Bob Mann: 2011 Top Of Utah Marathon

Sat Sep 17, 2011

On Saturday Sep 17 2011, I ran the Top Of Utah Marathon in Logan, UT. This was to be my 20th state on my quest to run in all 50. I chose Utah because it fit my schedule, but also because this one looked like a good course. The first half of the race was through a canyon, which was full of gorgeous scenery, according to all the reviews I read. Plus, the race was a huge net downhill, which should make it relatively easy.

My training mileage over the Summer was not as high as I would have liked. I had initially thought that the net downhill might render this one of the easiest marathons I could ever run, and thus it would be an ideal time to try for a PR. But the Summer just didn't work out that way. I knew the training was enough to finish without a problem, but I thought a PR was unlikely. There was also the elevation to consider. The race began at about 5600 feet above sea level and finished around 4600 feet, so the thin air could be somewhat of an issue. On the other hand, I have done two other marathons at higher altitudes than this. The one in Deadwood SD reached as high as 6400 feet, and the one in Green River WY made it as high as 7600 feet. I did struggle greatly in both of those, but both also contained significant uphill portions. Frankly, I attributed those struggles more to the uphill climbs than I did to the altitude, so I wasn't terribly concerned heading to Utah.

I knew that a negative split would be impossible. Not when the first half was entirely downhill and the second half was basically flat. So what would my goal be? I figured that if everything broke my way, a new PR was the best case scenario, albeit unlikely. I figured that something closer to 3:50 was more likely, but I really just wanted to break four hours and, most importantly, just check another state off the map.

I arrived in Salt Lake City rather early on Friday. I had all day to drive up to Logan, get my race great, and check into my hotel. Since I had so much time to kill, I drove to Antelope Island State Park, which is an island inside the Great Salt Lake. I'd heard how freakishly buoyant the lake is because of the salinity, so I wanted to try it out. So I changed into my bathing suit and took a dip in the lake. And yes, I must say that it was rather weird. It felt like I was lying on top of the lake instead of in the lake. I also did my day-before shake-out run along a trail on the island. It probably wasn't the best idea to run on a rock-strewn trail the day before a marathon, but I took it really slow and was very careful not to step on anything and twist an ankle.

I eventually headed up to Logan, on a beautiful drive through the mountains. I picked up my stuff, checked into the hotel, had some dinner, and turned in early.

Because the race was not on a loop course, we had to get bussed out to the start line, way up the mountain. That meant a very early start to the day. A shuttle picked me and some other runners up from the hotel at about 5:00am and took us to the finish line, where we met up with all the other runners. There we boarded a bunch of buses to begin the 26.2 mile journey to the start line. We arrived there at about 6:00am. It was dark, misty, and chilly. After a very warm Summer, it was strange to have an hour to kill in such chilly conditions. Thankfully, there was a heated tent where we could stay warm and dry before the start.

The 7:00am start time approached, and the runners began to gather outside. There was a consistent light rain, and the sun just bgean to rise. Just a minute or two before the start, the rain turned from light to heavy. A couple thousand runners were standing around shivering in pouring rain when the gun went off. The course immediately headed downhill as we ran back towards Logan.

The heavy rain didn't last very long. For much of the downward journey, the rain alternated between light and none. Indeed, the scenery through the canyon was beautiful. I'm sure it would have been nice if we could have seen the sun rise over the mountains, but it was much to cloudy and gloomy for that.

I felt pretty good throughout the first half of the race. I began the race wearing a garbage bag to keep some of the rain off, and I shed that when the hard rain disappeared. I was also wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt from a miscellaneous 5k, and I shed that as well once I warmed up. After the initial start crowd thinned, my pace quickened. Mile 2 was covered in 8:09, which might very well be the fastest mile I've ever covered in a marathon. (I'd have to check my records). Miles 2 and 3 weren't much slower, at 8:14 and 8:18. I considered the possibility that I was going out too fast, but I felt good. Nonetheless, I decided to slow it down just a little. After that, my pace throughout the first half was fairly consistently in the 8:30s. However, that 8:30 pace was feeling more difficult as I went on. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

While much of the first half was done without too much rain, a brief thunderstorm rolled through when I was at about Mile 10. The rain was quite heavy for a few minutes, and flashes of lightning were visible in the distance. Before long, the rain eased up again. I crossed the halfway point at about 1:52 by my watch. A perfectly even split would give me a 3:44, which is my PR. As noted before, I knew the PR would be impossible based on the elevation profile, so I put the thought out of my mind. I was already beginning to feel a struggle, even though we were still moving downhill. I figured I might be in trouble once the downhill was done. Thankfully the remaining terrain was flat. But it wasn't downhill.

