On August 26, I ran the Mt. Nebo Marathon. This race starts near Mt. Nebo in western Utah and runs through Payson Canyon, finishing in Payson, UT.
The nearest major airport
is Salt Lake City. I flew to Salt Lake
City on Friday and drove to my hotel in Provo.
I chose to stay in Provo rather than Payson, because Provo is a larger
city, so it has more hotel and dining options.
At the time, I didn’t know where packet pickup would be. I assumed it would be somewhere in
Payson. Two weeks before the race, I found
out packet pickup was at a mall in Provo that was only half a mile from my hotel.
When I rent car, I generally
go with whatever type of car is cheapest.
Usually, it’s an economy car.
This time, it was a “sporty” car.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
It turned out to be a black Dodge Challenger. With the right detailing, it could’ve passed
for the Batmobile.
The drive to Provo took
about an hour. After checking in at my
hotel, I went to pick up my race packet at Provo Towne Centre. Then I went back to the hotel to do some
strength training exercises before dinner.
From anywhere in Provo, I
could see mountains to the east. One of
them had a white “Y.” It reminded me of
the “M” in Missoula. The “Y” represents
Brigham Young University.
I had an early dinner and
got to sleep early, but I was only able to sleep for about two hours before
waking up again. I spent the next
several hours resting in bed before finally getting up.
This is another one of
those races where you have to get up really early to catch a bus to the start. I had to drive 15 miles to Park View Elementary
School in Payson. Buses to the start
left the school starting at 4:00 AM, with the last bus leaving at 4:30.
I knew the easiest place to
park was at the school, but I didn’t know how early that parking lot would
fill. There were other nearby parking
areas, but I didn’t want to drive around looking for parking lots in the
dark. I got to Payson a little early to
make sure I would easily find parking.
When I got there, it was
too early to board a bus. There were two
port-o-potties across the street, so I made a bathroom stop before getting in
line to board a bus.
While waiting to board a
bus, I bumped into my friend, Gwen, and we both got on the first bus. Gwen is also from Minnesota, and she’s also a
member of the 50sub4 club.
As soon as we got out of
town, we were on a narrow two-lane road.
It was dark, but we could tell there were lots of turns. We could also tell that we were constantly
climbing.
After about 45 minutes,
we saw what looked like the start area.
Then the driver told us that was where the half marathon started. At first, I thought he was joking. He wasn’t.
It was another 30 minutes before we reached the start area for the
marathon. By the time we got there, I
was really glad I made a bathroom stop before boarding the bus.
Because we were on the
first bus, we were able to get in the bathroom lines before they got long. There were six port-o-potties for about 200
runners. By the time the last bus arrived,
the lines were long.
There were three 50sub4
members at this race. After we each had
time to make a bathroom stop, we took a group picture.
This race invites
comparison with the Deseret News Marathon, which I ran five weeks ago. Both races start in the mountains, descend
through valleys, and finish in a city.
Unlike the Deseret News Marathon, which was steepest in the first few
miles, this one is steepest in the second half.
It starts at a higher elevation, so there’s a bigger temperature change
during the race.
When we left Payson, it
was 60 degrees. Because of the elevation
difference, I was expecting it to be about 30 degrees colder where the race
started. They have a gear check, so I
was able to wear extra layers while I was waiting for the race to start. Even after checking my gear bag, I still needed
warm enough clothes for the freezing temperatures during the early miles of the
race. Some layers I could remove during
the race, but I had to commit to wearing tights for the entire race. I knew I was likely to get hot in the late
miles, but my legs don’t respond well to cold temperatures, and I thought it would
be freezing for at least half of the race.
As it turns out, it wasn’t
as cold as I thought it would be. It was
chilly, but
I didn’t need all the layers I brought.
I wore my jacket in the start area, but I took it off before the race
started. I wasn’t sure if I really
needed the tights, but I had already committed to wearing them.
The elevation at the
start was about 9,200 feet. In the first
half of the race, there was 1,300 feet of net descent. That’s an average of 100 feet per mile, but
it’s worth noting that it wasn’t all downhill.
There were uphill sections, and at that elevation, running uphill is
really tiring.
My goal for the entire race
was to break 3:50. That’s the Boston
qualifying standard for my age group. I knew
I wouldn’t be able to keep up that pace in the first half of the race. My goal for the first half was to keep my
time as close as I could to two hours. If I could do that, I was confident I could
run the second half fast enough to break 3:50.
