead and rubber at the same time. Doing everything I can maintain a “run” at this point, although without a doubt it more resembles a death march. Hey, who's the wise guy who put a 25.2 mile marker at the 25 mile marker? That deals me a huge psychological blow, as it feels like a half mile before we hit the real 1 mile to go mark.


Mile 26 - 9:37 - Tons of people along the road here. I want to pick up the pace for the final push, but just can't.


Mile 26.2 - 9:40 – Pass 3 or 4 walkers just before the finish. I can totally understand them walking at this point. Cross the finish line at 3:52, for an average pace of 8:50.


Milling around the runners area after the race I saw a guy that had obviously gone down, as his face, arms and both legs were covered in blood. But he had a finishers medal. I also had a guy pass out right next to me. He was walking with his arm around his mom when he went out like a light on his feet. I eased him to the ground and then helped get his feet up and some fluids in him as he was coming back to this planet. I looked all over for Bigpiney and his wife, but without cell phones really had no chance of finding them.


Steelblue looked great at the finish, as did the other 4 people we traveled with. Overall, it was a very good weekend. The race was extremely well supported and the course was beautiful. The wind was also kind enough to hold off until Sunday. I'm not quite sure if i would do it again. Steelblue reminds me of some past statements I've made about never running that distance again, so I'll hold off any commitments either way for awhile.

[Pheidippides]

In keeping with Seachicken's mile-by-mile race report, here is a summary of my experience at St George this past weekend. Its long, so proceed with caution.


Pre-race – We arrived at the bus loading area just before 5:00am to see an entire fleet of yellow school buses with masses of people crowded around trying to get on. We were fortunate to only wait about a minute before seeing a new bus open up and getting to be the first ones on. 45 minutes later we arrived at the starting line to see spot lights lighting up the sky, about 70 large bonfires along the road, and hundreds of outhouses, each with dozens of shivering runners waiting in line. Seeing everyone huddled around the fires looked like a scene from “March of the Penguins”, with constant movement of people rotating around trying to work their way to the inside of the pack, and closer to the fires.


With about 5 minutes to go, the Clif Bar “Pacers” lined up with their signs and balloons indicating their estimated finish times, spread 10 minutes apart. I latch onto the 3:30 group, just for fun. In addition to my running clothes, I was wearing a beanie, gloves and sweatshirt that I had picked up the day before at Walmart to chuck along the course route.


Mile 1 – 8:22. Very crowded from the start. Takes me almost 2 minutes to get to the starting line. It seems like every other person in the pack has a Garmin forerunner watch. At each mile marker along the way, everyone who has it set for “Auto Lap” simultaneously beeps. (I can't believe how accurate those things are.) We do the shuffle for about 100 yards before it opens up enough to actually take a full stride.


Mile 2 - 8:05. Still a lot of jostling for position, with people weaving all over the road looking for an opening. Head is burning up, so I donate my beanie to the pile by the side of the road.


Mile 3 – 8:11 – What is this?!?! Shin Splints? 900 miles of training and not a hint of shin pain, and now 3 miles into the marathon, shin pain? It could be a very, very long day.


Mile 4 – 8:11 – Shin pain still there. Everything else feels great. I hope this goes away soon. Hey check it out – a newlywed bride, complete with bridal veil. Gorgeous sunrise over the desert landscape about now.


Mile 5 - 8:18 – Shins starting to feel better, thank goodness. Lets give the MP3 player a try. After all, I'd hate to drag it around for 4 hours and not use it. First song on the playlist shuffle – Sweet! Barenaked Ladies “For You”. Second song - Carbon Leaf “Life Less Ordinary”. Its going to be a good day. Take my first Shot Blocks of the run and chuck my $3 sweatshirt to the clothing drop box.


Mile 6 – 8:13 – Excellent. Shins are back to normal. That was scary. Hit my fastest pace of 7:17 for a short distance here. Kristy and Merete were way wrong – Duran Duran IS good running music. And I DO have good taste in music. I do. I do. I do.


Mile 7 - 7:57 – Slight downhill leading into Veyo. Legs feeling great right now. Hundreds of people lining the roads, cheering us on. It really helps to lift the spirits. The highlight here in Veyo – a classic Norwegian brass band playing out of the back of a pick-up truck. They actually sound pretty good.


Mile 8 – 9:37 - Here is the start of the first big hill. Main climb is about 1 mile long at a pretty good grade, followed by several more gradual uphill miles. Steve Miller Band is doing nothing to get me up this hill. Fast forward to next song - “Help” by the Beatles. How appropriate. Next song – “Hoodoo Voodoo” by Wilco. We're flying now. Whoa!. HR is way too high. Have to walk for about a minute to get it back under control. Hopefully that little burst didn't burn too many matches for me.


