All running accomplishments are Post Teenage Years:
17:06 5K--Murray 2014
16:58 5K (aided)--Running of the Leopards 2010
34:41--10K Deseret News 2018 (aided)
1:16--(aided) Hobble Creek Half 2009
2:43--St. George Marathon 2012
Short-Term Running Goals:
Sub 2:50 Ogden Marathon
Sub 17:00 at Draper 5K
Long-Term Running Goals:
Sub 2:40 Marathon
Personal:
Married to Elizabeth (she got me running in 2003). We have three boys, Lucas (12) , Sam (8) and Ollie (5).
Many years ago, I read that the AVERAGE male is capable of a 2:40 marathon. I decided to test that theory. I began running in 2003 with Top of Utah as my first marathon (4:24). I need 3 more minutes.
"Life is short...running makes it seem longer."--Baron Hansen
Pocatello Marathon (26.2 Miles) 02:52:54, Place overall: 3, Place in age division: 2
Total Distance
28.00
Great PR race for me today. Bloggers filled the top 4 spots (excellent
job Jeff, Kory and Bill). This is a great small marathon. The
course sets up a lot like Top of Utah. This course is probably a little
harder with the steeper climbs the 2nd half.
The race director does a great job with this race. I walked out of my
motel at 4:55 AM, got on a bus and it left promptly at 5:00 AM. I was
off the bus by 5:30 AM and had just enough time for the warm up and porta-potty
then on-time 6:15 AM start.
The first half is where the entire drop is. I believe I was around
1:23 coming through the half. The half marathons were all on the side of
the road cheering like crazy. It was a great boost. The 10K and 5K
people did the same thing. It was nice to run by them before their race
started.
The second half is not very scenic and pretty difficult. It has
several rollers and a large hill at mile 21.5. It's funny; I didn't see
any wildlife until mile 22 in town. I almost stepped on a coiled up rat
snake! Crazy! Last 10K was pretty hard, so my spilt was around
1:29.
I ran most of the race by myself in 3rd place. I ran the start with
Angela (women's winner) then caught up to Bill Mandler and ran 1-2 miles with
him.
The finish was a kid's paradise. They had free "blow-up"
toys the kids could play in and FREE cotton candy and FREE BBQ with baked
potato! For SWAG we got a very nice gym bag, the best long sleeve
technical shirt I've ever received, a cool medal and a large bag of potatoes
with hash browns! This is a great race and the people and volunteers in
Pocatello were wonderful. I highly recommend it.
Splits:
Mile 1-6:13 Drop then small climb then more drop. I was around 10th at
the start.
Mile 2-6:23 More drop and runners are settling into their pace. Most
of the rabbits are reeled back in.
Mile 3-6:08 Feeling pretty lose, so I set my goal down a little. I
wanted to be out of the canyon in 1:26, but with this much drop I decided to
take what I could get then.
Mile 4-6:13
Mile 5-6:14
Mile 6-6:15
Mile 7-6:33 Out and back climb. You can get a good look at the leaders
and other runners on this climb and return back to the main course.
Mile 8-6:14 Dropped hydration at the water stop...arg!
Mile 9-6:16
Mile 10-6:10
Mile 11-6:16 Dropped hydration again...this time I stop and go back!
Mile 12-6:10
Mile 13-6:21 Course begins to flatten out
Mile 14-6:13 Half marathoners gave me a boost with their cheers
Mile 15-6:24 Course begins to hit the rollers. I hope to stay sub 6:35
for all the miles until the big hill on 21.5
Mile 16-6:36
Mile 17-6:47 Oh no.
Mile 18-6:36 Better
Mile 19-6:27
Mile 20-6:36
Mile 21-6:48 up the big hill and no cramping. I would have been happy
if the course ended there. You also hit a 5 lane road here and will run
it almost all the way to the park/finish.
Mile 22-7:20 Paying for the hill. I almost stepped on a snake!
Mile 23-7:05 Looking for Bill in my rear view mirror.
