Ogden Marathon May 17, 2014

 

The 2014 Ogden Marathon was my 4th road Marathon, and 6th Marathon. It’s an amazingly beautiful course. Last year’s race was cold and wet. This year was the opposite - extremely hot, probably about 85’F at the finish line.
The weekend started off with the expo in the afternoon. Met up with a few people at it, then a large group of us made our way over to Roosters Brewery for an evening of eating and visiting. Two groups were there, The Run Aways and Run4Fun making up about 30 of us for supper and it was a fun evening. I left around 8:30 and headed to my sister in laws place to spend the night there before the race. While with them I found out I was wrong about the bus departure times and had to reset my alarm to 3:30am so that I wouldn’t miss the bus.
Visited with the Mason’s and around 10pm I headed to bed. Woke up around 2:30 worried I was going to sleep through my alarm, stayed awake and finally got up just after 3am. After a quick breakfast of half a bagel and oatmeal I drove downtown Ogden, about a 15 minute drive. Drove around for awhile trying to find a parking place where I wouldn’t get towed and ended up parking just west of Gold’s Gym.


Walked to the finish line where lots of buses were lined up and I entered the front bus, which was almost full. Within about 20 minutes we were heading up the hill towards the start, more than 26 miles away. I fell asleep for a bit on the drive so it went pretty quick.


 

 

David Crawford and myself

We parked and as I got off the bus David Crawford, a guy from church, greeted me and I ended up spending the time before the race visiting with him. It was cool, but not bad at all. I was realizing it was going to become a warm day. I had my warm clothes on and they had fire pits going all over the field.

Fifteen minutes before the gun started people put their drop bags with the warm clothes into the receptacles, listened to a short speech by Jeff Galloway (He joked, folks, you are 26.2 miles away from the beer) and we made our way to the start. I looked for the 4:00 pacer as some of us were meeting near him. When I got there I found London, Glen and Hilary. I was going to run with London but had told her I needed to bank time in the initial downhill. She’s very good at keeping an even pace the full length of the course, I’m not. My goal for the race was to get close to a 4:15 finish. Last year I did 4:39.



 

Screen shot from a video of Hilary and I running together. 

Close up from the video showing Hilary and me

 

Hilary and I started off running together with plans on doing a 9:00/m pace for the first 9 miles. The first mile was almost too easy, we pulled away from the 4:00 pacer and kept a fairly even pace for the first six miles. 9:00, 8:45, 8:40, 8:37, 8:43, and 8:51. A few times I got a side ache, but it would slowly work out. Around mile 7 or 8 Hilary had to use the portapotties and I told her I’d just walk until she caught up to me. I walked for about 3 minutes and then we kept running together again. The next three miles were still right on the money.
I got to the half way mark, which was the half marathon start at 2:02. The three miles coming up to that point had seen me eat away some of the banked time. 10:08, 10:50, 11:33 splits. I was slowing down!
As one finishes going through Eden the course follows the lake and starts to climb on the west side. Two long killer hills to contend with during that stretch. They go on for about 4 miles or so. I was drinking the 40+ oz of fluids I brought with me plus was drinking at the later aid stations. I was also trying to fuel with the banana, skittles and Cliff chews but I was draining fast. Around mile 14 London had caught up with me. We ran together for a very short stretch but she is amazing on the hills and I soon lost sight of her. Glen was supposed to be behind me a short distance, but I never did see him pass me although I know he must have. During these miles the 4:00, 4:15 pacers passed me. Including someone dressed up as Gumby! Talk about demoralizing!
Around mile 18 we crossed the dam and at that point someone in a beard pointed at me, called my name and came running out to give me a high 5, I told him I don’t recognize him, and turned out it was a triathalon guy from church named Andrew Buehner. His beard was longer than it had been in the past!
From that point there’s a steep downhill and last year I was able to gain some speed going down there but not this year. It became a struggle to keep running. Saw one guy in white without a shirt on, he was struggling too and a few miles later turned himself into the medics and he was taken to the start. The 4:30 pacer passed… At each of the aid stations I would take two cups of water. Drink one. And let the other drip onto my head to cool me off. About this time I was thinking to myself I’m done with racing, no more. I’ll only do casual running and runs with my running friends to keep healthy. I had decided…I thought. I was thinking I hate pacers when the 4:45 pacer went by.


 

I was keeping within the goal for the first 9 miles. 9:17, 9:47, 9:15 even with the walking break. The heat was taking its toll though. For the next 9 miles my goal was to run at a 9:45/m pace. If I could do that, London would catch up with me sometime in the third portion of the race which was supposed to be done at a 10:30/m pace. Mile 10 was still okay, but at that point we were going through some rolling terrain before entering Eden and I told Hilary its time for her to head out as I was going to back off on my speed. She was hoping for a sub 4:00 finish and off she went and I took a short walk break. That was probably the most fun and productive part of the whole race running with her.

Marisa and me.