Mile 9 – 8:56 – The worst of the climb is over and now its just a steady grinder up the hill. Legs and lungs are feeling great. Time for another Shot Block.


Mile 10 – 8:43 – Still climbing. This sucker is a lot longer that I expected. Oh man. There goes the 3:40 pace group. Accelerating away from me up the hill. Hopefully I can catch them on the other side.


Mile 11 – 9:09 – Starting to level off now. That climb cost me quite a lot. The legs are feeling a bit fatigued now. Can still see the 3:40 balloon less than 100 yards ahead.


Mile 12 – 8:57 – Trying to keep pace with the 3:40 group is not going well. They are now a good quarter mile ahead. Oh well, I didn't want to run a stupid 3:40 anyway.


Mile 13 - 8:26 – Crossed the half way point at about 1:50. Still on pace for my 3:45. Barely. Time to gag down a GU. At least its chocolate. Mmmm.


Mile 14 – 8:55 – A big crowd of people along the road at some junction as we approach the Snow Canyon descent.


Mile 15 - 8:20 – Still clinging to my 3:45 finish time by the skin of my teeth. Beautiful scenery here as we pass by the Snow Canyon overlook. First glimpses of the bike path that parallels the road all the way into StG. Look! Two unmanned bikes by the side of the road. What I wouldn't give for a free into town....


Mile 16 – 8:34 – Downhill getting steeper through here. Sign next to the road indicated a podiatrist at the next rest stop to fix blisters. Feet feel great so far, which is good news considering I've had some mild plantar fasciitis in recent weeks.


Mile 17 – 8:29 – The Killers “Are We Human? Or are we dancer?”. Thats a very good question. Shot Block #3. These things are getting hard to get down.


Mile 18 – 8:52 – Here is the last of the “climbs”. Although its not so much of a climb as it is a slight upgrade in the road. I'm really starting to feel the legs fatigue through here. Calves are starting to get pretty tight from all of the downhill. Not a great sign, as the really steep stuff is yet to come.


Mile 19 – 10:04 – Legs are dying now, so I take a quick walk break. After taking some time off of the MP3 player, I turn it back on. First two songs on deck - “Living on a Prayer” and “Highway to the Danger Zone”. How can I not run through these songs?


Mile 20 – 9:10 – Climb is over and now its basically all downhill from here. I'm 2 minutes off pace for my 3:45. Oh well. I've got over 70 minutes to cover the next 6+ miles to break 4:00 even. Shouldn't be a problem.


Mile 21 – 8:44 – The mile 20 downhill wasn't quite as brutal as I was expecting. I can definitely tell I haven't trained much for the downhill with my recent knee issues. I'm getting passed left and right as we descend. Can't stand the thought of a Shot Block, so I skip it this rest stop and opt for some extra Gatorade instead.


Mile 22 – 9:59 – Road starting to level off quite a bit now. I took much longer walking through that last rest stop, burning through an extra minute or two. Still in good shape to finish under 4:00, and 3:50 is still a good possibility.


Mile 23 – 9:26 – The first real signs of civilization. I see my wife's aunt next to the road, who is cheering on her 74 year old husband. (He finished in 5:55, by the way). Aw crap, here comes the 3:50 pace group. Have I really dropped off that much? I'll try to stick with them as long as I can. Last Shot Block of the day.


Mile 24 – 8:32 – Legs feel great for about a half mile, so I pick up the pace a tad and leave the pace group 50 yards or so in the rear view mirror. I wonder if I am going to pay for that little burst?


Mile 25 – 9:45 – Yep, now paying dearly for that little mile 24 burst. Legs feel like lead and rubber at the same time. Doing everything I can maintain a “run” at this point, although without a doubt it more resembles a death march. Hey, who's the wise guy who put a 25.2 mile marker at the 25 mile marker? That deals me a huge psychological blow, as it feels like a half mile before we hit the real 1 mile to go mark.


Mile 26 - 9:37 - Tons of people along the road here. I want to pick up the pace for the final push, but just can't.


Mile 26.2 - 9:40 – Pass 3 or 4 walkers just before the finish. I can totally understand them walking at this point. Cross the finish line at 3:52, for an average pace of 8:50.


Milling around the runners area after the race I saw a guy that had obviously gone down, as his face, arms and both legs were covered in blood. But he had a finishers medal. I also had a guy pass out right next to me. He was walking with his arm around his mom when he went out like a light on his feet. I eased him to the ground and then helped get his feet up and some fluids in him as he was coming back to this planet. I looked all over for Bigpiney and his wife, but without cell phones really had no chance of finding them.


Steelblue looked great at the finish, as did the other 4 people we traveled with. Overall, it was a very good weekend. The race was extremely well supported and the course was beautiful. The wind was also kind enough to hold off until Sunday. I'm not quite sure if i would do it again. Steelblue reminds me of some past statements I've made about never running that distance again, so I'll hold off any commitments either way for awhile.

