Huntsville Marathon 2014, another PR

This is going to get expensive. In Mt. Nebo Half I tried a new pair of runners and got a PR. Decided to try this again today, wore a new pair of running shoes and GOT ANOTHER PR, in a Full Marathon this time. I know they don't recommend running a race in a pair of shoes which you haven't used, but it worked for me, and not even any blisters after running 26.2 miles in rain.

The morning started off with tons of thunder and lightening. Up at 4:45, Wan met Joey and I at the house and we headed up to South Ogden to pick up Stacey, then we drove up over Mountain Green to Huntsville. We were a little bit later than we hoped for Wan to meet up with the pacers, but it seemed to work out. We got on the bus and met up with Angie and Galen. Wan would be pacing the 4:15 people and we thought about running with him for a bit, but thought we need to go a bit faster, maybe.

Beautiful picture taken by Wan.

Its wet! Photo by Nicole Huffman

They warned the race could be cancelled if the lightening started again, but it cleared off and it was just clouds and rain, lots of it!


Driving up in the school buses, we passed a number of the aid stations being set up by the volunteers. People see us crazy as racing in this weather, but those volunteers are incredible getting up so early, in that kind of weather and being so supportive for us crazy people.

This race was the first marathon Joey (my son) and I have run together. Like Galen told us, there aren't very many people who can say they've run a marathon with their son or father.
First stop when we got to the start area was use the washrooms. Next stop, get warmed up in the tent. It actually wasn't too cold compared to the previous two years, just a wee bit wetter. We met up with Janet Huffman and Nicole, this was Nicole's first marathon also. Visited with them in the tent and also met a guy from Spruce Grove near Edmonton Alberta, Darrell Burgess, another Canuck! Someone asked what I was hoping to finish with. Told them somewhere between 4:00 and 4:30. Any of that would be a new PR for me.

The time until the gun went flew by. I threw my clothing bag into the trailer, went to use the toilets again and was wondering why I felt so cold on my upper body but not my legs, then realized I still had my sweat pants on. I tried to find my clothing bag in the trailer, but it was already buried. Fortunately Janet was able to find hers and my pants hitched a ride to the finish with her clothes.
Talked to Cathi Gridley who was doing her 99th marathon, with St. George next week being her 100th. I think she's pretty excited to be done.

I rushed to get a picture of Joey and I prior to the race and the gun went. I was still trying to store my camera as I crossed the start line.

Love these guys, Wan and Johnny.

Both Joey and I were wearing big black garbage bags, with holes cut for our heads, to stay dry, plus ball caps. Wearing a hat is something I rarely do, but they are definitely an asset in the rain. They worked great, lots of room to move our arms while running, and kept most of the rain off our bods.

We finally had decided we'd follow the 4:00 pacer and see how things went and we were actually ahead of him for quite awhile of the race.
The rain was fairly heavy and consistent for most of the first part. but our 'rain gear was working well'.
The first 6 miles we were doing about an 8:30/m pace. My bladder was killing me, my pace was dropping, and finally around mile 9 I couldn't stand it any longer and stopped for a potty break, Joey kept running and I told him I'd try to catch up to him. After coming out of the portapottie I threw away my garbage bag and passed a lot of people as I tried to catch up to him. It took 1.5 miles, which also gave me my fastest paced mile of 8:03.

This was the popular fashion of the day. Nicole and Janet.

At the half marathon starting line Joey stopped for a pottie break and I walked for a bit.  My time at that point was 1 hour and 54 minutes. Not too bad a half marathon time. Rank at that point was 163.

Mile 19 I was burning out and finally told Stacey and Joey to keep going, I was going to take a walk break.  I used this time to remove my shirt and hang my cap on my belt. It was warming up, I was feeling pretty dry, it was finally time! Shortly after this the rain returned, lightly at first, then it got a bit heavier, I retrieved my cap. And then it got cold! Wet and freezing! There was no point in putting the shirt back on as I was as wet as I could get, but my hands had lost feeling in the fingers. I saw a number of garbage bags discarded by previous runners and did think about grabbing one and putting it on, but stuck with the shirtless running. The rain didn't seem like it was going to stop it kept bucketing down. I'm sure many at the aid stations thought I was some kind of kook. They were all bundled up in winter clothing and then there's this nut job running like its the middle of the summer.

