Ok, where to start! First I had a great time and was very glad to meet a bunch of the bloggers at the pasta party Friday night. This was the highlight of the weekend! Thank you very much Clyde and especially Mik'L for holding such a great event and giving me the place to stay! I look forward to reading the race reports of the FRB runners as I know a lot had good days. The FRB ended up with at least 9 of the top 23 overall spots as well. Before I get to my race story and results I have to mention that the Lord blessed me on the way home. The weather was bad and I hit a patch of ice and slid out of control off the road and over a very steep embankment. My car was totaled and I walked away without a scratch! When the ambulance and police saw my car they were amazed that I did not have a scratch on me and was feeling ok. If I had not had my seat belt on I would have not survived that is for sure but even with the seat belt they were surprised I walked away as I did. I rolled and flipped the car twice to the best of my recollection. I ended up at the bottom of the embankment on the other side of an 8 foot high fence. I did not go through the fence though because the fence poles were only bent at about the 6 foot mark indicating that when I flipped over the fence I was at least 6 feet in the air. The roof is crushed in on the front of my car the windows were broken out and the entire right side of the car was smashed. The front of the car is smashed along with the fact that I had to kick my door open to get out of the car. All of the shocks were completely blown out and the frame was bent. When the dragged the car up it the entier bottom was dragging ont he ground. When I hit the ice I knew I was in trouble as the back end of the car spun completely around and when I tried to counter steer there was no reaction. At this point I went off the embankment backwards and believe it or not said a quick pray asking heavenly father to protect me from injury. The next thought I had was instinctive from being a pilot to brace for the crash by tensing up all of my muscles and bracing for the worst. As the car came back around I think I rolled once down the embankment and then flipped over the fence, again this is the best I can recall as at this point I was just wondering when it was going to be over and during the final sequence I remember telling myself to stay conscious as I did not want to go out. When I stopped I remember quickly assessing for injuries saying, "no blood, no instant pain or feeling of broken bones, ok my hand hurts a little but no blood!" Then I looked around and saw air bags deployed and my stuff all over the place including things hanging out the window. Next I started looking for my cell phone and found it under my foot. I quickly called my wife and told her I was in an accident and totalled my car but I think I was ok. I then discovered that I could not open the door. I did not see anyone around at first so I thought I was on my own. I pushed the door open with my legs and climbed out again assessing for injuries, but found I was still ok but my adrenaline was pumping. At this point a man was on top of the embankment and yelled down to see if I was ok. He said there were two more cars off th road in front of me and I saw that two more cars had also slid off the embankment a couple hundred meters in front of me. I told him I was ok and he said he called 911 as two of the passengers in the other cars were hurt. I walked around the car and found a bunch of my belongings strewn all over the place and picked them up and put them back in the car. It started to snow and I was getting cold so I managed to climb the 8 foot metal and barb wire fence and went and got in a car to stay warm until the police arrived. Well, that is my exciting story for the day. The marathon story will seem quite boring in comparison. I am counting my blessings that is for sure! I will post a picture of my car when I can. We will see how I feel tomorrow after a marathon and a major car accident! Oh yeah during a 30 minute period I found out from the police that 9 cars had slid off the road in a 15 mile section of the highway and four people were on the way to the hospital.
Marathon story to follow: Overall, I was vey pleased with my result, 2:32:58 with a 1:18:50 1st half and a 1:14:08 2nd half. Especailly considering I never really felt good today even from the 1st mile. It was a struggle most of the way. I never felt like I was working at or near marathon pace as far as breathing was and I felt converssational the entire way. I never felt like I hit the wall or ran out of fuel which was good as well. However, the legs felt flat the whole way and I was dealing with a nagging hamstring cramp from mile 15 onward. I just kept hoping it would not get worse. It didn't but it never went away either. I was in a just hang on mile to mile mindset and hoping to not completely cramp up. I was very glad to have the FRB guys to run with. I ran with Chad, Cory, and Chris for a large portion of the race and then we ran caught James and ran with him for a bunch as well. I caught our other training partner from Provo, Jeff, at around 22 as he was cramped up but convinced him to run with me to the finish which helped having someone to talk with. Chad had pulled away for a few miles and then at the end I caught him as he cramped up just before the finish but told him to come with me and he responded and we ran to the line together racing the clock and dipped under 2:33 together. I thought we tied but the chip gave me a slight edge, we were trying to cross together. It was awesome to see that Paul and Logan qualified for the trials and an so great. I was dissapointed for Sasha as he missed his goal, but I know he will make it two years from now. Again it was great to meet everyone and see everyone run well. My splits will follow: (not from GPS and I missed a few)
6:03 6:09 5:50 5:52 5:49 5:33 18:32 (miles 7-9) 6:08 12:22 (miles 11-12) 5:49 5:45 5:39 5:21 5:38 11:32 (miles 18-19) 5:55 5:10 11:18 (miles 22-23) 5:44 5:45 5:46 1:08 for .2 miles Congrats to all and thanks to everyone for the support, friendship and good memories!
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