My fourth marathon went pretty well. There were a few hiccups along the way, which I will get into in a minute, but I still finished in 5:20 (5 minutes faster than Salt Lake).
Issue one: I ate too early. As is common with most marathons, Utah Valley requires runners to park at the finish line, and catch a shuttle to the start. So my morning timeline went like this: leave house at 2:15, catch shuttle in Provo at 3:30, and wait around for 6:00 start time. I ate my usual peanut butter sandwiches as I drove down to Provo, but as I rode the shuttle to the start, I realized I really should have brought some additional food with me because by the time we actually started running, it had been four hours since I had breakfast. So even though my usual meal will hold me over until the marathon is almost over, I was feeling some hunger pains set in around mile 8.
Issue two: Ibuprofen. I've heard the saying "never try anything new on race day" at least a million times. Typically I am good about this. I've found what works for me, and I don't venture far from my routine. But two days before the marathon I had a two-hour sparring session in Taekwondo. Come race day, I could still feel the post-workout tightness in my quads and hamstrings. Determined to not let that throw my race, at one of the mid-way aid stations, I popped a Ibuprofen. Big mistake. Around mile 19-20, I started to get queazy. That Ibuprofen, in conjunction with race day nerves and lack of sleep, did not settle well. The feeling eventually went away around mile 24/25, and I was able to finish strong, but the unplanned walking breaks due to nausea hurt my time.
Besides these two mishaps, I really enjoyed this race. The course is fantastic, and I will definitely plan on running it again. My next full marathon is in less than a month!
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