Walking to the starting line. Photo by Nicole Huffman

Around mile 21 I came across Dulcinea, she was excited to see her favorite Canadian. She told me she had seen a few of the others including Johnny Ahn, I asked if he was running without a shirt and he was! Thumbs up!

I was struggling to run as much as I could without walking but it was unavoidable. I had to take some walk breaks, but took as few as possible.

Mile 24.5 I came across some emergency vehicles with a guy laid out on a stretcher. I don't know what the issue was but I didn't know him and within a few minutes an ambulance came rushing by us towards him. Hopefully everything turned out fine for him. I was reminded of my hands and realized they weren't as cold as they had been. Most of the feeling had returned except for the tips of my fingers.

A half mile before the end of the course I caught up to Stacey and ran with her. She was spent like me and she said she was hurting all over, but she was doing great. We rounded the final corner and could see the finish line. While running together we didn't walk any which pleased me, so running with her that last bit helped me a lot also. We met up with her husband who started running with her and encouraging her,

so I told them I'm sprinting to the finish. I started sprinting too soon as I was fading before I finally crossed the finish line. I saw Joey wrapped up in the foil blanket along the edge of the finish line and he told me he had gotten a 4:02:51. Pretty proud of him. I finished with a 4:13:55, a new PR! Slightly closer to the 4:00 finish than the 4:30 :) Twenty two minutes faster than my previous PR which was on this same course last year and about an hour faster than the first time I ran this two years ago. Rank by the end was 158 so I had passed 5 more people than had passed me in the last half. I can live with that.

Overall Place 158 of 331, Gender Place 87 of 156, Age division 6 of 17. They had said before the race that this year was a record number of people registered for their races but it seemed like the number of participants who showed up was down. I'm sure a lot saw the weather and decided to stay home.

Nicole and Janet almost at the finish line with Janet's grandkids.

It was still raining at the finish area and we got into our dry clothes, but they were getting wet bit by bit. We met up with a few people we knew at the finish and then the three of us headed out. A quick stop at Subway in Huntsville and then we were on our way home from another successful race.

We didn't see many of our friends from the half marathon as I'm sure they were so cold and wet they didn't stay around which I don't blame them for doing at all. I think London was the only one I saw from that group. She was collecting up the pacing signs.

Big Cottonwood Half Marathon 2014

What a fun race this morning! This was to be my 28th half marathon and 10th for this year. I have one more scheduled for the year, plus one marathon.
I only yesterday found out Louise Vickerman was going to be running the half also so I knew I'd have someone to run with.
After Nebo I had figured Big Cottonwood would be a relaxing easy pace 13 mile run. Not to be! Once I knew Louise would be there I told her I'd like to see how close I can get to my PR from last week which was 1:40:50. Big Cottonwood isn't as easy a course as Mt. Nebo. 500' less elevation loss and more "outside the canyon" running. She was up for the challenge. I hoped I was.
While waiting for Louise, I met Mike Talbot and Shaylee Hurst, Mike was excited about trying out his newly healed knee, which ended up working just fine.
We rode a van up to the start with a driver that sounded like he had done everything and knew everything. Make a comment in the back? He'd chime in with his 2 cents worth and knew all about it.
It was cool at the start area, but I had sweatpants and a sweatshirt on to keep warm. I heard someone saying 34'F and wouldn't doubt it.