Sometime near mile 20 Marisa joined me. She was struggling and didn’t know where her husband was, whether he was behind or in front of her. She was also talking about no more races, she was done with this stuff. She wanted to get in ANY vehicle and be taken to the finish line, but she didn’t and she kept going. We kept each other going for about two miles running from one traffic cone to another, then walking to the next, increasing the running stretches when we could. While running with her we were passed by Kasie and Brook. Had a great picture taken while with Brook and Marisa. It was so awesome to see those guys on their first marathon doing so well.



Meridith and Sonja.

On one turn we came upon Sonja and Meridith cheering us on. We also had Dulcinea there on the side lines cheering us! After about 2 miles of slow going Marisa decided the next run stretch she would keep running, which she did and she ended up finishing around 4:50. Anytime there were course photographers I would attempt a faked run in front of them and would quit as soon as I was past them.
The bottom of my feet were killing me and my legs were done. My brain was saying to my legs, RUN, but they would refuse, walking was all they would do for the most part. I believe my legs had gone on strike for better pay and better working conditions. I really don’t blame them with the abuse I put them through. I was sure I had brought Ibuprofen with me, but couldn’t find it in my hydration belt. Later at home I found out it was there all along. The last miles were so slow. The 5:00 pacer was creeping up on me and sounded way too cheery to me as he encouraged his little flock of followers like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I tried to keep ahead of him, but there was no way. I finally let him go and just didn’t care anymore. I hated him at that moment, but hopefully he doesn’t take it personally. I’m sure he’s a nice enough guy.

 

Brook, Me and Marisa

One mile from the finish I passed two porta-pottys and one wasn’t occupied. After passing them I thought I have to stop, I’m not going to make the finish line, so went back and was in there about 5 minutes. When I came out, Camille was coming up the stretch. She was pretty tickled to see me and to have someone to run with. She thought I was done the race and had come up the course to meet others but unfortunately I hadn’t. It was a fun, painful final mile with Camille. We could see the finish line way in the distance and it took ages for it to get closer. Its one long straight stretch to the finish line. I was so sore I couldn’t keep running even with 2/10ths of a mile to go, still had to take walking breaks. Running down the chute it was fun getting cheered on by the spectators, giving them high fives along the last bit, Camille shouting to the people her calves were yelling louder than them, seeing Dave and Andrew cheering us and finally crossing the finish line together! I was so relieved that it was over. We had the privilege of having military guys and gals putting the medals around the finishers necks. My finish time of 5hrs 11min and 52 seconds was just slightly faster than my first marathon. Not what I expected, but you never can tell how it’s going to go. There are so many variables that can affect the finish time.


Josh, Becca, Meridith, Sonja and me.

Christy crossing the finish line with Dulcinea

I was supposed to meet the run4fun group for a picture but was way too late for that, but was supposed to get some decals for them, which were in my car. Took ages to find it as I was all turned around at the finish line but I did. I also found a Subway and got a large coke, which I was dying for, as they didn’t have any sodas at the finish line. It was the first thing I asked for after crossing.
Wandering around I slowly linked up with the others. We were hearing some were not far away from finishing. Becca, Josh, Katheryn and Christy. Becca had encountered heat exhaustion and had lain down in the middle of the road at one point. But what a trooper, she didn’t quit and was determined to finish. It was exciting to see the first timers finishing their first marathons. The times weren’t important, but they finished. We also heard Jonathan had BQd. Some hadn’t quite made their goals, most likely because of the heat. Later Vince realized he had also Boston Qualified.
Christy was the last one of our group to cross, her knee was all bandaged up as she had totally messed up her knee, but she also wasn’t going to quit and she finished it! Amazing!
Surprisingly the day after the marathon I went for a run in the evening and did 6 miles at a 10:30 pace. I’ve never been able to do that so soon after running a 26.2 mile race.
Oh, and regarding my quitting races? I had scheduled a half marathon at Utah Valley for mid June. Within 3 days of finishing Ogden I got in touch with the race director, no, not to tell them I wasn’t going to run it, but to switch from the Half Marathon race to the Full Marathon. Go figure. So I’m going to do it all again and don’t have to wait until September to attempt a faster marathon.

 

Provo City Half Marathon 5/2/2014

Its already been awhile since I did the Provo City Half Marathon and I need to get written down the things about it as I'm already forgetting so much. I worked the night before and I believe I got about 2 hours of sleep prior to getting up and driving to the start.

Got on the first bus and Camille was with me, plus Marsha Monson. This was the first time I met Shaylee Hurst.

Monica won a Blendtec in the early bird draw! She was pretty excited and I can't blame her. London won a watch.

Beautiful scenery running down the canyon.

The last 4 miles I was struggling and ended up running it with Angie Pace.

Finally got back to this and cannot remember much about this race at all and its only been just over a month! So, I'm just going to leave it as it is with a brief summary and the picture.

Official time was 2:00:6.34. 9:10/m pace. 455/921 overall, 246/370 male and 10/14 in my division.  Not a great race.