Tri - Runner's Roost

Hello ! I'm back from the great City of Salt Lake.

First off I need to congratulate Devine Racing for once again putting on a quality race. I felt that the course, the support, the expo,and the pre and post race party was awesome. I still think that scheduling the race for the first weekend of June is a little late in the year. There is a greater chance of having really warm weather during the race as this year proved. Most runners would prefer cooler rather than warmer weather to run in.

The race was started on time with the elite runners getting a 5 minute head start from the pack. I'm not sure why they need this since no-one in the pack could have kept up with them in the first place but whatever. At 6:45 in the morning almost 2000 marathoners started with about 5000 1/2 marathoners mixed in. The route was awesome, this is a really fast course with mostly downhill running for the first few miles and into the middle of the run. I stayed with the Clif Bar Pace Team for the first 14 miles, I was planning on doing a 8:47 min/mi but the Pace Team Leader went out at a screaming 8:10 to "make up time". I probably should have backed off and ran my own pace but decided to try and stay with him. With the sun coming up fast and the temperature rising quickly, I started to slow at mile 14 with my legs burned up pretty good. So I backed off on the pace and started into damage control to salvage what I could of the rest of the race. The temperature continued to increase as the morning progressed and I think one of the bank signs said it was 84 degrees by the time I had 5K left. Devine Racing did all they could do to keep runners cool by providing sponges at 2 of the water stops. These were well received by everyone. I was able to continue pushing myself to a 4:30 finish. The finish line area was well lined with spectators and the music thundered up the road. The excitement really pushed you along to the finish.

Although I did not meet my goal of 3:50, I do feel that I gave it my all and if the weather had been a little cooler I could have accomplished that goal. I am happy with the outcome.

The race results are as follows:

Kenyan Joseph Nguran finishing first with a time of 2:16:41. Fellow Kenyan Phillip Taurus finished second at 2:17:58, and Ethiopian Demissu Ashebir took third place at 2:18:23. Utah resident Hobie Call crossed the finish line fourth overall and was the first American finisher with a time of 2:24:06.

For the women, Ukraine’s Ilona Baranova surprised the two favorites, Ethiopian Worknesh Tola and Becky Sondag, to take first. The 34-year old waited 22 miles to make her move. She did it just before Liberty Park, leaving Tola behind and finishing in 2:38:04.