The portapoties location was a well kept secret until we finally asked someone. We met up with a few of The Run Aways and got some pictures taken. Blew it with my camera again, last time the battery was dead, this time I forgot to put the memory card in the camera so I wasn't able to take many.
The race started almost 20 minutes late as we had to wait for some late buses to arrive. Finally they arrived, threw our clothing bags into the trucks, then I realized I lost one of my gloves. I found one at the start line that someone else had dropped so it worked just fine.
Before the gun went we were privileged to have our friend Johnny Ahn sing the national anthem. He did great! A man of many talents!
We were off. Not like the wind to begin with, but with the crowded start, the pace wasn't too bad at first with an 8:01/m pace for the first mile. The first part didn't have too much for downhill, but our pace climbed to 7:28/m for mile 2, then slowed to 8:14 for mile three which I believe included an aid station. From there on our pace got faster and faster going from a 7:29, 7:09 then a surprising 6:54 which tied my fastest mile ever.
I found that I ran most of the race with a side ache. I tried changing my breathing pattern, breathing out on alternating strides, deeper breathing etc. but nothing seemed to work.

Around mile 9, (You can see the spike of when this happened in my garmin chart)I was starting to get very warm so decided to take my shirt off as we were running. Louise grabbed her phone and said I have to take a picture, as she said that, something happened and she fell forward and slid on the pavement for quite a while, the friction of her elbows and knees bringing her to a stop. I cringe every time I replay the moment in my mind. Her phone skidded off down the hill. Ouch! But what a trooper, I took a picture of her with her injuries and we were off running within seconds, with the phone no worse for wear.
We kept a great pace until the 10 mile and from there I struggled to keep the speed. We were out of the canyon and into flatter ground. For two miles we were in the low 8's and with the help of a bit of downhill got it to a 7:40 pace for mile 12.
In the final mile, I thought I saw Brett Peterson pushing a stroller past us, and I hollered out, Is that Elsha? He turned around and said Yes! I shouted Hi Elsha! Later when I met up with them she said she thought it was me calling to her.
The next best thing to the finish line was the beautiful sight of Dulcinea at the aid station near the mouth of the canyon. She had made up a bunch of signs for our group and set them up before the station. What a sweetheart! I ran to her with open arms and gave her a big hug and thanked her for being there for us.

The last mile seemed to go on forever. I'm sure they had the 12 mile marker on the wrong side of the aid station, but finally we could see the finish arch and knew it would soon be over. I was done like dinner but kept pounding the pavement trying to stay with Louise. For no training lately Louise was incredible. If she had trained or even if I wasn't with her I'm sure she could have PRd.
It was over! We crossed the finish line. I looked at my watch while I was doubled over and saw 1:41:23. I knew it would be very close to the official time. So close to the weeks previous PR in Nebo! I was very happy with the results thanks to Louise. From this I knew I could do better in Nebo next year. The first thing Louise did was visit the medical tent and get cleaned up. I laid on one of their cots and had a rest!
We met up with numerous Run Aways after the race and got some great pictures together. We watched lots of people were taking pictures with the Big Cottonwood poster backgrounds. I took a picture of 4 girls, then one asked me, "where are you from?" I said Canada, she said, you're friends with Josh, I recognize you! The naked Canadian. I think her name was Brooke Jackson or maybe Russel?
Finally met Rachelle who has a blog, "running for trevor". A blog that is well worth following! Met up with Cindy Hailey, one of our group who lives in California and came up for the race. Wan qualified for Boston! Brandon got a huge PR with a 1:15 finish. Christy got a PR, Janet got a sub 2 hour and a PR, Jerri and Gary did their first half marathon, Jill and Meridith did their first marathon and so many other noteworthy happenings from a super cool morning with so many friends! I'm sure there are many that I have missed. Thank you to everyone that made this such a successful day.

Chip time -1:41:21 Age Group 7/46 Male Overall - 160/739 Overall 293/2552 Speed - 7.76 MPH Pace - 7:44/m

Mt. Nebo, 2014, the plan comes together, finally.

Its so good when a plan comes together. Finally. For two years to the day I've been attempting a PR at a lot of the half marathons without success. in September 2012 at Mt. Nebo I had a PR of 1:43:55. Since that time I've had two 1:48 finish times and a 1:46 at American Fork this year. I thought Run Elevated would get me there. Not! Even going into Mt. Nebo this year I wasn't sure if I was going to try to PR or just run for fun. But the day of the race I figured I HAVE to try.

