JohnK

3 easy.

4 mile easy. Felt good.

6 miles consisting of 2 easy warm-up, 3200 on the track in 13:15 (almost right on goal marathon pace) and 2 cool-down. Felt fine, no concerns until later in the day when my right hamstring start to hurt and feel very tight.

4 miles easy. Felt good but the right hamstring isn't so great. Not sure what set this off.

No running. Flew to Las Vegas and drove to St. George, arriving around 7:30 p.m. local time. Bluffs Inns and Suites is not a first-class establishment but it will do. Am feeling good although the right hamstring is noticeable at times. I need to avoid over-stretching it and must also avoid worrying too much about it!

Up early because I'm still on eastern time. Just before daylight I drove to the St. George finish area and then ran about 1.5 miles back on the course then turned around and headed in. Feeling pretty good. The right hamstring is still a worry, however. Went to the expo at mid-morning after breakfast and also listened to Dick Beardsley's first talk which was quite good. Drove the course in the early afternoon and then spent a lot of time resting and watching TV. A lot of rain today but things should clear out nicely for tomorrow's race.

Went in aiming to run 2:55 and felt great during the early miles. Great marathoning conditions.

1 - 6:28

2 - 13:12 (6:44)

3 - 19:38 (6:26)

4 - 26:04 (6:26)

5 - 32:33 (6:29)

6 - 38:56 (6:23)

7 - 45:26 (6:30)

The next 4 were considerably slower (being uphill to rolling with no significant downhill). But after mile 8 (during which I noticed the altitude a bit with somewhat labored breathing) I was okay.

8 - 52:44 (7:18)

9 - 59:50 (7:06)

10 - 1:06.48 (6:58)

11 - 1:13.51 (7:03)

Took a gel at 11 and noticed a boost within 2 miles.

12 - 1:20.43 (6:52)

13 - 1:27.28 (6:45)

So all was well at the half; didn't catch my time but I estimate 1:28:12.

14 - 1:34.14 (6:46)

15 - 1:40.54 (6:40)

During mile 15 I realized my quads were really beginning to hurt from all the downhill plus I noticed that a number of people were passing me, although I really didn't want to be going any faster than 6:40.

16 - 1:47.37 (6:43)

17 - 1:54.28 (6:51)

18 - 2:01.20 (6:52)

Miles 17 and 18 worried me because I was slowing and hurting more.

19 - 2:08.26 (7:06)

It actually felt good to gain some elevation during mile 19. Took a gel during mile 19 but only consumed about 2/3 of it.

20 - 2:15.27 (7:01)

Off goal pace but still felt sub-3:00 was possible at 20.

21 - 2:22.35 (7:08)

22 - 2:30.00 (7:25)

It was really steep downhill between about 19.5 and 21 and again from about 22.0 to 22.5. I was really in distress by now with very bad quad pain. Otherwise I wasn't in terrible shape but it was hard to focus and remain determined to keep running.

23 - 2:37.27 (7:27)

24 - 2:45:08 (7:41)

After completing mile 24 I ran another 100m or so and then walked for about :30.

After that it was slow jogging mixed in with short walking breaks to the finish.

25 - 2:53.38 (8:30)

26 - 3:02.35 (8:57)

26.2 - 3:04.15 (1:40)

So the last 2.2 miles took me a little over 19 minutes! I've never, ever, had quad pain like this in a marathon. I wasn't in bad shape otherwise and feel I could have at least finished close to my 2:55 goal had I not had the terribly sore quads. And I'm quite sure I didn't drink enough during the race and may not have eaten enough yesterday. Plus, 2-3 aspirins 30 minutes prior to the start might have helped. Anyway, I loved St. George Marathon otherwise and hope to return in 2007.