2024 Utah Valley Marathon Race Recap

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to run the Utah Valley Marathon. Having been a Utah resident for the past five years, I have had my eye on this race for a while. It features a stunning downhill course that begins in Provo Canyon and features much of Utah County’s diverse scenery. The race begins near the entrance of Sundance Ski Resort and ends at the Provo City Center Temple. The race is run by thousands every year and is extremely well organized.

I woke up at 2:30 am to catch an early bus that would take me to the starting line. I struggled to keep my eyes open and felt like I had only gotten five minutes of sleep the night before. I stretched my legs by one of the many firepits at the top of the course up the canyon. There was a calm feeling of excitement in the air as the runner chatted about their goals while waiting in the long port and potty lines.

At 5:50, I shed my Goodwill, bought a hoodie and sweats, and made my way to the start line. I hadn't been able to train as much for this race as I had wanted to, and I did not have high hopes of setting a personal best time this year. I initially signed up for the race to measure my readiness for the St. George Marathon, which I had signed up for this fall. I just wanted to take this race slow and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Provo Canyon in the spring.

A few minutes after the national anthem, the starting pistol fired, and we all stumbled across the start line with a similar mission in mind. I have always enjoyed the comradery and the community that is running. Thousand of individuals of all shapes and sizes with a similar goal in mind. Painfully make the 13.1-mile trip from point A to point B by any means necessary. As I have prepared for my personal running journey, I have slowly come to love the half marathon distance. It is just far enough that it is mentally challenging and just short enough that my body doesn't feel like it got hit by a truck for the four days after the race.

Because of the beautiful scenery and the amazing weather, this race seemed to fly by. Thanks to the downhill, I clipped off mile after mile faster than I had anticipated. For the downhill sections through the canyon, I had no problem holding a sub 7:30 minute per mile pace. Once the course flattened out around the 9.5 marker, I definitely hit my first wall. I had to dig deep to finish the race and ended up with a time of 1 hour 42 minutes. I am proud of that time, considering the amount of training I was able to put into this training block. This race gave me a good idea of where I am at currently, fitness-wise and where I need to be if I am to reach my goal for the St. George Marathon this coming Fall.

This was a beautiful, well-run course that I will definitely be visiting again next year. I am proud of the progress that I have made since I started running, and look forward to the races in the future.