On July 24, I ran the Deseret News Marathon in Salt Lake City. This is the oldest race in Utah. It’s part of the Pioneer Day festivities, which celebrate the arrival of Brigham Young and his followers in 1847 and their decision to settle here.
I flew to Salt Lake City
on Sunday. When I arrived, I had an
aggravating experience picking up my rental car. There were 20 people in line ahead of me and only
two employees at the counter. They were
taking several minutes for each person.
I was in line for an hour before I got my car. I’ve had similar experience at two different
airports with Payless, which is why I no longer rent from them. This was the first time I had a bad
experience with Dollar. I’ll make a note
never to rent from them at this location.
After checking in at my
hotel, I drove to Rice Eccles Stadium to pick up my race packet. Local runners were encouraged to pick up
their race packets on Saturday, but packet pickup was available Sunday
afternoon for runners who were arriving from out of town.
At packet pickup, I asked
how early they start closing streets for the marathon. I’m glad I asked. Besides closing streets for the marathon,
they also close the streets along the parade route for the Days of 47 Parade. Those streets are closed all night, so I had
to make a point of avoiding them in the morning.
After packet pickup, I still
had enough time before dinner to go to the fitness room and do some core and
leg exercises. I was feeling a bit stiff
after my marathon on Saturday. I think
this workout helped me to work out any residual soreness.
When I left the hotel to
walk to dinner, it was 98 degrees. The
restaurant was only five blocks away, but I felt like I was inside an oven. Walking back, it was even hotter. It was 102 degrees. I knew it wouldn’t get that hot during the
race, but it still got my attention.
I had to get up early on
Monday, so I went to bed as early as I could. I was able to get to sleep early, but I woke
up after a few hours and had trouble getting back to sleep.
This is a point-to-point
race. It starts at Big Mountain and follows
the route of the pioneers through Emigration Canyon before finishing in
downtown Salt Lake City. To get to the
start, we had to park at Rice Eccles Stadium and take a bus. The race starts at 5:30 AM, with buses leaving
from 3:45 to 4:15 AM.
Whenever I do a race like
this, I have a “what was I thinking?” moment when I realize how early I need to
set my alarm. I set my alarm for 2:30,
so I could be ready to leave by 3:30. I
was awake an hour before the alarm went off.
It was another hot day,
but thankfully not as hot as Sunday.
When I woke up, it was 87 degrees.
The temperature was forecast to bottom out at 80 degrees before rising
again. The forecast high was 102
degrees. I knew it wouldn’t get that hot
before I finished, but 90 seemed likely.
It’s normally cold at the
start, but I had to wonder what the temperature would be on such a hot
day. Would I need warm-up clothes? I certainly wasn’t going to wear anything
extra as I left the hotel, but I brought a space blanket, just in case I needed
something to stay warm in the start area.
They had a gear check at the start, but I didn’t want to bother with
that, so I didn’t bring any clothes that I wasn’t willing to discard.
I didn’t know how long it
would take to get to the stadium, since I was going out of my way to avoid the parade
route. I got there early, but people
were already getting onto buses. I was
on one of the first buses to leave.
The bus I was on made a
stop at a hotel to pick up some elite runners, but we still got to the start
area more than an hour before the race started.
When I got off the bus, it didn’t feel the least bit cold. The bus was air conditioned, so it was
actually warmer outside. It felt like it
was about 70 degrees.
I made a bathroom stop
while there weren’t any lines. Then I
took a picture of the historical marker.
I also took a picture of the lights of the city, which were visible over
the mountains.
Most of the other runners
were milling about in the start area.
Then I saw a runner who found a bench to sit on. Sitting sounded better than standing around
for an hour, so I joined him. The bench
was cold, but I was able to sit on my space blanket.
The other guy sitting on
the bench was Jacob. He’s 21 years old,
and this was his first marathon. He
asked me if I had any advice for him. I
told him what I knew of the course. I
also told him he would need to pay attention to how he felt as it got hot in
the late miles.
While we were talking,
another runner came over. He said, “I’ve
got good news and bad news. The good
news is, it’s not cold in the start area.
The bad news is, it’s not cold in the start area.”
