26.2 is no "walk in the park"!

Well, I finally did it... I ran a traditional marathon. The Salt Lake Marathon runs from the University of Utah "Olympic Bridge", to Sugar House Park, out to Tuscany Restraunt, and then heads back to the Gateway Mall fountain for the finish. I figured this would be just a little longer than my normal Saturday runs of 20 miles (give or take). Arguably, I figured I'd try to push past the "Ultra" per-mile-pace of 11 min, but figured that otherwise it wouldn't be too bad. Well... it was definitely different.

I knew the crowd would be a factor, but we were still dodging around people at 7 miles! By seven miles in any of the 50Ks I've run, I'm basically alone! The fact that there were aid stations every 2 miles or less was kind of cool (no carrying water), and there were actually "spectators" who cheered as you ran past throughout the entire race which was completely alien to anything I've experienced in Trail 50Ks.

Running on the pavement for 4 hours was a bit much... that stuff is hard and boring! I also pushed for 9 min miles and ended up with 9:34's (4:06.34) which is considerably faster than I run my 50Ks, so that could have had something to do with the stiffness I feel today; I actually feel like I ran 50K. Trails may be more variable in angle, steepness, etc, but that's what makes them more fun to run!

All-in-all it was reasonably enjoyable, and I'll probably do some more marathons, especially if my wife is running a 1/2 marathon that corresponds with one. I did see a couple of the guys I see at the Ultras, but between the crowds and the roads themselves, I'm going to stay with my trail-ultras for the most part. I'll post some photos as I get them from the promoter, so stay tuned!