Park City Marathon

After exactly one year of training, finished my first marathon yesterday. Park City was the host, 42km through the trails of the Wasatch mountains. We stayed at the Canyons, driving up the day before to get used to the altitude. 1st 10km went according to plan, nothing too unusual apart from the tiny tunnel under the freeway. The next 20km were killers, 100% uphill, gained about 1000ft, into the wind, hence were the slowest kms of the run. This was mostly in a straight line as well. The last section was mostly downhill, which would have been great if i could move my legs, by that point i was done, tired, sleepy, wanting to stop etc. But, kept going. Training prepared me for a 22 mile run, that last 4.2 miles were the hardest. Some bands on the course, saw cows, horses, ducks and geese, great spectators, fantastic scenery. With half a mile to go, looked at my watch and realized i had a chance to break 4 hours - which was my goal right up until that middle 20km uphill part. Crossed the line in 3.59:51 (gun time). 3.59:26 (chip time). Exact run details here at the awesome slowgeek site.This was a hard marathon for everyone, the overall winner ran a 2.53. Check results here. Exceeded my goal of 1/ finishing 2/ breaking 4 hours. As a bonus, looks like i came 12th (out of 37) in my age group, 55th (out of 256) for all males, and 77th (out of 442) overall, excluding DNS and DNF. Next stop, transition to lighter/barefoot shoes, and try and break 3.45. Must have enjoyed myself if i'm already thinking about the next one!

Pre dawn at the start area.

Lining up, no idea what was about to happen. Surprisingly emotional here, given this had been a year in the making.

Just after finishing and breaking 4 hours.
You can't tell, but emotions were high at this time, going between crying and laughing every 10 seconds.

Michelle was such a huge support over the last year, patiently waiting for me while i was out running, making awesome food, encouraging me, celebrating with me, putting up with me talking about this run non stop since May. Thanks Mich!