Typically, it’s freezing
in the start area, but it’s still hot at the finish. It was nice that I didn’t need warm clothes
in the start area, but it didn’t bode well for later.
This race is mostly
downhill, with roughly 3,000 feet of net descent. I generally run well on downhill courses, so
it made sense to go for a fast time. The
most obvious goal was 3:50, which is what I need for a Boston qualifier. I had three reasons, however, to question
whether I could run that fast.
First, the course isn’t
all downhill. I was talking to another
runner who has done this race, and he mentioned going downhill and then uphill,
before going downhill again. I had to
take a close look at the elevation profile to see it. The first several miles are downhill, but
then there’s a section that has at least 250 feet of ascent. It’s spread out over a few miles, so it’s
fairly gradual. Still, when you’re 6,000
feet above sea level, even a gradual hill can feel tiring. I couldn’t expect to maintain a fast pace
over this section.
Second, it was going to
get hot as I descended toward Salt Lake City.
I might not feel it until the second half of the race, but I expected the
heat to slow me down in the late miles.
Last, but not least, this
was my fourth marathon in a span of seven days.
I did a good job of holding back on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I ran
faster than I planned on Saturday. With
only one day off between races, I questioned whether I had recovered sufficiently
for an all-out effort.
With all that in mind, I
had to take each section of the course as it came. I had to pay attention to how I felt and wait
until late in the race before deciding what was a realistic goal.
I don’t usually drink much
before a race. I’ll have a cup of tea
when I wake up, but I won’t drink anything else until after I start
running. Today, I made an
exception. After the National Anthem,
while everyone else was lining up to start, I dashed over to the tent with
water and Gatorade, and I drank a cup of Gatorade right before lining up. As usual, I also drank at every aid station
on the route.
When we started running,
I was surprised by how steep the grade was.
It was sharply downhill, and there were a lot of switchbacks. I ran this section the same way I always run downhill
courses. I kept my stride short and
focused on maintaining a rapid turnover.
When I do that, I don’t need to put any extra effort into running
fast. Gravity takes care of that.
I ran the first mile in 7:54. I was actually surprised that it wasn’t faster. In the next two miles, I sped up to about
7:30. Those miles didn’t seem any
steeper, and I wasn’t putting any more effort into them. I think the first mile wasn’t as fast because
there were so many runners in front of me at the start.
As we descended through
the valley, I sometimes felt a cold draft.
I didn’t know where that cold air was coming from, but it made the early
miles feel more comfortable.
The fourth mile wasn’t as
steep as the first three. At first, I
found the pace to be tiring in this mile.
Then I realized I was still running with the same fast cadence. As long as I did that, I would maintain the
same fast pace, but it took more effort when the road wasn’t as steep. I recalibrated my gait until I found a stride
that didn’t take much effort. It wasn’t
as fast as the first three miles, but the goal was to run only as fast as I
could without working too hard.
In the next mile, the
road briefly leveled off. For the first
time, I was comfortable coming to a stop, so I could take a picture of the
valley. Stopping briefly also gave me a
chance to recalibrate my stride again. I
didn’t want to keep running with the same rhythm. I needed to constantly adapt to the road.
Early in the next mile,
as I was pausing to drink at an aid station, I saw that the road was about to
turn uphill. I knew there would be an
uphill section, but it started earlier than I expected. Going uphill, I went at a pace that didn’t
feel too tiring. I knew it would be mostly
uphill for the next few miles. I didn’t
care if I slowed down. My only priority
was to get through this section without wearing myself out.
As I got around the next
bend, I saw switchbacks going up to a pass in the distance. Then I noticed there was also a road that
went to the left. That road seemed to go
downhill. Would we take the high road or
the low road? As I got closer, I could
see runners on both roads. We started with
the road on the left, but it was just a short out-and-back section. Then we had to climb the switchbacks up to
the pass.
The out-and-back was
downhill going out, but uphill coming back.
On my way out, I saw a pace group on their way back. It was the 3:30 group. After making the turn myself, I saw another
pace group that was a short distance behind me.
It was the 3:45 group.
Because of the
switchbacks, I couldn’t see the whole climb.
I focused on one segment at a time and kept my effort manageable. Surprisingly, I still noticed a cold draft. I had been worried that I would start to get
hot as I ran uphill. The cold draft was
a pleasant surprise.
