This was my second time running TOU. I ran it two years ago and finished in 4:08. So this time I had three goals. First was to come in under 3:49 to set a PR. If I couldn't do that I wanted to come in under 4 hours. If I couldn't to that I wanted to beat my 2007 time.
The starting line was cold but I found a place to sit in the tent and just stayed there most of the time. Just before the start I looked around for a guy I was going to run with, but never found him (My wife said she saw him cross the finish line about 30 seconds before I did).
Mile 1 9:00 - Working my way through the crowd. Could be worse.
Mile 2 8:24 - Good. Right where I want to be.
Mile 3 8:24 - I could do this all day.
Mile 4 8:23 - I'm getting warm. Time to ditch the long sleeved shirt.
Mile 5 8:20 - Take a shot of GU.
Mile 6 8:31 - Feeling good.
Mile 7 8:29 - Still feeling good.
Mile 8 8:23 - Coming out of the shadows. On with the sunglasses, off with the sunglasses.
Mile 9 8:25 - Good
Mile 10 8:36 - Listening to a couple of guys chat about their jobs. It's not a very interesting conversation.
Mile 11 8:37 - GU. Getting a little tired of the heart rate monitor.
Mile 12 8:36 - I think I have to pee.
Mile 13 8:34 - Getting ready to leave the canyon. Unless I want to pee in someone else's yard I better do it now ... less than 20 seconds woo hoo!
Mile 14 8:33 - Coming out of the canyon. A nice little crowd of spectators. Is my wife there? No, but I do see a guy named Ben from home. "Hi Ben, can you take my heart rate monitor for me? Thanks! Going to the BYU game tonight? Great! Have fun" (He won't)
Mile 15 8:20 - Why is my watch wiggin' out? Oh yeah, it's looking for a heart rate monitor.
Mile 16 8:20 - More GU
Mile 17 8:47 - Starting to slow down a bit. Just keep the pace under nine and I'll still be on track. Maybe some music will help. I'll put on the iPod.
Mile 18 8:53 - Folks cheering along the highway are nice. Still under nine. I'll be ok.
Mile 19 9:02 - A couple of little hills put my pace over nine, but I'm still ok.
Mile 20 9:50 - Whoa, starting to drag a bit. Gotta hold it together.
Mile 21 9:23 - A nice lady starts up a conversation. Do some quick math. I can still be under four hours if I keep the pace below 10:30. Piece of cake!
Mile 22 10:00 - OK, this is where it gets tough. Less than five miles left. You can do this.
Mile 23 10:50 - I grab a gatorade at an aid station. It's grape and too strong. I spit it out. "Yuk!" Did I say that out loud? This is where a lot of people are starting to walk. I'm not one of them. Keep going.
Mile 24 10:51 - This is getting really hard. Hey, there's my wife. Taking pictures of my. I hope I look better than I feel. She asks if I want her to run with me. She's keeping up, and she's wearing flip-flops. Not a good sign.
Mile 25 11:11 - My fingers are starting to tingle. I drink more at the aid station, but it's probably too late. Push it up this last hill.
Mile 26 11:58 - I'm really not feeling well now. Both hands are numb and the world is spinning around me. My feet are landing in a funny way. Flop, flop, flop. I can hear people yell "you're doing great!" I'm not. Down the hill gravity helps, but not much. OK, one more block and I'm in the home stretch.
The last .2 - Time to get this stupid thing over with. I pick up the pace reach the finish line and throw up my arms. It's over. Then I start to wobble.
"How are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"Uh oh, this one's going to need some help."
"Are you ok?"
"I dunno"
"Try to keep your head up"
"Umgph"
"OK, come with me. I'll just sit you down here in the shade and get you something to drink. Is Gatorade ok?"
Gatorade? What's Gatorade? "uh, sure"
So I sit for a while and then finally pick myself up and go in to the actual finisher's area. After about a half hour of just sitting there drinking water and chocolate milk I recovered enough to walk back to the hotel, clean up and live to run another day.
I didn't set a PR and didn't break four hours, but I did shave 5 minutes off of my TOU time from two years ago and it was a fun race (except for that last few miles. If those are fun, you aren't doing it right).
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