Pretty much every single step that 22-year-old Allie Scott of Salt Lake City took over the final three miles of the Deseret News women's marathon was agonizing.
Having made her move at mile 20 to surge in front of the women's field, Scott knew she was where she wanted to be. But she also knew she was going to have to find a way to survive to the finish line.
Survive, she did.
Scott found ways to battle through the immense fatigue and pain she was experiencing, and the end result was a sub-three-hour finish and a victory in the 40th anniversary of the Deseret News Marathon Friday morning. She finished with a time of 2:56.41 to best second-place finisher Julie Thomas, a 37-year-old Holladay resident of Sojourners Running Club, who finished in 3:02.11.
"Those last three miles were death," said Scott, the reigning champ of the Top of Utah marathon. "I just closed my eyes, put my head down and chugged along. I fell off the pace a lot, but you know, I wasn't worried about pace at that point. I was just worried about hanging on to the end."
At the beginning of the race, the challenge for Scott was to stay within herself after several runners went out really fast along the course, which is renowned for its treacherous downhills at the beginning.
"The first miles are so downhill. I believe the first three women were doing sub-6 (minute) pace, and I was doing 6:05s," said Scott. "I knew that was too fast, but you don't wanna lose them early on. It's hard to not lose sight of your competition, while at the same time not burning out too early.
"But," added Scott, "that's the beauty of this course. That's the challenge — that's why I love this course."
Scott measured her effort quite well, and she eventually reached Thomas with about six miles to go.
"She was doing a great pace down the canyon," said Scott. "She was doing 6:15s all the way down the canyon, and I couldn't catch her. She was way out there, (but) I saw that I was finally starting to catch her. And then we got to Foothill (Boulevard), and I just went around her."
After opting to not run cross country in college so she could focus on her studies at Utah State, Scott entered her first marathon four years ago as a way to stay connected to running. Four years and 14 marathons later, she says she's into distance running for the long haul.
Next up for Scott will be her attempt to defend her title at the Top of Utah marathon, her most important event, in two months.
"That's kind of my key race," said Scott. "It's probably gonna be super competitive, as compared to last year, but I'm excited for it."
Meanwhile, Jill Stevens Shepherd, a former Miss Utah, surpassed her personal expectations for Friday's race by finishing in 3:13.
"Three (hours and) 30 (minutes) was gonna be a time that I was gonna be happy with, and then I got a 3:13," she said. "I thought I could probably finish between 3:20 and 3:30, but to just get a 3:13 is just phenomenal for me."
e-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com