Between Miles 14 and 15, we exited the canyon. Right around this time, the heavy rain began again. But wait, this wasn't rain. It's hail! For about 5 minutes, we were running in a hailstorm! The hail wasn't large -- no bigger than the size of a marble. But still, when a hailstone hit you just right, you could really feel it. Running in hail was definitely a first for me. But it didn't last long, and pretty soon we were running on residential roads under cloudy skies.

After Mile 15, my energy started to sag. My pace slowed very quickly. From the 8:30s that I was doing through Mile 14, I sagged all the way to 10:00 by Mile 19. I found this very unusual. While it's not uncommon to run out of gas in a marathon, it normally doesn't happen to me that early. As each mile passed by, I ran calculations in my head about what my finish time might be. In other words, I thought "if I maintain the pace I did in that last mile, I will finish the race in x:xx". That predicted finish time was increasing rapidly, and once I reached Mile 19, my predicted finish time was very close to four hours. And at the rate I was slipping, keeping under four hours seemed unlikely. Mile 19 took me 10 minutes, and I would have to maintain close to a 10 minute pace to stay under four. That wasn't looking likely.

However, I managed to somehow stop the bleeding somewhat after this. My next few miles were all just barely over 10 minutes. It felt very slow, but at least it had finally stabilized. Numerous times I had to convince myself not to slow to a walk. I knew that if I did that, it would be very hard to start back up. So I kept shuffling along. Mile 23 was my slowest of the day, in 10:34. Three more miles over 10:30 and I would miss four hours. But I was able to convince myself that it was only 3 more miles, and I was able to muster a little more energy. Mile 24 was done in 10:08. Then Mile 25 was 9:50. With a mile to go, I realized that walking would doom me, but I only needed to keep running to squeeze in under four. Somehow I managed that 26th mile in 9:22, and I crossed the finish line in 3:59:09. I will consider it a small victory that I was able to hold on and finish in less than four hours!

Upon reflection, I'm still not sure why I struggled as much as I did in the second half of the race. Yes, my mileage was down a little bit this Summer, but really it wasn't all that much less than previous Summers. The temperature for the race was certainly suitable for a marathon. The most likely conclusion that I can reach is that the altitude affected me more than I thought. And perhaps my struggles in South Dakota and Wyoming were due more to the altitude than I had given credit.

In retrospect, does it really matter that I broke four hours? Would a 4:01 or 4:05 mean anything different? In the grand scheme, not really. 3:59 and 4:05 both count just as much towards the 50 states. So why did I even bother pushing myself to get in under four? I don't know. I was more sore after this race than I had been for a marathon in a long time. Easing into the finish would certainly have diminished the soreness. Is this extra soreness worth the sub-four time? Would I have been better off to take it easy and save energy for the next marathon? I think I would have to say it was worth it. Even though I'm often quick to point out the arbitrary-ness of round numbers, I am happy with a sub-four nonetheless, for some reason. Is it any coincidence that this was my 20th state? Hmm...

The post-race festivities were okay, but nothing special. The rain had made the park at the finish area rather muddy, which was a little annoying. The finishers medal is a nice one that I am happy to add to my collection. The town of Logan didn't have all that much going on. Utah State University was just a few blocks from the finish line, and I was hoping that I could find a sports bar near the school where I could watch college football for the rest of the afternoon. I found only one, and it was very sparsely attended. Although the local team had a bye week, I expected more fans to be out watching other games. If they were out, I didn't find them.

So the Top Of Utah Marathon could be described in the same way as some of the other races I've done: Beautiful scenery with landscapes vastly unlike anything I am used to here on the East Coast. But not the most thrilling destination for a weekend getaway. It was a well-organized race with tons of friendly volunteers. There was no crowd at all in the canyon in the first half (non-runners weren't allowed to enter the canyon road), and the crowd was somewhat sparse but enthusiastic in the second half. Overall, I give the race a mild thumbs-up. But be aware of the altitude!

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.