Bear Lake Marathon

     I ran this in a completely different type of shoe that I purchased after the Ogden Marathon (4 weeks ago) in an attempt to switch to barefoot/minimalist shoes. So this was my first run longer than 12.6 miles since the marathon and in my new shoes - next shoes will be Vibram 5-Fingers!
     My goal was to beat the average of my marathons (not including Running From an Angel) of 3:39:12 but I really wanted to beat 3:30 and PR. It was also a test to see if running marathons 4 weeks apart allows enough recovery time for me, though one could argue that I didn't give it my all in Ogden, since my negative split seems to indicate that I rested the first half. As a side note, I tried to predict my best possible finish (I came up with something just over 3:28:42) using target heart rate goals, with times per mile starting something like 9:00, 8:40, 8:30, 8:20, 8:10, 8:00, 7:55... finishing most in 7:50 (nothing special, just seemed doable) with my heart rate eventually climbing to 166 in the first 13 miles, then 169-170 in the next 7, 173 after that, and maybe 181 for the final mile, with 167 being the overall average. I told my wife that 3:28 was the best possible finish. I was off this after the first mile.
     Boring Details (not to me)
     Total 26.2 168/185 3:27:06 (7:54.27 pace)
     0.2 154 1:56.6 9:43 pace (the mile markers count down from 26.2 so the first split is at 26 to go)
     8:09.9 163 (clearly faster than I had planned, so I thought, "If I do 8 minute miles from here on out, I'll finish at 3:30!")
     7:47.8 164 (wasn't supposed to hit this for quite a few miles)
     7:52.1 164
     8:00.6 164
     8:08.2 165
     8:05.9 165
     7:54.6 165 (at least my heart was following the plan!)
     7:51.2 164 (somebody passed me - from my age division I later found out)
     7:56.0 165
     7:44.1 163
     8:13.2 165
     7:58.2 163
     7:35.7 167 (half marathon time was 1:44:21)
     7:50.2 166 (I passed him back, as well as two others, now for the tall man in white shirt)
     7:40.8 170 (heart rate went up sooner than expected, but pace didn't change much?)
     7:24.1 171
     7:47.8 170 (my wife drove by with the kids, turned around stopped and cheered!)
     7:43.1 171 (heart rate is still higher than expected)
     7:54.8 170 (my family - bros/sis, dad, G-parents - was cheering from up above at Sweet Water Cabin (trailer) Park)
     7:54.0 170 (time to boost the HR)
     8:01.9 172
     7:49.4 173
     8:14.0 171 (oh no! I'm slowing down, but have passed a lot of the Halfers...We started at 6:48, they started at 7:40. I can also still see the man in white, as well as a women in orange that is just ahead of him, and they're also passing people)
     8:06.0 173 (I need to pick it up, though I passed two women who placed 2nd and 3rd overall in the women's)
     7:42.8 178 (Caught the man in white! It turns out he is a co-worker who has run Boston, and beat me by a minute in Ogden. I also passed the women in orange - 1st place female overall)
     7:43.2 178 (sprinted after the turn into the park! Second half was 1:42:45 - negative split!!! Final 10k was 49:16 - 7:56.77 pace)
     If I had finished 26 minutes sooner, I would have been 1st in my AG and 2nd overall! Instead it was 6th overall and 2nd in my AG.
     My knee is sore (I've had knee problems since the 8th grade - running has helped a lot, though the races are tough on them, as well as running in the morning if I haven't been training much.) I had been taking glucosamine for the last 1.5 years, but thought that a true test of barefoot theories would include ditching the glucosamine, so I haven't taken any since the day of the Ogden Marathon.
     Official results have posted. I could have placed 1st (1:26:25) or 2nd (1:34:38) overall if I had run the half. Oh well!