St. George Marathon 2011

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Two weeks is not enough recovery time between marathons. Thankfully, it's over and I can take a whole week off before heading out to Boston to run the BAA half.

Today is also the day I finished the Grand Slam, having finally completed St. George, which was the 4th marathon in the series, so I actually left St. George with two medals today.

The St. George Marathon is one of the most well organized races I've ever run. Everything, except the scorching weather, was flawless and every aid station was fully stocked with food/water/sports drinks and first aid items. I've never run a race before where there was so much food offered on the course. It seemed as if every aid station had bananas, oranges and energy bars, which was awesome since I started the race a little hungry! I had eaten a bagel but we arrived at the top of the canyon two hours before the race began so by the time I started running, I was hungry again. I had a few "Uh oh!" moments thinking I didn't have enough with me to carry me through the race but those worries were short lived.

The first bus of runners arrived in Central, Utah around 4:30 am and there were already bonfires waiting to warm us. Mylar blankets and cotton gloves were also handed out to each runner and we had no trouble keeping warm at the top of the canyon while we waited for the race to begin at 6:45 am.

The race tops out at around 7,500 runners and entrants get in through a lottery. There are thousands of people who register but don't make the cut and as this was my first year registering for this race, I was surprised I actually got in; many running friends were less successful.

The St. George course claims to be downhill and fast when in fact about 4 miles of this course are uphill. There is a 3/4 mile steep climb up the Veyo hill around mile 8. Only a handful of the hundreds of runners all around me ran up this hill...everyone else walked. There is also a two-mile section somewhere around 10-12 miles that gradually climbs uphill. Two entire miles! There are several smaller uphill sections all through the course up until around mile 18 and then pretty much everything drops down with somewhere around an 8% grade until we hit the town of St. George where we had flat conditions up until the finish line.

My time at this race was better than the last few marathons, too, which is a little interesting based on the four-miles of uphill I just told you about and the fact this marathon is coming on the heels of the Top of Utah marathon I did just two weeks ago. My legs are pretty much shot right now and I would love a few months off from running just to recover, but alas, there is no rest for the weary.

I have a half marathon next weekend in Boston and the Marine Corps Marathon on the 30th, which should round out the year for me...unless I get talked into a few more races friends are doing in the next few months. Running friends can be relentless!

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Photos

Runners heading toward St. George
The St. George Marathon 2011

Sleeping runners
We arrived at race start 2 hours before the race began...smarter runners were prepared for this by bringing sleeping bags and pillows (which were then dropped off with race personnel to be shuttled down the mountain to the finish line for pickup later).