I didn't have the idea to run the SL Marathon until yesterday as part of my training run. Looking at the weather, I had rain in the morning or wind in the afternoon so I chose the rain.
I started at Liberty Park and met up with the runners at Sugarhouse Park. I found myself right in the 7:20 pace crowd and stuck with that. I ran on the course from all the way to about 600 E and 1400 S before splitting off back to my car. It was very fun though I felt guilty getting encouragement from the crowd and having legs with almost 3 miles less on them than the runners I picked off throughout. Nice steady pace.
Garmin splits: 8:00, 7:41, 7:29, 7:23, 7:26, 7:41, 6:49, 6:50, 7:11, 7:26, 7:21, 5:33 (.79 split or 7:02 pace), 7:18, 7:11, 7:20, 7:34, 7:17, 7:18, 7:07, 7:14, 7:16, 7:17, 7:01, 7:32 for the last .45. 2:50:03 total.
The course has more climb, but I actually really liked the modified second half. Not that long boring 500 E route. There is also something to not being in the race that made it incredibly serene; almost surreal. The course wasn't an enemy to conquer and I had a sunny disposition throughout.
Soaked and cold but satisfied and confident about my race in a month! | 