For the last several days, many people (mostly non-runners) have been asking, well actually assuming that I was running the Salt Lake Marathon. The logic goes something like: 1) I'm a run marathons; 2) I live in Salt Lake; 3) therefore I am running the SL Marathon. I suppose I understand the logic, but there is this strange kind of disappointment that surfaces on people's faces when I tell them I'm planning to run Ogden next month. They feel sort of let down, or at least that's what I pick up. It's actually kind of funny, now that I think about it.
Anyway, although I wasn't registered this year, I did manage to participate in an unofficial capacity. A couple of days ago I volunteered to pace Adam RW for the last 6 miles of the race in his quest for marathon speediness. I guess he thought I would help more than hurt, and agreed to let me tag along.
I left my house at about 8am and ran out to about the 20 mile mark, about 6 miles from my house. I had a pretty serious headwind on the way out and I knew that must be driving the racers nuts. I was a little early to the 20 mile mark , and just kind of ran up and down the street (5th East), waiting for the action to arrive. The lead group, all Kenyans as far as I could tell, cruised through in a pack of about five, though I didn't count carefully. Next through, about five mintues back, came Sasha, followed closely by Alexander Tomas. Then Matt Harmer from the WRC team. Next came Adam, looking strong, and we took off.
The stretch of fifth east is a long stretch, and we had a little tailwind--the opposite of what they had endured in the first half. Adam caught Matt and Alexander, which says a lot as these are very, very strong runners. Then we ran into the half marathon/5k crowds. The SL Marathon does a terrible job of keeping the course clear for the race leaders. You have to weave around lots of people and it's kind of unnerving. Rather than let it wear Adam down, I tried to put the crowds on the road to his advantage--trying to get others to give him some encouragement, and trying to clear the path when there was a traffic jam.
The splits on my watch for the stretch I ran were between 5:57 and 6:15. I'm sure Adam's post will give a more complete run-down.
As we got into the Gateway, I bailed out and Adam surged on to the finish--sub 2:40 and a PR. Great job!
Then I ran back along the course to 5th East and 2100 South, where my wife and her friends were gathered watching the race. So I managed to get in a nice run today with some pace work. Congrats to all the finishers on a windy, warm day! | 