It was steepest in the
last mile of climbing. In miles six and
seven, I slowed to about 9:30. I was
happy with that. I expected to be
slower. In mile eight, I slowed to
10:20. As I reached the eight mile sign,
I could see that I was almost to the top.
As soon as I started descending again, it got much easier.
As I began descending, it
occurred to me that the 3:45 pace group was still behind me. I thought they would pass me on the
climb. I didn’t expect to stay ahead of
them for the whole race, but it was nice to still be on that pace with the
hardest section of the course behind me.
Before long, the descent
got steep enough that there were switchbacks going back down. After a couple turns, I saw the pace leaders
of the 3:45 group coming alongside me. There
were two of them.
Running downhill, I have
to go at the pace that feels right, depending on how steep it is. By chance, my pace on this section was the
same pace that the 3:45 group was running. I ran with them for the next two miles, and we
started talking.
One of them asked me what
my goal was. I told them I would be very
happy if I could break 3:50, but I didn’t know yet if that was realistic. At some point in our conversation, I learned
that they were wearing pace bands, but they weren’t trying to run at a
consistent pace. Their pace bands were tailored
to this course. They ran faster in the downhill
miles and slower in the uphill or flat miles.
Somewhere in the 10th
mile, we saw a long row of port-o-potties on the shoulder. Just past them, we reached a timing mat. My first thought was that this must have been
the start area for the half marathon.
Then it occurred to me that we were still a few miles short of being
halfway. As we continued running, one of
the pace leaders recalled that the marathon and half marathon would have
different routes once we got into the city.
We would have an extra out-and-back section. Then it made sense. Right on cue, we saw the one mile sign for
the half marathon. What we saw earlier was
definitely where they started.
When the grade got
steeper, I found myself running ahead of the pace group. When it leveled off a bit, they caught up to
me. Then I found myself having to work
harder to keep up with them. I still had
15 miles to go, so it didn’t make sense to put extra effort into trying to keep
up with the 3:45 group. I didn’t even
know if 3:50 was a reasonable goal. I
eased back to a pace that felt right, and I gradually fell behind the group.
For the first time, I
started to notice the sun was coming out.
Before the race, other runners were commenting that it would be cloudy. If the sun was on us, it would feel
hotter. I looked up and saw mostly blue
sky. I wasn’t feeling hot yet, but I started
to worry about it.
When I reached the
halfway point, I was still on pace to break 3:45. I had lost contact with the 3:45 group, so they
were obviously ahead of their pace. That
made sense, since they were pacing for the course, rather than running a
uniform pace. The first half of the race
is the easier half.
I expected to be slower
in the second half. The uphill section was
behind me, but there wouldn’t be nearly as much descent in the second
half. I also expected to get hot as I
got closer to the city, and I assumed the heat would force me to slow down.
As I continued
descending, I started to feel a cold draft again. It wasn’t always there, but it felt
nice. Sometimes, I saw a nearby
pond. Other times, I saw a stream. The water was probably ice cold, and any
breeze blowing over it was going to feel cool.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but it also started to get cloudy
again.
Somewhere between 15 and
16 miles, I saw a pace group ahead of me that I didn’t remember seeing
before. They were walking. As I got closer, I realized this was a pace
group for the half marathon. They were
the first half marathoners I had seen.
We finally caught up to the back of the pack of that race.
I didn’t quite catch up to
them before I reached the point where the marathon and half marathon
diverge. They went straight. We turned left to begin the extra
out-and-back section. Based on where we
had seen the half marathon start, I realized this section would be at least
three and a half miles.
An out-and-back section
isn’t going to have any net elevation change.
At best, it would be flat. At
worst, it would be rolling. As soon as I
made the turn, I started up a hill. It
was short, but it was steep enough to force me to slow down.
When I reached the top of
the hill, I could see some of the downtown buildings. They were below us, but not by that much. Most of the descent was behind me now. As I got closer to the city, I expected to
feel much hotter. I knew the temperature
had to be in the 80s by now. I felt
warmer, but not that much warmer. I kept
waiting for the other shoe to drop.
After cresting that hill,
I began a section that was slightly downhill and surprisingly long. I had mixed feelings about that. A long downhill now meant a long uphill
later.
