Utah Valley Marathon today. I felt good at the starting line and was confident I would have a good race, but things just didn't turn out like I planned. The wind really hurt my time, but everyone was running into the wind. I could have dealt with the wind ok knowing it was blowing against us all. It was stomach issues that ruined the race for me. I don't usually have stomach problems.
I felt good for about 5 miles and then my stomach started feeling off. I was uncomfortable, but still doing ok with it until about the half. The miles around Deer Creek and clear down until the half-way point were just hard. The wind was blowing what felt like at least 20 mph and my left quad really hurt going up the hills. It was ok going down, but not up, which seemed odd. At about mile 12 I looked at my time and thought, "I really thought I would be able to run faster than this." I crossed the half at 1:30:35 and knew there was no way I would PR. I didn't even have hopes for a sub 3 because I didn't think I had it in me to run the second half faster than the first.
I took my first port-o-potty stop just after the 15th mile marker. I was so uncomfortable and it just didn't seem worth it to poop my pants for a terrible time anyway. Might have felt differently if I was on track for an awesome PR. Somewhere around here I also felt as though I might throw-up for about a 1/2 mile.
A mile or so later my brother came running up the highway and ran down about 2 miles with me. He told me I was in 4th place. I thought for sure I was farther back than that. Just after he turned off to the trail my husband pulled up with the kids. My 9 yr old son Eli asked what my pace was and I said, "7 min" with a thumbs-down sign. He had so nicely prayed in his personal prayers the night before that I would be able to accomplish my goal and beat my time. He knew 7 min wasn't good enough.
Just after the 19th mile marker I took another port-o-potty stop. At this point I just wanted to be done. I didn't care much about the time or place. I think someone must have passed me while I was in the port-o-potty and two people passed me along University Ave.
I never "hit the wall" and really felt horrible, just a lot of very uncomfortable miles. Josse ran a mile or so with me towards the end which was nice. I finished in 3:06:38.
My husband and kids were there cheering for me. They knew I hadn't placed in the top 5 and didn't win anything. A few minutes after I finished my 6 year old daughter Elsa said, "Well, it was more fun when you won." I couldn't help but laugh at that.
Splits: 6:26, 6:33, 6:35, 6:43, 6:47, 6:51, 6:50, 7:24, 7:32, 6:44, 6:54, 7:17, 7:02, 6:59, 6:55, 8:46 (1:30 sec in port-o-potty), 7:11, 7:02, 6:43, 8:12 (1:15 sec in port-o-potty), 7:08, 7:12, 7:12, 7:31, 7:26, 6:56, last .2 6:47 pace. | 