I went into this marathon with the goal of running under three hours but in the days leading up to the race I began feeling like I was coming down with something. My two girls had been sick so it was only a matter of time. I woke up Saturday morning feeling better but my legs felt fatigued. Not a good sign before the race had even started. I caught the bus and rode up to the canyon starting line. As soon as I climbed off of the bus I realized I had under dressed. It was cold. There were a lot of fires going to help people stay warm but there was piles of people around them. As the race started a group of runners took off and I fell into pace with them. Looking down at my watch I realized they were running under 6 minute miles a lot faster then I wanted to do. I slowed down and started running my own race. After a few miles I started to find my sync and the miles started to fall away. I finished the first half around 1:27 and was still feeling strong. I didn't really start to fade until mile 21. Luckily my sister in law Tara was waiting at mile 22 and ran the last few miles with me and pushed me. I really don't know where I would have ended up if she hadn't. The last mile it was everything I had to keep moving my legs but I was so close to my goal. I crossed the finish line and realized I had did it, I had just run a marathon in under three hours! A short time later we found out I had taken second place overall I was blown away. When I had looked at previous year results I figured I might be able to run in the top ten if I was lucky.
My splits: 6:40, 6:43, 6:40, 6:37, 6:36, 6:41, 6:41, 6:36, 6:35, 6:33, 6:38, 6:36, 6:38, 6:41, 6:48, 6:48, 6:53, 6:57, 6:59, 7:16, 7:22, 7:24, 7:20, 7:26, 7:13, 6:56. The Garmin watch came through for me. | 