Lemmon

Wasn't expecting anything from this race. Knowing nothing about the course, I had no idea if four, or five, or six hours would be a good time. But running a good time didn't matter, as the only running I had done since the Bear was a few miles to and from work. The main objective was to cross off state marathon #9.

Started very slow, was very happy in the middle of the pack. Hit the first mile in 9:45 and I figured if I could keep under ten minutes per mile to the end I'd be fine with that. Settled in next to a Tucson ultrarunner who had a few Leadvilles under his belt, and behind a smoking hot Tucson triathlete babe. Good place to spend a few miles.

It wasn't more than three or four miles until I started passing people. The Leadville guy and I hung around together, constantly hitting between 9:45 and 9:50 per mile, and lots of people were already starting to slow down. I started to enjoy the scenery of the course, really loved that desert landscape. Thousands of huge cactuses (cacti?) all over the place, lots of mountains, and a cool view of Tucson. It was a very windy road, but I wasn't running tangents as I opted to go for more shade. Was worried that the hot Arizona sun would pop out and fry me, so I really made an effort to stay cool and hydrated. This plan would later be ditched, as I didn't take in any water the final 13.1 miles.

We continued to pass folks as we kept on our steady pace. Around the ten mile mark I figured I'd hit the halfway point in just over two hours, and wondered if I could negative split to get under the four hour mark. Hit halfway feeling decent in 2:02:42, not too shabby since it was 13.1 miles of continuous climb.

I immediately picked up the pace. I knew the hill only lasted another seven miles and I wanted to get some of that sub four time in the bank here. Unfortunately for me, the hardest and steepest part of the climb was that final seven miles. I did run well there, dropping well below nine minutes per mile, but it took a lot out of me. It was around 15 miles or so where I realized that if I really wanted to get under four hours, it was gonna take a much bigger effort than I had planned to give that day.

I debated that issue while keepin' on. Was still passing people, but these people were better runners and not just rookies dying on the mountain. Finally hit the top of the first hill, around mile 20, hurting pretty bad. It was the longest I've ever continuously run up. Imagine putting a treadmill on a steep incline and running that for three hours, that's what the first part of this race was.

Finally hit a downhill and it took some work to make my legs respond. I had about an hour to do the last 10K, and I wasn't sure I'd make it. I was mentally screaming at my legs to turn over, hoping the speed would come soon after. I did still continue to pass folks, though they were now pretty spread out. I was really hurting as I came to the 23 mile mark and saw a gal stretching on the side of the road, completely cramped up. Turns out she would recover and hang on to win the female portion of the race (but still finish behind me!).

I hit mile 24 right around 3:40. Twenty minutes to do 2.2 miles, should have been a piece of cake. But the worst part of the course is the final 2.2 mile out and back. I completely fell apart around 24.1 miles as we made the final steep climb. I was hurting so friggin' bad here it sucks to still think about it. But I did, at the very least, continue to run. And that allowed me to pass two more people who had resorted to walking this section.

At the 25 mile mark I had about 12 minutes to finish up, all downhill, but with my mind and body in such sorry shape I couldn't do math and figured I had blown any chance at 3:59 on the last climb. But I didn't quit and gave it all I had that last mile. Finally hit the 26 mile mark and noticed I had over five minutes to finish up. There was nobody in front of me and nobody behind me so I finally allowed myself to ease up on the throttle. Bart Yasso greeted me at the finish line, which I crossed in 3:56:29. Averaged about 9:20 per mile the first half, 8:40 the second half.

I was pretty smoked after that, so I grabbed my drop bag, full of PBR, and collapsed on the road to watch everyone else finish. 16th overall out of 394 finishers. Wish I had started out just a bit quicker, might have had a chance to beat my Boston time.

Had a blast on the entire Tucson trip! Awesome way to end the season!