Awesome write-up. You are making me excited.

[cowboy]

Awesome write-up. You are making me excited.

No kidding. I want to run another one this fall, but I can't find a good one. Oh well. Great narrative, goose.

[creekster]

Good job guys. Very impressive stuff.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

In keeping with Seachicken's mile-by-mile race report, here is a summary of my experience at St George this past weekend. Its long, so proceed with caution.

Way to finish goose.

You didn't ask for my thoughts, but here they are anyway:

You HAVE to do another one. Your paces were all over the place, and if you got them more consistent, you'd hit 3:45 no problem.

In my opinion, your 3:45 was probably toast before you were 8 miles in. You were going way too fast in relation to your goal pace. Especially that Mile 2, going that fast AND weaving in and out of people. I don't know how much time you spent training at an 8:05 pace, but that may have been a contributor to the shin pain.

A goal of 3:45 would have you at a pace of 8:34/mile, but only 6 of your miles were within 10 seconds of that. I did the exact same thing on my first one, only your first one was 36 minutes faster than my first one. I hit the wall hard.

My second one I worked on being more consistent pace wise, and took 42 minutes off of my time. And that was with taking nearly 30 min. to cover the first 5k. I just basically slept through the first 10k, and then hit the gas.

Anyway, I like to pretend I know what I'm talking about, so feel free to ignore me if you want.

[ERCougar]

Wow, goose. Great write-up. Serious question--how do you remember all the details like this? My whole St G marathon was a blur. Except for the Veyo hill. I remember that pretty clearly.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

Serious question--how do you remember all the details like this?

No kidding, I'm the same way. It's all a blur. If I did a similar report it would look something like this:

Miles 1-26.2: I can't believe I did this to myself again.

[SteelBlue]

Wow, goose. Great write-up. Serious question--how do you remember all the details like this? My whole St G marathon was a blur. Except for the Veyo hill. I remember that pretty clearly.

Amen. I was going to try and write one and was laughing at how much I don't remember. Mine went something like this:

Mile 1-7: Seemed about 10 minutes long. Kept mentally scanning legs for signs of race ending pain. None.

Mile 7-11: Lots of uphill, hurt my knee way more than the downhill. I remember thinking the hill wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The second, more gradual hill was much tougher on me. It's interesting to look out on the horizon and see a mass of humanity rising steadily. I stopped looking and just stared at the ground until I hit the top.

11-18: A blur and went fairly quickly. Lots of beautiful scenery. I start realizing that not only am I going to finish but I'm feeling really good.

19: I didn't really pay attention to mileage and thought I was approaching mile 18 when I hit mile 19. That my friends is a good feeling.

20-23: Starting to feel tired but my HR strategy is paying off, I have gas left in the tank. Mile 20 it's official in my head that I will finish. I give a mental shout out to ewth8r for making it to mile 20 in all of that pain. I consider myself very lucky to be in no significant pain. I pop 800 mg of Ibuprofen at 23 just in case.

24-26: The streets are lined with people and my adrenaline is up. I feel great and I'm having fun high fiving little kids and old women who are nice enough to pretend to care that I'm finishing. I see 4:02 go by and I give a mental shout out to cowboy. Later, I spot ERcougar in the crowd and recognize him from facebook. We exchange a wave. I see the finish line and the crowd is really encouraging. I take off as fast as I can for the last quarter mile. I probably looked like an idiot sprinting in with the time I had but I didn't care. I was elated with everything about the day. A kindly gentleman puts a finisher's medal around my neck and I enter the finishers pavilion. I eat my body weight in blue bunny ice cream sandwiches.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

I probably looked like an idiot sprinting in with the time I had but I didn't care.

Haha, that's a great line SteelBlue.

I don't know that there is a better place for motivation than a marathon finish line. I always love to swing back after I've finished and just watch people come across, you see the whole range of emotion.

[bluegoose]

Wow, goose. Great write-up. Serious question--how do you remember all the details like this? My whole St G marathon was a blur. Except for the Veyo hill. I remember that pretty clearly.

I thought SeaChicken and cowboy did great write-ups on their recent exploits and thought it would be a great substitute for a journal entry to re-read down the road. So, I tried to really absorb it all this weekend and take good mental notes of everything that was going on, including everything from my HR and pacing, to the hand-made road signs and what music came on at various times during the run.

Like I alluded to in the report, the timing of several of the songs was too perfect to forget (Like the Beetles song as I struggled up the Veyo hill and "Livin' on a Prayer" at mile 19 (like they say, the second half of a marathon begins at mile 20 - "Ooooh, We're halfway there.....")).