The family and I traveled down to Salt Lake on Friday to pick up our race packets and plan some logistics with the family of where to watch the race. Both of our parents came down to watch and help with the girls since Melanie and I were both running. After picking up our packets at the Salt Palace and looking at a couple of the booths we headed to our hotel where we were staying. Our parents each had gotten rooms across the hall from us so it was fun to take the girls swimming and soak in the hot tub a little. We didn't want to over do it in the hot tub but it did seem to loosen up some of the knots in my muscles. I never seem to do where after I taper and take a few days off.
Race morning we both got up after a restless night and put on our running gear to head to the start line. We ended up finding a nice spot to park and were able to get on to the tram with very little waiting. This is one of the things I had been stressing about because so many of the reviews in years passed had said how difficult it was. As we made it to the starting line I said good bye to Melanie (she was running the half) and headed to my time corral. I finished warming up and after a brief starting line ceremony the race kicked off. This race is hard for me to describe. The weather was perfect, the organization of this race was great with a lot of great volunteers that allowed it to happen but the course was a difficult one. We had a bunch of hills that I didn't plan on when I looked over the course elevation map. There was also a bunch of meandering through areas to make up the distance. Around mile 9 the course splits for the half and the full marathoners. I struggled a bit to keep my pace with the hills but overall I felt good. Hydration and nutrition worked well for me this race.
The last couple of miles the half and the full marathoners course come together to the finish line. I struggled a bit running through the crowd of runners to the finish line. I was happy with my race overall. I ran this race not expecting a fast course. I wanted to see where I was at in my training. I did find some areas of improvement.
This is a great race for the family and is organized very well just not a great course if you are really wanting a fast one.
Splits: 6:22, 6:34, 6:18, 6:24, 6:17 6:32, 6:31, 6:39, 6:29, 6:44, 6:23, 6:35, 6:36, 6:38, 6:44, 6:37, 6:27, 6:34, 6:43, 6:49, 6:50, 6:50, 6:46, 6:54, 7:06 and last 1.2 miles at 7:15. Average pace was 6:43.
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