I have been planning to run the St George Marathon for about 12 years. I have race applications dating back to 1991. Back then you could not register on-line so I would either pick up an application at a marathon expo or mail away for one. I always looked forward to the application because they almost always included a picture from along the course. Usually, it was a picture of runners climbing the 500-foot hill between mile 7.2 and 8.2, or it was a picture of the cliffs between miles 15 and 17. The St George Marathon is rated as one of the top destination and scenic marathons in the country. It is an area of the country that I have never visited (with the exception of Las Vegas) but I did want to spend some time in the area. However, it never seemed conducive to my schedule, especially since there are so many marathons in October. But I finally made it to the 2003 St George Marathon and I wasn't disappointed. My wife wanted to tour southern Utah also and since she doesn't like to fly, she drove the 2,400 miles and met me at the Las Vegas airport. (I drove back home from Utah with her).
The St George Marathon met or exceeded all of my expectations. The pre-marathon pasta dinner was very good, plenty of food, tables and several serving lines, so virtually there were no lines. The expo was not quite on the level of New York or Chicago, but there was plenty to see, do and purchase. And, with nearly 4,500 runners I happened to run into Karen Van Rite at the expo (Linda, Graig, Bob, Ken and I met Karen at the Bismarck Marathon last month). We also met at the pre marathon pasta dinner and car pooled/bused to the start line together. As a destination marathon, I had a great week touring Zion, Bryce and Arches National Parks as well as several smaller and less known parks and sites. As a scenic marathon I would rate it close to the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in the Redwoods of Northern California. I would also concur that the marathon course is fast if you run it correctly, if not the down hills could take its toll. The up hills were tough, especially the 500-foot climb over the course of one mile. There was several other up hills that were also challenging, but the 500 footer more then met my expectations. I am estimating that I ran 400-foot non-stop, and then I walked for 1 minute. I could have run the rest of the way to the top, but about 50 yards from the top my cell phone rang (yes, I usually carry my cell phone for several reasons I wont get into now) so I walked long enough to get my phone out of my pocket and say hello, then I started to run again while talking on the phone. The call was from one of my neighborhood-training partners, Jeff Kramer. He was calling to give me a status on the Parrish Medical Center XC 5K that ran that morning. Anyway, as tough as the up hills were, the down hills were easy and there were plenty of down hills. Some long and gradual and some, quad burners. The scenery was spectacular at times, especially from mile 15 to 17 with the bright morning sun shining on the cliffs. Although the cliffs were the most spectacular scenery along the course, there were still plenty of beautiful scenes of the dessert and mountains, very similar to Tucson Marathon course. The marathon was also extremely well organized. There were plenty of busses to take us to the start. There were plenty of port-a-lets and 'woods' at the start area. The 'Penguin', John Bingham, would be pleased. With a 6:45 AM start and at an altitude of 5,240 feet, the temperature was a little cool, but there were two rows of probably 20 barn fires per row, to help keep the marathoners warm and friendly. The 15 aid stations along the course had plenty of volunteers, water, Gatorade, Vaseline, port-a-lets and a drop box for discarded clothing. The finish line area had some portable outdoor showers for the runners to cool off and rinse off. The Finisher Medal (actually stone shaped like a medal) is probably the nicest and most unique I have received to date. Given all of this and the fact that there was only one turn on the course, and that turn came at about 25.5 miles and it wasn't even a 90 degree turn, I can't think of a bad thing to say about the race with maybe the exception of having to get up early (4:00 AM Mountain Time, but 6:00 AM Eastern Time) for the 6:45 start. But with temperatures approaching 80 degrees about 3 hours into the run, an early start is needed.
Marathon conditions were very similar to the conditions we had in Bismarck last month. The temperature was in the high 50's with about 40% humidity at the start. The sun wasn't up yet and I felt a little cool so I wore a long sleeve Coolmax shirt over my singlet. Mile 0.5 to 1 was up hill. By the time I got to the 1-mile mark I was warm and tossed my Coolmax into the 1-Mile Collection Box. I didn't have a strategy going into the marathon with the exception of walking 30 seconds to 1 minute at each aid station. However, at mile 2 we hit the first of several good down hills. I have had some problems with tight quads late in a marathon when running a down hill course so I decided to attack the down hills and run them fairly hard so as not to use my quads for breaks. I also wanted to build up a cushion for the 500-foot up hill to help ensure a sub 4-hour marathon. Mile 2 and 3 were also mostly uphill and over the course of the first 3 miles we climbed from 5,240 feet to 6,085 feet. Some how my watch was in the wrong mode and I missed the first 3 mile splits. Mile 4 through 7 was primarily down hill with a hard down hill from mile 6 to 7. My splits through 7 were 31:52, 7:46, 7:31 and 7:12. Just past the 6 mile mark, coming down the long steep down hill, I can see the long steep 500 foot up hill, at least I can see about two thirds of the up hill. The scene looks just like the pictures I have seen on the brochures and web sites. I make it to the 8-mile mark in 9:08. Still two tenths to go. Mile 9 takes me 8:53. I'm pleased with my 8 and 9 mile splits. At this point I now think I should run a sub 4:00 hour marathon if my quads don't bother me too much due to the remaining down hills. Mile 10 through 12 is slightly down hill but with a few rolling up hills. Splits were 8:23, 8:44 and 8:29. Mile 13 split was 7:58 with a half marathon split of 1:46:36, projected marathon time of 3:33:12. I figured I now have plenty of cushion to run a 3:50: something marathon. I'm still not sure how my strategy will work out, attacking the down hills. Mile 14 split was 8:26. Mile 15 through 17 was a long, and at times, steep down hill. Although I stopped several times to take some pictures of the cliffs during this stretch I ran a 7:50, 7:37 and 7:39. Mile 18 split was 8:07 followed by 8:30, 8:26 and 8:25. Mile 22 is down hill and, although my quads were unexpectedly fine, my lower calf muscles started to tighten up. I'm sure this was due to the hard down hills. My 22 Mile split was 7:34. Mile 23 through 25 splits was 8:25, 7:50, 8:52 and 8:43. Mile 24.5 takes us into St George and for the next almost 2 miles there are spectators along the course for the first time. I actually prefer not having spectators on scenic courses like St George. We get to the one turn on the course at about 25.5 miles and off in the distance you can see the finish line. I get to mile 26 with a split of 8:43 and I cross the finish line in 3:34:21 with a chip time of 3:33:57, 45 seconds from running an even split marathon. I placed 844 overall out of 4,437; 21st out of 299 in my age group and 679 out of 2,643 men. Karen ran a 4:25:25 completing 41st marathon in her 38th state.
If I have convinced you that the St George Marathon is the marathon to do in Utah, think about this. I met a group of runners from Salt Lake City. They call themselves the Loco's (short for Locomotion). About 30 to 40 Loco's run the St George Marathon each year. At the pre marathon pasta dinner, expecting to get a yes answer, I asked a couple of them if the St George Marathon was the best marathon in Utah. They both agreed that the Logan, Utah Marathon is a little better then St George. It has a smaller turn out, is closed loop, usually has cooler weather and very scenic. Sounds like a marathon I'll do sometime.
52 marathons completed in 41 states and Washington DC. Next marathon is the Mid South Marathon, in Wynne, Arkansas on November 1 with Linda Thompson and may be Ken Winn. Karen's next marathon will be in two weeks in Mystic, Connecticut. Our marathon schedule doesn't mesh until Clarence Demar in New Hampshire in October 2004.
Rest if you must, just don't quit,
Marty