"PRIOR PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE"

Showtime!

 Slick does Utah Happy Valley Marathon! by Tom Slick on Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:34 am

This won't be a very long report but it will be a very special one to me in so many ways. The UVM was my first marathon since my knee injury of July 2008 that I was able to run injury free. It was a great day to run a marathon. MarkO picked me up at about 2:45 am and we were off to the races. When we arrived at the mall in Provo we quickly surveyed the area around the finish line so as to become more familiar with where this marathon ended. Then we went over to the buses ad waited for a few of the gang to show up. After a while we met up with BeMo, and DoG, and MarcE, Maynard. It appeared that everybody was getting a bit restles and started to board the outbound bus to the starting area. On the bus the same fun banter took place, I managed to sit next to a young lady that was doing her first marathon, so we had one of those fatherly coach conversations about how I thought she should approach her upcoming first 26.2. MarcE sat with a gal from France and it turned out that the girl I was setting with spoke French and these two had quite a conversation. At the starting area, which was a bit mixed up, we managed to stand in a pasture that was filled with knee high grass and weeds and a plethera of PoP's. Of course we were there so early we were able to take our choice and walk right in. Then we all gathered at one of the three fire pits and hung out and met up with several other runners. About 30 minutes before the race started we were hurded out of the first staging area about 300 yards to the big blue starting arch and a bunch more PoP's that were crowded right next to the starting line. Seems to me that allthe PoP's should have been at the the starting line but pushed a little bit further back from the starting line. In the starting area I met up with several running friends from my neighborhood and out of the blue there was Marcie and Smooth and the french girl and so many other faces that I am having a hard time remembering. MarkO and I lined up together as near to the starting line as possible with Marcie and Teena and the rest of the gang. Then it was off to the races...... Just before the start of the race it started to rain fairly hard and I thought that this was really going to ge a misserable race! The as suddenly as it started it lightened up. I took off my garbage bag and folded it up and stashed it in my waist band just in case it got thick again. MarKO pretty much ran this race together. We started off the race in the higg 7's and did that for about 5 miles. I had actually wanted to press my time and push the pace a bit harder but this pace seemed to be the one that I was settling into. I ended up running 8 of my 26 miles under 8 minute miles. I averaged 8.1 minute miles overall. As the race jockyed down the hill we, MarkO and I ran into MarcE and Teena and a million other runners. We continued on and finally made it to the junction where we got on highway 189 and rean head on into the Deer Creek series of little hills. They weren't too bad at all. We continued and ran down the highway for what seemed like forever as the wind pushed us from the rear and the rain continued to to keep our front sides wet. I remember seeing and hearing AlisaK yelling at us from one of the early pit stops and encouraging us to push on and later on during the race we were hailed form a moving motor vehicle. As the race drug on I started to get into my pace and MarkO moved out ahead of me with MarcE and Teena leading the way. Man that woman can scoot down the street... So at about mile 20 or 21 I took stock of my pyhsical and mental attitude and decided that if I was going to make a move on my goal time it was now or never. I opened a gel pack and slammed it and made my move. I caught up with MarkO and as I passed him I told him if he was going to make his move on Teena it was the time to do it because she was really putting the move on us at that time. I looked ahead and painted a target on MarcE and Teena's backs started to cut the distance between us. I finally caught up with MarcE and pressed ahead and caught Teena. Then I thought to myself I had really screwed up, cause now I'd have to keep up the pace or they would catch me and leave me in their wake. As I ran into my last miles of the race there was that up hill overpass that really looked wicked as you approached. I knuckled down and did that mile at 7.58 minutes. As you were going over the overpass you could see the finish area and this was a really big lift to be able to see how close the finish line was. So then it was time to get out my cigar and put on a big grin for my kodak moment. As I went over the finish line I heard a familiar voice and saw the smile of Mrs. Kristie Fit. It was a very welcome conclusion to a really great day on the road as she placed my finisher medal around my neck. Then another woman approached me and welcomed me to the finish line, it turned out to be "Beth", MarcE's wonderful wife and two of their boys Ethen and Christian. Wow, what a great welcome to the finish line and the end of a really great marathon. My Garmin splits: 1. 7:44 2. 7:42 3. 7:44 4. 7:59 5. 7.43 ( Sure hated to have to stop at a Gray Temple of Doom) 6. 9.07 7. 8.12 8. 8.31 9. 8.02 10. 8.09 11. 8.26 12. 8.01 13. 7.58 ( Half way 1:46:XX) 14. 8.16 15. 8.22 16. 8.08 17. 7.54 18. 8.17 19. 8.13 20. 8.09 21. 8.8.07 22. 8.05 23. 8.20 24. 7.58 25. 8.04 26. 8.16 .2. 2.02

3:33:48 (Gramin time)

3:33:45( Official Chip time)

Oh ya, I managed to place 4th in my old man AG.

I sure had a great day running and hanging with all my friends!

Cougar, thank you so much for hosting a Forum Flyer get together post race, it was a blast to get to rub elbows with some of our group of crazy running people and their families.

It was my special treat this weekend to invite Marc and Beth (from Texas) into my home for the weekend with their two boys Christian and Ethen! I had a wonderful time getting to know them better! Well, thats all she wrote......You all be careful out there!