Running With an Old Friend

Race report on the St. George Marathon, October 1, 2011.

The St. George Marathon is my favorite race at the distance, so it stands to reason that I’ve run it more times than any other marathon (12 times total).  There’s lots of reasons….for instance, it’s the site of my only lifetime sub-3 hour marathon (1996, a 2:57) so that probably helps.  But there’s other stuff to like…..first, this area of the country is just gorgeous, with red rock, blue skies, desert flora and even some black lava mixed in.  There are national parks close by (Zion / Bryce / Capitol Reef), so it’s good vacation country.  We brought our kids here in 1993 and 1996, combining the race with family vacations.  The weather is generally gorgeous in early October, cool at the start, and pleasantly warm by the finish.  And the race organization is superb.  My wife (Kathy) and I like the area so well we’re building a house and moving here in 2012.

Gratuitous picture of St. George scenery, this one in Snow Canyon State Park.

But enough gushing….this is supposed to be a race report, right?  Actually, it was a bit unusual for me to be running a marathon–in 2010, I ran zero, none, nada, zip for the first time since 1990.  For the past couple of years I’ve been focused on ultras, and this was my first marathon since the same race in 2009.  Ultras, particularly the longer variety, are so much different than marathons that it’s almost like a different sport.  The main thing that takes some getting used to is the sheer size.  St. George is far from a mega-marathon, i.e., Boston, New York, Vegas, etc., but it’s much bigger than the garden variety ultra.  (The Hawk 50 that I ran in May, 2011 had 12 total starters.  Even the well-established Lean Horse 100, in August 2011 had only 77 finishers, and maybe 130 starters).  So the 7,000 or so starters, the school buses, etc. were all a bit foreign to me.

My focus on ultras results in a lot of long, slow distance, training with the result that my running times have slowed.  Of course, my advancing age doesn’t help either.  So I didn’t have any real illusions that this would be a fast race.  Looking back at my race times here, I see that I ran 3:20, 3:21, and 3:22 in 2005, 2006 and 2007.  In 2008, my time ballooned to 3:38, but I was coming off a stress fracture.  In 2009, my last trip here, I was back to a 3:26.  However, the 2011 training did not indicate a time anywhere near these levels.  As in 2009, I ran the Lean Horse 100 in late August, about six weeks before St. George.  (See prior blog entry).  In summary, the 2011 race just beat the crap out of me….to use the battery analogy, it ran the reserves down very low, and they needed to be recharged.

I left a business meeting in Indianapolis on Friday, September 30 for an early flight to Las Vegas, where I met Kathy.  We drove up to St. George and spent the day surveying the house construction, picking up my race packet, etc.  Given the limited number of hotel rooms in St. George, I opted to stay in Mesquite, NV (the availability of legal gaming on college football perhaps having had some impact on my hotel choice).  Nevada is on Pacific time, and Utah on Mountain time.  Given the early start time and earlier bus-loading time, I set me alarm for 2:15 AM(!) for the drive up I-15.

The St. George race course is pretty simple–you pile onto school buses and ride up Utah 18 for 26 miles or so.  Then you run into town.  St. George itself is about 2,600 ft. elevation, while the race start is maybe 5,500 ft. elevation.  Typically, the runner needs warm clothes at the start (in spite of the multiple fires built by race organizers) and much less clothing later in the race.  This year, the fires were plenty to take off the early morning chill.

Fires provided an opportunity to keep warm and relax before the race start.

A crowded start, especially for someone used to smaller races.

I wedged myself into the starting crowd, somewhere near the signs for 8:00 or 8:30 pace per mile, not that anyone really obeys those things.  My standard start for a 100-miler is to walk for the first 10 minutes.  But, this being a marathon, I figured I should run.  So I did.  The race starts in the dark, which is a bit surreal–thousands of runners heading off down a dark highway.

St. George is known for being a net downhill marathon, which it is (see the beginning and ending elevations above).  The first seven miles drop nicely, but miles seven to 12 actually are a net uphill…and a couple of tough uphills even.

The sun cresting the Utah countryside.

St. George Marathon scenery, somewhere in the first 10 miles.

With my focus on ultras, its sorta hard to get back in the swing of running hard for 26 miles.  I mean, generally I mix walking and running.  It’s not uncommon to go a few miles with another runner, at a pleasant conversational pace, discussing all sorts of things.  In the marathon, runners seem much more focused on splits, pace, etc.   Plus, hell, everyone has their earphones in.  Difficult to have much of a conversation in one of these things.

But I was enjoying the scenery and remembering the days when my pace was much faster and when I too was really focused on splits and pace per mile.  I had sorta hoped I might be in the 3:30 time frame, an eight minute pace, but that was clearly not going to happen.  I just settled in to enjoy the day and the scenery.

Probably my favorite point in the race (other than the finish, of course) is about the 12 mile mark.  Snow Canyon state park begins to come into view, and the course takes a decided turn to the downhill.

I told you it headed downhill.

Headed downhill, approaching Snow Canyon state park.

Having run a 100-miler about six weeks earlier, one might think that “just” a marathon would be easy.  Au contraire.  As described earlier, the Lean Horse event just beat the hell outta me, and I was not recovered for this event.  Plus, as one might have guessed from the early morning temperatures, it was getting warm with the sun fully out.

As a result, the last 10 miles or so were pretty uncomfortable.  I took regular walking breaks, something that would have mortified me a few years ago.  But what the hell….I wasn’t setting any records, personal or otherwise.  My finishing time was 3:43 and my feet hurt at the end.  Really.  All that pavement pounding left my feet sore.

For an ultra runner, marathons are pretty intense.  But I’ll probably keep running St. George, pace notwithstanding.  In 2012 it will be my hometown marathon, I get guaranteed entry, so why not?  After all, it is like an old friend.