After a while, I realized
I wasn’t seeing any runners coming back from the other direction. This wasn’t a true out-and-back. We went out on one street, but we would come
back on a different street.
Eventually, the road
leveled off and turned uphill again. I picked
up my effort so I wouldn’t slow down too much.
When I reached the next mile marker, I expected that mile to be
slow. Descending through the valley, my pace
was pretty close to 8:30. This mile was
8:32. That was a pleasant surprise. It really felt like I was slowing down.
To break 3:50, I needed
to average about 8:45 per mile. All of
my recent miles had been faster than 8:40.
The longer I could keep doing that, the better my chances of breaking
3:50. I still expected to slow down as
the course flattened out and it got hotter, but I felt more optimistic that it
just might be possible.
I put more effort into my
next mile. I couldn’t tell if it was
flat or uphill, but I was working harder.
When I finished my 18th mile, I was disappointed with my time. It was 8:59.
After two quick turns, we
were on our way back. The street we were
on was straight enough that I could see at least half a mile ahead of me. What I could see was downhill. Then I noticed that I could still see the two
3:45 pace leaders, who were both wearing orange shirts. They weren’t as far ahead of me as I expected
them to be. They were only about two and
a half blocks away. Knowing I was that
close to the 3:45 group gave me renewed confidence that I could stay on pace
for 3:50. I picked up my effort.
In mile 19, I sped up to
8:22. It was downhill, but not as much
as most of the earlier miles. I was
working harder. Now I was closer to the
3:45 group. They were only about a block
ahead of me.
The next mile was slightly
uphill, but I was motivated to try to gain on the 3:45 group. By the end of the next mile, I was getting
close. We crossed a chip mat, and I
realized we had probably merged with the half marathon course. I didn’t notice exactly where it happened, because
I wasn’t seeing any of the runners from that race. Because of the extra miles we ran, they were
all well ahead of us.
I caught up to the 3:45 pacers
at the next aid station. I had less than
six miles to go, and I was on pace for 3:45.
Breaking 3:50 not only seemed realistic, but likely.
The sun came out again. For the first time, it was high enough in the
sky that I immediately felt warmer. I
started talking to one of the pace leaders.
I told him I was surprised that I wasn’t suffering more in the
heat. It had to be in the 80s, but it
really didn’t feel that hot. Then I
asked him if the air was dry. It
was. I’m used to 80 degrees with much
more humidity. I wasn’t suffering
because the air is much dryer than what I’m used to.
Next, I asked him what
his pace band said for the remaining miles.
He said we would be running a 9:00 pace the rest of the way. I had worked hard to catch him, but staying
with him felt really easy. I could keep
up that pace easily, but I questioned whether it was really fast enough to stay
on pace for 3:45.
We were almost to the 21
mile sign. When we got there, I looked at
my watch. We ran the first 21 miles in
three hours. That gave us 45 minutes for
the last 5.2 miles. If we averaged nine
minutes per mile, it wouldn’t be fast enough to break 3:45, but it would easily
be fast enough to break 3:50, which was now my primary goal.
We turned onto University
Avenue, which is downhill. When I saw
Rice Eccles Stadium ahead of us on the right, I knew where we were. I was able to pick up the pace on this
section. I decided to let myself get
ahead of the 3:45 group.
After the next turn, the
road immediately leveled off, but I was almost to the 22 mile sign. I followed the runners ahead of me. I had to work harder on level ground, but I
noticed it was cloudy again. I didn’t
have to contend with the heat of the sun, and I was confident I could handle a
dry 80-something degrees. It wasn’t
going to be as bad as I previously thought.
The road started to turn
slightly uphill again, but then we turned, and it was downhill. I figured this was probably the last downhill
section before it leveled off for good, so I picked up my pace again.
Just before I finished
mile 23, I recognized the half marathon pace group I had seen earlier. It was the 3:30 group. I assumed that was the time limit for the
half marathon, because I never saw anyone behind them.
I went through an aid
station and drank a cup of Gatorade. One
of the volunteers offered me another cup of Gatorade. Another offered me a cup of water. I thanked them both, but one cup of Gatorade was
enough. Then another volunteer said I
still looked strong. It occurred to me
that I probably did look strong. It was
downhill here, and I had a nice stride.