When we started, it was
still dark. There was just enough light
that I could see the pavement where I was running, but I couldn’t see far
enough ahead of me to see if it was uphill or downhill.
As I started running, the
road felt flat, but it quickly turned downhill.
It wasn’t very steep. I sped up a
little, but then I suddenly felt myself slowing down as the road turned
slightly uphill. As it turns out, there
were three brief uphill sections in the first mile.
There were traffic cones
dividing the right and left lanes. We
were instructed to stay in the right lane.
The other lane was open to traffic.
In the first mile, a few cars went by in the other lane. Each time, I was temporarily blinded by the
headlights. That made it even harder to
see changes in the slope of the road.
I finished the first mile
in 9:30. I was pleased with that pace
for a mile that had a few uphill sections.
I knew some miles would be slow.
As I started the second
mile, I crested a hill and began a long downhill section. To my right, I could see the sunrise across
the canyon. Just above the mountains on
the other side, there was a red orange glow.
I wanted to take a picture, but I would’ve needed to take off my gloves
to use my phone. I didn’t want to come
to a complete stop for that long when I was just starting to run at a faster
pace.
The second mile was all
downhill. I ran that mile more than a
minute faster than the first mile. The
next two miles were mostly downhill, but they had occasional uphill
sections. Those miles weren’t quite as
fast, but I was pleased with my average pace so far.
The next time I had a
good view across the canyon, the color of the sunrise had changed. Now, instead of red-orange, it was more of a
yellow-orange. By now, there was plenty
of light to see the road.
There were seven places
where we had to cross cattle guards. The
race organizers put sheets of plywood over them on the side of the road where
we were running. If you’ve ever run over
a cattle guard without anything placed over it, it’s not fun. You could easily twist an ankle.
As I started the fifth
mile, I could see that we were starting a longer hill. There were a few turns, so I couldn’t see the
entire hill. When I reached the start of
the hill, I saw a green sign. This was
the first of three hills that had names.
That’s never a good sign. I
forget the native name, but it translated to “Skunk.” The sign said it was a 200-foot rise.
I saw another runner walking
the hill, but I was determined to run it.
I was willing to take it slow, but I wanted to limit the damage.
The hill wasn’t steep,
but it was long. Because we were still
at high elevation, it was unusually tiring.
I started to get warm climbing this hill, so I took a short walking break,
so I could take my gloves off and stuff them into my fanny pack.
More than once, I thought
I saw the top of the climb. Then I would
make it around a bend, and I would see that the road kept going up. I eventually had to take another walking break. I walked for about 30 seconds and then forced
myself to run the rest of the hill. “Skunk”
went on for most of the fifth mile. In
that mile, I slowed to 10:20.
Mile six was mostly
downhill, but it also had a named hill.
This one was called “Rabbit.” It
was much shorter, but it was steep. “Rabbit”
was a 73-foot rise. Because we were
still at high elevation, this hill also forced me to take a walking break. Overall, however, that mile was reasonably
fast. I ran it in 8:30.
Midway through the next
mile, I saw another hill up ahead. Then
I saw the people ahead of me turning onto a different road. At first, I was relieved that we didn’t have
to go up that hill. Then I saw a runner
coming back from the road I was about to turn onto. I was about to start an out-an-back
section. Eventually, I would still need
to run up the hill I saw in front of me.
The out-and-back section
was on a dirt road. This was the only part
of the road that wasn’t paved. There
were rocks embedded in the road, so I had to watch my footing carefully.
There was a steady stream
of runners going out, but I only saw a few runners coming back. That told me this section was long. The runners I saw coming back were the
runners who were near the front of the race.
They were spaced farther apart than the runners in the middle of the
pack. That suspicion was confirmed when
I saw Gwen coming back. Gwen is much
faster than me. At this point in the
race, she was probably at least a mile ahead of me.
The out-and-back section
was at least a mile each way. It may
have been closer to a mile and a half. Going
out it was slightly downhill. That meant
coming back it would be slightly uphill.
When I finally reached the turnaround, I knew it would be tiring coming
back. The grade wasn’t at all steep, but
the elevation was still well above 8,000 feet.
At that elevation, running uphill for more than a mile is tiring.
