Salt Lake Marathon & Half Marathon

 
Here I am at the early start with Kale, Mitzi, and Dayne.

We met at 4:45 to take TRAX to the start. Very early, even for me. The early start was at 6:05 am, for walkers and slower runners. It was still quite dark, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the early starters. We warmed up with some easy walking for about 10 minutes, then some gentle stretching. After a visit to the porta-potties and the gear check, it was time for the race start. I walked with the early starters to mile 1, then turned around and came back.

I arrived back at the start just in time to catch the rest of the team getting off of TRAX. Everyone was clearly enjoying the moment. After a LONG wait for the porta-potties we got to the start just in time and we were off. I started off with Darlene, our fastest 1/2 marathoner. Actually, a couple of our full marathoners, Starr and Rachael, were with us too (just ahead of us). Darlene set a pretty quick pace of about 9:30/mile and I was surprised that Starr & Rachael were going out that fast, as they usually do about 11:00/mile in practice. I let them know they were going pretty quickly, and they did slow a bit but not until about mile 3-4.

Originally I had thought to possibly stay with Darlene until mile 10 or so and then work my way back to each group in turn - but I realized two things pretty quickly: 1) I would not be able to racewalk that fast for that long (my 1/2 marathon PR is 10:04/mile; in fact, I did run a little bit with Darlene, probably for 0.5-1 mile as breaks from racewalking, since she was going about my 10K racewalk pace) and 2) I wouldn't get to see the other team members as much as I wanted. So when we got to mile 4 at Sugar House Park, where the 1/2 marathoners had a very handy turn-around that gave me a great view of everyone coming and going for 0.5 mile or so, I let Darlene go and stayed there to see everyone on the team (half and full) go by. I saw pretty much everyone except the early starters (who were probably at mile 7-8 by that time) and one of the full marathoners who was much faster than the rest. It was GREAT to get to touch base w/everyone; all were looking good at this point except one of my summer team members (I had the summer full marathoners do the race as their workout), Nicole, whose knees were hurting :(.

Then I cheated :) (but since I wasn't wearing a chip and not actually racing it was OK :)!). I cut across the course on 2100 south (going past a policeman who told me I was going the wrong way; I explained that I was coaching and needed to catch my runners), cutting out about 2-3 miles. I was hoping to catch Darlene again, but she probably was about 2-3 min ahead of me. Oh well. I did see the next person, Whitney, from the Logan, UT team, and I racewalked with her for about 3 miles. She was clearly doing fine, so I let her go on ahead to the finish. It was getting warm by this time (did I mention that the weather was PERFECT!?!? Low of 40, high 60, sunny, a little wind at the end but not too bad) and so while I waited for the next team member (about 3 min) I quickly removed my tights (shorts underneath) and long sleeve shirt so I'd be more comfortable, and tied them around my waist. Pretty soon Emily came along and I she was doing great until mile 11 when she started to hurt. We stopped at the TNT aid station at mile 11.5 or so; I ditched my tights & shirt there for retrieval later. Then I walked Emily up the hill on State Street to South Temple (mile 12), and after she went down the hill there for a block or 2 she was fine and I left her to go back and walk others up the hill.

In succession, I then walked a bunch of people up the hill: Diane (my friend & fellow TNT walk coach from previous seasons, who took 2nd in her age group of 65-69 with a time of 2:53!), Carolyn & Lauri, Sumer & Lonetta, Natalie. Yeah, that was a lot of times up the hill, but I was walking mostly, not racewalking at this point, so it wasn't as taxing as it might have been (especially to my poor R piriformis which has been bugging me). Then I was getting closer to the finish; each time I walked people closer and went back for the next group, and never got quite down the hill after Natalie. I walked with Michelle, Casandra, & Karleen next (felt so bad because I kept calling her Valerie by mistake - my brain was kinda fuzzy by then), and finally Valerie and then Michelle. I walked Michelle across the finish line and took my 1/2 marathon finisher's medal (I had a 1/2 marathon not a full marathon entry because I bought it last year and didn't want TNT to have to buy me another; besides, I never set foot on the full marathon course - they split at mile 5 or 6 and rejoined at mile 22 on the full/9 on the half, and the other coach (Te Koi) went with our full marathoners). My finish (untimed by chip) was in about 3:34, but I had done 18.07 miles by then, according to my Garmin (including the 2 from the early start, so it was about 16 in the 3:34).