In the late miles of a
race, the path of least resistance is to simple follow the runners ahead of you
and match their pace. Now that some of
the runners ahead of me were doing the half marathon, I had to be careful not
to drift into a slower pace. When I
could, I tried to gain ground on anyone ahead of me and eventually pass them.
I passed a few
runners. Then I tried to gradually catch
up to a runner that had been within sight for several blocks. I was almost to the 25 mile sign when I
started to come alongside him. He looked
over his shoulder. Then he looked over
his shoulder again. He reacted to seeing
me there by speeding up. He took off
like the two of us were racing for first place.
Earlier, I was trying to
catch him, but now he was going much too fast.
He was pulling away from me. I
didn’t know why he was so intent on staying ahead of me, but he wanted to beat
me more than I wanted to catch him. I
maintained my same effort.
With about a mile to go,
we turned onto 2nd Street East. Now we
were on the parade route. The parade had
not started yet, but there were crowds on both sides of the street. Before the race, another runner said that some
people were already there at 3:30 AM. It
was now after 9:00. I wasn’t going to
catch the runner ahead of me, and I was easily going to break 3:50, so I
stopped one last time to take a picture.
We had a narrow lane that
was marked with traffic cones. I wasn’t
expecting to turn until 8th Street South, but the cones went around the corner
at 7th Street. I started to round the
corner when someone said I had to keep going to 8th. I went outside the cones and into the street.
When I turned on 8th, I
was still on the parade route. There
were thick crowds on both sides of the street for as far as I could see. They were waiting for the Days of 47 Parade. The sweaty runners going by were just the
warm-up act. It was exciting to see such
big crowds after so many lonely miles through the canyon.
I had to make two more
turns before the finish. When I made the
last turn, I saw the 26 mile sign right in front of me. In the distance, I could see the finish
line. The guy who sped away from me
earlier was almost there.
I eventually finished in
3:46:44. After crossing the line, I
turned around to look for the 3:45 pacers.
I couldn’t see either of them.
They had fallen off their pace.
The last time I saw them, I don’t think any other runners were with
them. They had all fallen off the pace
earlier.
The finisher medal design
features downtown buildings with the mountains in the background. It was appropriate for this course. The T-shirt had the same design.
The finish area was in
Liberty Park. As I entered the park, I was
handed a box with a Crumbl Cookie. I
saved that for later. I was more interested
in something to drink. I saw a cooler
with ice and cans of pop, and I found a can of Dr. Pepper. As I started drinking that, I saw a table
where they were handing out ice cream bars.
I looked around for the
guy who raced away from me earlier. When
I found him, I asked him about it. He
said I looked like I might be in his age group, and he wasn’t going to take any
chances. Competing for an age group award
was the last thing on my mind, but it turns out we were both in the same age
group. If he edged me out for an award,
he deserved it. He had a strong finish. There’s no way I could have kept up with him
over that last mile.
When I was done eating and drinking, I took out my phone to see how hot it was. It was 86 degrees, but it was a dry 86. It didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.
To get back to where I
was parked, I had to take a bus. When I
was ready, I made my way over to the pick-up point. When I sat down on the bus, I realized I was
across the aisle from the guy who out-raced me in the last mile. He looked at me and told me I should go get
my medal. He had won our age group and
he was sure I must’ve been second. I
realized he had to be right. Only one
runner finished between us, and that was a woman.
The bus was just starting
to move when I told the bus driver I needed to get off. I went back to Liberty Park and found the
results table. I told one of the
volunteers I thought I placed second in my age group. She printed my result. Then she said, “Yes you did, and you also
qualified for Boston.”
She directed me to the
table with the awards, and I got this medal for second place in my age group.
I went back to the bus
pick-up point and boarded the next bus.
After getting dropped off at the stadium, I drove back to my hotel,
making a point of taking a route that took me around the marathon route and the
parade route.
This was my fourth
marathon or ultra in Utah. I was originally
planning to run the Sun Marathon last January, but I was too sick to run. I’ve now run at least four marathons in 48
states. To finish my fourth circuit of
marathons in every state, I just need to run marathons in West Virginia and
Oklahoma.
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