My split for mile eight
was 9:30. That mile included some of the
downhill running before the turnaround, so it wasn’t all uphill. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing how much
slower I would be in the next mile, which was all uphill.
I wanted to run this
whole section, but I was eventually forced to take a short walking break. I continued to limit my walking breaks to
about 30 seconds.
When I finished the
out-and-back section, I turned back onto the paved road. It was downhill at first, but only briefly. Then I reached the start of the hill I had
noticed earlier. This hill also had a
name. It was called “Eagle.” It was another 200-foot climb.
I was just beginning to
climb “Eagle” when I got my split for mile nine. It was another 10:20 mile.
“Eagle” was the most tiring
climb, partly because I was still tired from the uphill half of the
out-and-back. I ran until I was getting
out of breath, and then I took a 30-second walking break. Then I ran until I was getting out of breath
again and took another 30-second walking break.
I repeated this process until the hill leveled out enough that I could
run the rest of the way to the top. I
forget if I needed three or four walking breaks.
Before the race, we were
told that there would be hills for the first nine and a half miles, but after
that it would be downhill the rest of the way.
When I reached the top of “Eagle,” my watch read roughly 9.5 miles. I could see a fairly long downhill section
ahead, so I assumed I wouldn’t have any more hills. I was wrong.
As I started mile 10, the road seemed to turn slightly uphill
again. The grade was subtle, but it definitely
seemed to be uphill. I saw other runners
taking walking breaks, so I know it wasn’t just me. I didn’t need to do any walking on that hill,
but it was disconcerting to think it would be all downhill now and then having to
do another small climb.
After that, it really was
all downhill for several miles. Then, in
the middle of the 12th mile, the grade got a little steeper. It seemed I was finally getting to the fast
part of the course.
I ran miles 12 and 13
faster than most of my previous miles. I
reached the halfway point in 1:58:55. It
was a pleasant surprised to get there in less than two hours. The first half was tougher than I thought it
would be.
To break 3:50, I needed
to be at least nine minutes faster in the second half. On paper, that seemed easy. In the second half of the race, we would
descent about 250 feet per mile, and there wouldn’t be any more uphill
sections. Still, my previous two miles
made me question whether I could it fast enough. I ran the previous two miles in 8:32 and 8:33
respectively, even though they were all downhill. I thought the grade in those miles was
similar to the average grade in the second half, yet my pace in those two miles
wouldn’t quite be fast enough for me to run the second half in 1:50. I needed a pace in the low 8:20s.
Right on cue, the road
turned more sharply downhill. I ran
miles 14 and 15 in 8:04 and 8:09, respectively.
My goal now was to run each remaining mile in 8:20 or faster. I had no idea how easy that would be.
In the next mile, I saw a
road sign indicating a hairpin turn.
There had been lots of turns so far, but none of them were actual
switchbacks. This signaled the beginning
of the steepest part of the course. I ran
mile 16 in 7:20. That was the first of
seven straight miles that were all faster than eight minutes.
With about 10 miles to go,
I felt the sun hitting me for the first time.
The sun had risen much earlier, but we were always in the shadows of the
mountains. Now the sun was finally high
enough in the sky that it sometimes shone over the mountains.
Earlier, my hands would
get cold whenever there was a breeze.
Now, for the first time in the race, I felt hot. Thankfully, I only felt the sun
occasionally. More often than not, I was
still between mountains that provided adequate shade.
As I continued descending
through the canyon, sometimes my ears would pop. Each time, I would suddenly start to hear my
surroundings more clearly. Over time, my
hearing would gradually diminish. I
wouldn’t notice it was happening until the next time my ears popped. Then I could hear clearly again.
With about eight miles to
go, I started to feel some discomfort on the bottom of my left foot. I wear orthotics, so I have to wear
replacement insoles. When I run downhill
with wet shoes, my insoles can slip forward within my shoe. What I was feeling was the insole in my left
shoe sliding forward and bunching up under my foot. There wasn’t anything I could do about it
during the race. I just had to live with
that discomfort for the rest of my race.
I didn’t realize before
how much I was sweating. The
perspiration on exposed skin evaporated quickly in the dry air. Inside my shoes, however, my socks were
probably drenched with sweat.
With seven miles to go, I
got my first view of the Utah Valley in the distance. I could see how much farther I still needed
to go to get there. I could also see
that I was still at a higher elevation than the valley floor.