Mile 24-6:57 At this point I knew I could break 3:00 even if I walked in. The
aid station people said they couldn't see anyone behind me--lol.
Mile 25--7:16 Finally getting off the 5 lane road!
Mile 26--8:02 High-fiving and coasting in.
Last 0.2 at 6:49 pace. It was great to see Elizabeth and Lucas at the finish! Ran the last 0.05 with my 2 year old (Lucas) and he
loved it!
I had 26.2 at 2:52:02, but I probably did a poor job with the tangents up
top. The road is not closed, so you have to look and listen for cars as
you run that section.
Comments
From Burt on Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 18:44:25 from 98.167.151.26
Awesome job! Love the high-fiving on the way in. The snake would have scared all the momentum out of me.
From Andy on Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 18:59:03 from 198.60.114.178
Great job. I knew you had that kind of time in you. Congratulations on the huge PR.
From Bill Mandler on Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 19:13:02 from 24.119.13.42
Mark,
AWESOME JOB today!!! You looked so strong after you left me by mile 7. Way to get that PR!!!
Bloggers ruled the day!!!
From Sasha Pachev on Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 21:25:06 from 192.168.1.1
Congratulations on a PR! Goes to show that whoever said 2:40 can be done by an average male was right. I agree with that assessment. The catch is that while the natural ability might be average, the mindset and the work ethic needs to be star-aimed. Which is why you do not see too many men running 2:40.
From Jon on Sat, Sep 05, 2009 at 22:57:56 from 198.60.103.104
Excellent job- a big PR and 3rd place finish.
From tracy1 on Sun, Sep 06, 2009 at 16:39:16 from 63.225.232.212
Go Mark! That was great! Proud to call you Runamok!!
From MarkP on Sun, Sep 06, 2009 at 16:54:50 from 98.202.199.48
Thanks everyone for the comments! It was a fun race up until the last 10K!
From scotthughes on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 at 13:49:24 from 209.33.211.3
Way to go Mark! Great race
From Barry on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 at 15:30:47 from 67.60.189.166
Great Job! When you can get a PR on this course you had to be running a great race.
From jtshad on Mon, Sep 07, 2009 at 18:15:47 from 69.20.183.178
Great job on the PR! Congrats on running a strong race! It was a pleasure meeting you.
I almost stepped on the snake too!
From Craig on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 12:20:16 from 63.167.171.20
Mark- Great race. Couple thoughts:
1) I thought you would pull out something in the low 2:50s, judging by what we did at Hobble Creek. So it's not really a surprise at all.
2) How do you think it compared to St George?
3) You used to walk through the aid stations. Maybe you should try that again? lol
4) I guess the pressure is on for me at St George. :)
From Sasha Pachev on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 20:30:43 from 192.168.1.1
Craig:
I get a feeling St. George is around 4 minutes faster. Maybe more. But I would say no less than 4 minutes.
From MarkP on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 22:41:55 from 12.193.251.130
Thanks everyone.
-Scott: You should check this marathon out sometime. Its worth the drive up from St. George.
-Barry: The second half is a killer as you know! Great job on the 1/2!
-Jeff: Why the freak did you not scare or kill the snake? You knew there were 1081 more runners coming behind you!
-Craig: I think the 1st half of Poctello has the same drop as St. George's 2nd half. Poctallo's 2nd half is a challenge. I agree with Sasha, you had better break 2:45 at St. George and I'm sure you will. Also, I did walk through the aid stations the final 10K. Some habits are hard to break, but at least I left the hydration belt at home.
From Burt on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 at 22:48:08 from 98.167.151.26
LOL! I was thinking the same thing this morning on my run about Jeff scaring away the snake. For sure his supersonic speed should have killed it on the spot.
From jtshad on Wed, Sep 09, 2009 at 09:24:07 from 204.134.132.225
St. George is at least 4 minutes faster, likely more.
I thought about dealing with the snake, but I figured everyone needed a jolt of adrenaline around 22 miles to keep them running fast to the finish.
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