2001 St. George Marathon

Report by: Eric Barron

Given the grueling nature of the marathon, it is only fitting to name a marathon after the patron saint of battles, Saint George. Of course, the fact that the St. George Marathon is run in the town of St. George, Utah, might also have something to do with the appellation. Regardless of the name's origin, after reviewing the results of the 2001 St. George Marathon, perhaps Saint George should be known as the patron saint of those that train according to plan. For those that did, the race performances were spectacular.

Twelve of the 4000-plus marathoners wore the colors of TCLA (if not on their backs, at least in their hearts), and none ran faster, or prepared harder, than Tyrone Black. Tyrone put time, effort, and a whole new mindset into this marathon (who would have thought that he could actually back off when injured?), and he was rewarded with a personal best. Running with Tyrone for 25.4 miles, Rab Brown, also set a personal record. Tyrone and Rab spent most of their time together arguing the merits of different marathon pace strategies, pausing only to ogle the topless women at the halfway point.

Also breaking three hours, and establishing a significant personal best, Clarence Smith gave notice to the running community that he has moved up several leagues. Todd Patterson, who ran with Clarence for 21 miles, improved his best by a mere 46 minutes (he may, however, have been a bit out of shape that last time around).

A third team of TCLA'ers running together was Tim Petersen and Andreas Kemkes. Unlike their teammates ahead of them, these men have families, so it is all the more impressive that they could find the time to train and still have their children speak affectionately with them. Somehow, Tim managed to put in 70-mile training weeks, and maybe one day his daughter will appreciate her father running his fastest marathon in many years. And maybe one day Andreas' son will appreciate his father running a personal best in his forties.

Not everyone stepped to the line with ideal training. Brian Panosian, for one, knew that though he had decent training, he had not quite gotten to the point he wanted. Accordingly, he started with a smart plan: run pace for 20 miles, evaluate what the body was saying, and either bring it in strong or back off immediately. In this case, the body said, "Save it for later," and Brian wisely did just that. Not far behind him, Nicole Scheunemann ran a good marathon, but not as good as she could have had she gotten in more training. Running with Nicole for much of the race, Peter Kerimidas also ran a good, but not-to-potential race. A minute back of Peter, Paul Anderson ran his umpteenth steady marathon.

Terry Power, who joined the TCLA fall marathon training group a little late in the season managed to squeeze out a fair race, but should gain from more training with the group next time around. Finally, Amy Aukstikalnis returned to the marathon distance in fine form after sitting out most of last year with an injury. Not only did she run a personal best, she had enough energy left to host the post-race party in her room.

Once again, this proved to be a team effort, and not just at the race. In spring, Tyrone Black led the drive for a concerted marathon training plan. In summer, Tim Petersen organized the critical weekly long runs. And the whole time, the regulars (whether they were training for a marathon or just helping those who were) showed up for track workouts, long runs, and the mileage in between. Six months ago, TCLA'ers heard that if they wanted to run a marathon to their potential, they would have to be more consistent with their training, put in more miles, and concentrate at the workouts on running proper pace. They responded to the challenge, and should feel proud of their efforts.