2012 St. George Marathon

If you don’t work in sports, you might not realize just how difficult it is to do anything during the season that isn’t actually related to the season.

I started writing this in October, but basketball got in the way. So did lacrosse. Really, a lot of sports got in the way. That’s my excuse, whether you like it or not.

However, it’s time to finish and post this one, because it was a great race.

-------------------------

Has anyone ever told you a marathon was easy? If so, they were lying.

I’d heard so many great things about the St. George Marathon that I was really excited to run it. It seemed like everyone I knew set a PR on the downhill course.

I’ve run some races with significant elevation loss from start to finish, but a few days before I checked out the stats:

• Pocatello Marathon – 1,550 elevation loss
• Tucson Marathon (My PR) – 2,200 elevation loss
• St. George Marathon – 2,560 elevation loss

Holy smokes. I know the math is pretty obvious, but that’s nearly 100 feet per mile. And, surprisingly, there are some uphills out there, which means the downhills are even steeper.

It took me nearly two weeks to write this blog because, frankly, I’ve been too sore to think about it. Since the first marathon I ran, no race has come close to beating me up quite so much. Usually, I can head out for an easy run a few days after a marathon. This time, I couldn’t tackle stairs for nearly a week after the race.

But, man, what a race. When you think of the “great” marathons that require time qualifications (Boston) or lotteries (New York), nonrunners might be surprised that a little out-of-the-way town in Southern Utah is a marathon favorite.

To register for the St. George Marathon, you have to enter a lottery. The previous two times I’ve tried, I did not get in, including one year when just about everyone in my running group got in except for me (or at least that’s the way it seemed). I really didn’t expect to get in this year, which is why I wasn’t too worried when I found out my friend was getting married in Denver that same day. Oops.

I got in and found out my friend Jim Turosak also got in, and we quickly made plans to travel to the race together. Jim and I traveled to the Pocatello Marathon in 2009, when an injury forced me to bail on the full and run the half instead, so I knew that he would keep me entertained throughout the trip.

We flew to Las Vegas on Friday. It’s funny how weird things become normal after running as many races as I have. I love eating a huge breakfast the day before a marathon, and I don’t care if it’s in the morning or at lunchtime. We landed in Vegas, got the car and I drove us straight to a restaurant I’d found on Yelp. Jim looked a little concerned when I pulled into the parking lot, but I knew there were healthy sandwiches on the menu, if he wanted them. After we sat down and looked at the menu, there would be no sandwiches ordered. I got eggs and bacon with potatoes and an English muffin, and Jim got something else that would make most runners cringe.

The drive to St. George is about two hours and makes a quick cut through Arizona (20 miles or so) before hitting Utah. Because Jim had never been to Arizona before, it sparked the debate about what constitutes “visiting” a state. I’ve always thought it requires a night’s stay. Jim said all it takes a “substantial event,” such as a meal or bathroom break. Regardless, we kept driving, so Jim still can’t claim to have visited Arizona.

Jim Turosak and I before the 2012 St. George Marathon

You have to wake up really early for this race. Buses depart for the start between 4-5:30 a.m. It’s a long drive (roughly 26.2 miles) through the dark, and when we reached the starting area, it was cold. St. George is known as one of the best-organized races in the world, and when we got to the top, we realized why. As we got off the bus, each runner was handed a Mylar (space) blanket. This is a little race trick I figured out a few years ago. At the end of each race, most runners throw away the foil-like blanket they’re given at the finish. But I realized they are absolutely perfect for those times you have to wait around for a race to begin, so I generally throw mine in my gear bag for the next time. St. George’s organizers apparently knew this already.

That wasn’t the best way they tried to keep us warm, though. They set up a series of campfires, and they lit each one as soon as enough people were surrounding it. I’ve seen campfires at a few races over the years, but there was something special about these. Everyone was chatting and making new friends with the people around the fire. As the flames were waning, the call went out to head to the starting line.

The first 5-6 miles were in the dark, and we had to trust that the roads were in good shape because none of us could see much. We just followed the people in front of us. There was a strange calm to it, despite being amidst a few thousand people running down desert roads. Jim and I kept a conservative pace early until he finally broke off about seven or eight miles in. He’s a great downhill runner, so I knew he was going to fly, just as he did in Pocatello where he got a PR and a trophy for second in his age group.

I settled in, hoping to just enjoy the race. As the sun came up, the rocks all around us turned a magical red. I live in Denver, so I can drive 25 minutes to Morrison and visit Red Rocks Park, but that close proximity has never diminished my awe when the sun hits rocks like that just right. In college, I visited Uluru (or Ayres Rock) in the Australian Outback, just so I could see the red glow during sunrise and sunset. As I ran through the outskirts of St. George, I got to enjoy that glow all around me for nearly an hour of my run.

So far, the race organization had been very good, but I soon realized just how good it was. At every aid station, and there were a ton of them, they offered the standard water and Gatorade. Like a lot of races, they also had Vaseline, just in case you might be chaffing in various parts of your body. But then there was something I had never seen. At each aid station, 2-3 people in rubber gloves were rubbing Icy Hot on runners’ legs. At first I thought it was a little strange, but by Mile 16, I decided it was genius. I stopped and a nice woman helped me out. She made a point of saying that I the reason they rubbed it in for us was so we wouldn’t accidentally rub it in our eyes later. There’s no doubt that if I was left to apply it myself, I probably would have rubbed it in my eyes, in my hair and in my mouth. Yes, I become a moron when running (others might argue it’s not limited to running), so I’m glad the St. George Marathon organizers were thinking for me.

My legs were throbbing from all the downhill, so as usual I looked around for someone to talk to. I struck up a conversation with a woman and started running with her. It seemed like everyone on the course knew her. As it turned out, they very well could have. Debbie Zockoll has run the St. George Marathon all 36 times since it was founded. Yes, you read that right. And running with her for a while was nice because I could pretend all the people were cheering for me (they were not).

The final couple of miles though town were sunny, making them a little more challenging than they always are anyway, but the crowds were great yelling encouragement and making them as fun as they could be.

After a rough stretch of finishes, I finally broke the four-hour mark again with a 3:49. I was happy. Jim was even happier after turning in a solid 3:21. We jumped in the car, headed back to the hotel for quick showers and hauled it back to Vegas for our flight. I arrived back in Denver with just enough time to stop at my house for a change of clothes, and I made the wedding with about 20 minutes to spare. Sitting still at the ceremony and reception without falling asleep was tough, but I somehow pulled it off, making it a truly great day.

I hurt so bad right after this race that I couldn't even
take my awesomely nerdy compression socks off.