I was pretty tired by then and my right hip was bugging me. Michelle was the last 1/2 marathoner, so it was time to go back for the full marathoners. I called Te Koi and he told me that they were about at mile 20. That gave me a little time, I thought. I walked slowly for about 0.5 mile but then picked it up a little to get back to the TNT aid station. I didn't make it for a while though - while I was on my way back, I ran into the first of our full marathoners, who was just starting up the hill on State Street. Oh great, I thought... I get to do this hill again :). He was doing a good clip for someone who'd just done 22 miles, at about 9:45 up the hill. I RAN (not RW) up the hill w/him because I knew my hip would whine if I RW that fast up the hill (oddly, my IT band never gave me a hint of trouble even though I ran a fair amount - maybe about 3-4 miles total today?). He seemed SO glad to have someone run with him, and I went down the other side a little ways w/him and then sent him on to the finish. I was going back and was 3/4 of the way down the hill toward the TNT aid station when I ran into 3 full marathoners from the Logan, UT team. Their coach was back about 5 miles they said, so I knew it was my job to run them up the hill. Wheee! So up I went again. I was starting to get really good at this hill! I went back down, and yes, you guessed it, I ran into Dayne from our team and I got to run him up the hill too :). He was doing great, though, and looked like he'd finish no problem, so I sent him off and went back down.

This time I made it all the way back to the aid station at mile 11.5(half)/24.6(full). I actually got to take a break for about 10 minutes; porta-potty, lots of water (I'd been drinking at other aid stations, too, but needed more), a banana, and some chit-chat with the team members. This aid station was in the PERFECT place for me as a coach :). I asked Bev (team captain) to take my gloves, shirt, and tights to the finish for me later, and then I headed off backwards on the course to find the next full marathoner. I ran into Starr in about 0.2-0.3 miles and she was looking pretty good but told me she was very sore and nauseous. She got some water at the aid station and I gently coaxed her up the hill; she really felt very ill but composed herself so well - very bravely, I thought. I tried to keep her mind off of it and got her up the hill and a good ways down the other side. Then she was doing better and I left her to finish and went back for the next person. I saw Kale just as she was getting to the top of the hill, and felt bad that I hadn't been able to walk her up it, but she was looking VERY good so I didn't feel too bad about it after I saw her. I walked w/her for the better part of a mile and then went back for the next person --- and was surprised to see Kevan only about 0.1 mile behind us. He was looking very good and we quickly caught up to Kale (she'd done the early start as a walker, so his pace was probably 11/mile and hers about 13-14/mile) and were all together for a little. I soon sent them on their way and went back again.

I knew from talking to Te Koi that he was with Rachael a few miles back, and that Mitzi was in front of them. They were the last two from the team. I ran into Mitzi and Bev just after the hill; I was SO glad Bev had run w/her up the hill - team captains are awesome! Mitzi was quite tired but looking very good, and it was great walking w/her to the finish. Her family joined her 0.1 mile from the end and I got photos of them all runnng together; she was crying, and it was beautiful - probably my favorite part of the day.

Oh yeah - my total mileage? About 25.6. Yeah, not quite 26.2, but close enough. With the warm-up before the early start (which I did NOT do on my Garmin) plus the walking to TNT tent, to the finish line, back to the tent, to my car, etc. I'm sure it was over 26.2. My husband, who is VERY particular about things and quite detail-oriented, says I can count it as a marathon, and I'm inclined to agree. Why not? OK, so it was not a conventional way to do it, but it was a wonderful experience. My Garmin says my average pace was 12:09/mile; not bad for all the slower walking I did, but that includes the running and the faster RW too.

I'm up too late now and quite tired, and this is already probably too long, so I'll stop now. I will post some more pictures tomorrow. Good night!