As I continued descending,
I noticed it was getting warmer. With
five miles to go, I started to feel hot, even when I wasn’t in the sun. Now, I was finally conscious of how much I
was sweating. The tights on my legs didn’t
help. Fortunately, I only had five miles
to go. I just had to tough it out.
With about four miles to
go, it seemed like I was getting closer to the end of the canyon. The road leveled off for a while. I also felt the sun on me. For the rest of the race, the heat of the sun
was going to be a big factor.
The guy just ahead of me
started walking, but I kept running. I
wasn’t going to take a walking break on a flat section. Instead, I picked up my effort. I tried hard to avoid slowing down any more
than I had to. I wasn’t able to run that
mile faster than eight minutes, but I kept it under 8:20. I managed to do that for the rest of the
race.
I started to notice more
people ahead of me who were walking. It
seemed everyone ahead of me was walking now.
I had caught up to the back of the pack of the half marathon. That race started 30 minutes after the
marathon, but they started at our halfway point, so they had a big head start.
After that mile, there
was more downhill, but it was no longer constant, and if was no longer steep. Downhill sections alternated with flat
sections. To keep my pace close to eight
minutes, I had to work harder. With only
a few miles left, I was determined to do that.
I saw a sprinkler set up
over the road, and I ran under it. That’s
out of character for me. I don’t usually
like to get my clothes wet during a race.
At this point in the race,
I was desperate to cool off. After running
under the sprinklers and getting my clothes wet, the breeze immediately cooled
me off. The effect didn’t last long, but
it momentarily rejuvenated me, enabling me to keep running hard.
With about a mile and a
half left in the race, I finally left the canyon and got onto the streets of
Payson. From here on out, it was going
to be flat, and it was going to be hot.
By now, the temperature had risen into the upper 70s, and I was
overdressed.
I ran the 25th mile in
7:55. That was a pleasant surprise. That mile started out downhill, but flattened
out as I got into town. I was working
hard to keep up my pace, but I didn’t know if I could do that for another
mile. The next mile wasn’t going to have
any downhill sections.
As I started the next
mile, I saw another sprinkler set up over the road. Running through that rejuvenated me
again. It was what I needed to prepare
me to fight hard for one more mile.
Five weeks ago, in the
Deseret News Marathon, I came in second in my age group. I kept that in mind as I ran the last mile
through town. I looked for anyone who
might be in my age group. I didn’t see
any men who might be in my age group. In
fact, I didn’t see any men at all. I had
passed a number of men over the past several miles, but now I only saw
women. I saw women walking who were probably
doing the half marathon. I saw a few
women running, but I didn’t need to complete with them. I passed a few of them, but only because I
was trying to run the last mile as hard as I could.
There were a few turns
going through town. Each time I came
around a corner, I looked to see if there was anyone I needed to pass. There never was.
When I got my split for
mile 26, it was 8:03. That wasn’t as
fast as the previous mile, but this one was flat, and I was struggling with the
heat. Under the circumstances, I was
happy to keep one more mile under 8:20.
When I made the last
turn, I saw the finish line, and I accelerated.
I finished in 3:42:30. After
finishing, I had a few beverages, and then Gwen spotted me. Gwen showed me where I could retrieve my gear
bag and where I could look up my official result. I won my age group.
As soon as I had a chance
to sit down, I took off my left shoe, so I could adjust my insole. Even after fixing my shoe, I still had
discomfort on the bottom of my left foot.
I assumed I had developed a blister.
There were three 50sub4
members at this race, and all three of us won our age groups. After the awards ceremony we posed together
with our finisher medals and our age group medals.
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I didn’t eat much food in
the finish area. I was mostly thirsty. By the time I got back to Provo, I was
starving. I don’t usually eat a meal
until I get cleaned up, but there was an Arby’s right next to my hotel, so I
went through the drive-through to get a fast food lunch, and I ate it when I
got back to the hotel. That won’t stop
me from having a celebratory dinner later.
When I took my shoes and
socks off, I discovered that I not only had a blister in the arch of my left
foot, but it had ripped open. I was not
prepared for the sting when it came in contact with hot water. It doesn’t hurt as much now, but training runs
may be uncomfortable for a while.
This was my second Utah
marathon in two months. The Deseret News
Marathon brought me closer to completing my fourth circuit of marathons or
ultras in every state. This race helped
me make progress toward an eventual fifth circuit.
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