Salt Lake City 1/2 Marathon

Photo: Leah, Cindy, me, and Sandi at the start.

This was my 5th Salt Lake City 1/2 Marathon. In 2007 I did it as my first 1/2 marathon ever, in about 2:20. In 2008, I improved my time to 2:14 or so. In 2009, I did it coaching for Team in Training, and I actually did 26 miles that day, all on the 1/2 marathon course, but obviously not timed! In 2010, I did it as an easy training day, because I was coming off of my foot injury, and I did it in about 2:20 again. This year, it's only been a bit over a month since I miscarried, and so my expectations were not high. Still, I have had some really fast times in training this week, and the course is a very fast downhill course (except for one good hill from mile 11-12), so I figured I might actually be pretty fast. It was nice to go into a race with no pressure at all. Jim told me I should do it at about 85% effort, which I mostly complied with - actually, the first 10 miles were probably more like 75-80% effort, and the last 3.1 was 85% effort.

The weather was just about perfect. It was 50F (10C) and overcast, with showers threatening. It didn't actually shower at all until right after I finished, when it rained lightly for a few minutes. I wore capri tights and a short-sleeved shirt, with my long-sleeved shirt over the top and gloves. I took off the gloves and the long-sleeved shirt after a couple miles, and was quite comfortable the rest of the race. I wore a baseball cap in case of showers, but didn't really need it.

I started off at a comfortable pace; there's a particularly nice downhill in the first mile and I knew it would be fast. I got to the mile marker in 8:51 though, which seemed unusually fast. My Garmin said 0.94 miles so I doubted that it was really a mile. Anyway, my heart rate was nice and comfortable so I just kept the pace. The second mile is much flatter, but I didn't see the mile marker anywhere. So I pushed lap when my Garmin said 1.94 miles, and it said 9:53 for the second mile. Hmmmm, I had no idea what that meant! I just knew I felt good and my heart rate was fine. There's a lovely downhill (the steepest on the course) from mile 2-3, and I took it nice and fast, getting to mile 3 (where there actually WAS a mile sign) in 9:04, for a total of 27:50. That seemed fast, but again, my HR was 152, so I kept going. I looked carefully to see my 5K split at mile 3.11 - it was 29:15! Oh my gosh, that was fast for the start of a half marathon. I thought either I was going to have a banner PR day, or that I'd crash and burn later. I suspected the former, since I was feeling great. I got to mile 4 (again, no sign - lame!!!) in 9:49, and then to mile 5 (where there WAS a sign) in 9:33 for 47:13 total. Wow, that was fast - much faster even than the 49:xx the other day, and I still had 8 miles to go, but I was feeling good. The course was much flatter here, so my times were a little slower, though it's hard to know exact splits with the terrible signage.

There was an aid station about mile 5.75, and it was just awful. I really needed a drink by this time, and wanted to take some nutrition as well. However, I had to actually almost STOP at the gatorade table and ask where the water was, because the volunteers were unable to keep up with the demand. This race always has aid station issues...ugh! Seriously, I think I lost 30 seconds here, and my time from mile 5-6 was the slowest of the race at 10:31. Despite that, I arrived at 10K (6.22 miles) at 59:45 - wow, that is faster than my (admittedly lame) 10K in Sacramento last year (60:02)! I was still feeling good so at this point I allowed myself to think that I might get a PR. In fact, I figured I'd PR even if I tanked a bit at the end.

The course is only slightly downhill or pretty flat from this point until about mile 10.5. Still, I kept good time, getting to mile 7 in 9:22 (there was a sign there) for 1:07:07 total, to mile 8 (no sign) in about 10:00 (another really lousy aid station lost me about 15-20 sec here), to mile 9 in 9:47, (passing 15K along the way in approximately 1:30:14!!! - gives me great hope for my 15K race next month!!!) and then to mile 10 (I took more nutrition just before mile 10 (clif shot blocks); yet another lousy aid station - the volunteer actually dropped the cup of water and I went on to the next person and had to wait a few seconds for the handoff - grrr!) in 10:15 (there was a sign here!) for a total of 1:37:10, which is actually a PR for 10 miles! You can actually see on my HR data for the race where I stopped at the 3 aid stations. How annoying. Yet I know the volunteers did the best they could; I think there just weren't enough of them. I suppose I should shut up and actually volunteer myself for a race!

Now I just had 5K left from mile 10-13.1. I decided it was time to bump it up a bit and give it some more serious effort to the finish. I figured a heart rate of around 160 would be good; I stepped it up and got to mile 11 in 9:40, with ave HR of 157. Then came the biggest challenge of this course - the hill up State Street to South Temple. It's long and gradual with a nasty uphill right at the very last part, just before mile 12. I kept my cadence high and focused hard, knowing that the rest would be gravy once I got this part. It was hard, but I made it to mile 12 in 10:22 (not bad for that hill!). I made it to 12.43 miles (20K) in 2:01:08, which gives me great hope for breaking 2:00 this summer for 20K in Sacramento (though this course is downhill so I'll have to work a lot harder there). Then the descent to the Gateway mall, where there were lots of people cheering. That's one of the best things about this race - it really gets the city out in force to cheer, and it's quite loud at the end as you go on the brick pathway through the outdoor mall. I got to mile 13 in 9:13, and the last 0.1 in 1:09 for a finish time of 2:07:37 (by my watch; the chip time might be a few seconds faster). I was totally thrilled! My previous PR was 2:11:18, and much more hard-fought than this race. This time I was just cruising for most of it and only worked hard the last few miles.

I'm not sure where this speed came from, but I'm not complaining! My coach Jim is wonderful, though. I texted him at the end of the race, knowing he was asleep (it was 1:15 am there when I finished). I figured I'd hear from him later today. However, he called me at 10:30 am (2:30 am his time) to congratulate me! Crazy guy! He just had a few thoughts about why I was so fast: 1) my workouts have been quite good this week, 2) my iron levels are probably really good (since I've been taking iron tablets for a year now), 3) I have a really good base of strong workouts for the last few years, which can carry one quite a ways, and 4) oddly enough, he said that my brief pregnancy might have helped. Sadly, he said that it's thought the Russians used to have their distance athletes get pregnant and then have early abortions because it supposedly helped their speed improve. How awful! I don't know if it's true or not, but hey, at least something good came of that horrible experience for me? Regardless of why, I'm just quite happy with this race, and I'm going to dinner and the symphony tonight with my husband to celebrate!

After the race, I went to work to take care of a few things. Here I am at my bench in the lab with my finisher's medal.


Garmin connect data here.