Couldn't get everyone together for a pre race picture,
 but a few of us made it!

My plan was to do a 7:35 pace for the first 9 miles, then let my pace increase each mile after that, 8:15, 8:30, 8:45 and 9:00 for the last 4 miles. I didn't know if I could reach and keep that pace but figured I'd try. I wanted to get slightly faster than the 1:43, so figured I'd follow the 1:40 pacers for as long as I could which should have given me the pace I needed for the first miles.
I was also going to run in brand new shoes which I hadn't tried out yet. I put an extra liner inside them to add to the cushion and figured they should be good. I loved the colour and figured it might make me faster!
I normally try to get on the first bus which means getting up very early. This time I told myself not to worry about it being the first bus, just get there before the last bus leaves.
The alarm went at 4, showered, dressed and had a quick breakfast and was out the door by 4:30. Arrived at Payson high school around 5:15, found London, Jonathan and Camille Grimshaw and got onto the front bus. One bus had already gone. It was pretty full so we couldn't sit together but I sat with another girl who was also called Camille from Morgan valley.
We arrived at the start line about 6:15 and they had a huge fire which most were standing around warming up. The temps were cool but not too bad. I put on a sweatshirt to help warm me but skipped the pants. At the porta potties we met up with Susette, Josh, Becca and Cathy. Johnny Ahn also bugged me about wearing a shirt to start. He had already shed his but was wearing a cap and gloves. I told him mine will come off soon.
We saw one of the strangest things at this race, a female racer standing there prior to the race smoking a cigarette! Just didn't make sense.
We threw the bags into the bus, lined up at the start, I took a couple of pictures of the pack and we were off.
First thing I saw was Susette flying past me, I looked at my pace and I was going about 7:30 and I thought, she's flying, at that speed she's going to burn up and I'll catch up to her further into the race. But that wasn't to be. Shortly after a guy ran by yelling to me "nice shoes!" I think he had the same shoes as me. I do think the colour stands out.
The first three miles I was slightly ahead of my pace goal. 7:27, 7:29 and 7:22. I grabbed water at the aid station and found I was slightly ahead of the 1:40 pacers. Mile 4 was my fastest at a 7:08/m pace. I had made a decision to fuel at most of the aid stations with my Cliff Blocks when getting water. I believe the aid station at mile 6 wasn't ready, they were just setting up. Another one later on didn't have any cups. I felt more sorry for the volunteers than the runners as they wanted to help but weren't sure what to do. So two aid stations I didn't fuel at. I did at most of the others and I believe it helped.
I was feeling pretty good. Not too many people were passing me and I was keeping my pace. Mile 5 was 7:45 and mile 6 7:30 and then a 7:26 in mile 7. At the half way point I calculated that I was on course for a 1:36 finish which I knew I couldn't keep on with, but it was a nice feeling. By the end of mile 9 (7:58 pace) I had an overall pace of 7:34. When crossing the finish line I needed around 7:54 overall pace to beat my PR. I had my virtual partner on the watch set at a 7:51 pace and knew I had banked a lot of time for the last miles.  Surprisingly by the end of mile 10 I was still at an overall pace of 7:35, I was still banking time. I was starting to realize I was going to PR, but by how much I didn't know.
One of the 1:40 pacers who I thought was Jorge(Turned out his name was Andy) called me by name and asked how I was doing. I said doing pretty good. I had no idea how he knew my name, but after the race I asked him and he said all those pictures Joshua Hansen posts makes me fairly well known. Thanks Josh! :)
The course had changed slightly this year and there was going to be an extra 1/2 a mile outside the canyon, meaning more flat ground to cover in the finish. The last few miles were the hardest but I kept pushing. The toughest part was running past where we finished last year and knowing there was still a half mile to go. The last two miles (8:18 and 8:27) were my slowest but still ahead of my mile goals for the finish. At the turn at mile 12 it was great to see a familiar face with Dulcinea cheering me on! I believe her encouragement gave me a boost in the final stretch.
As we were coming around the south side of the school I could see Susette relaxing by the fence like she had been done running for ages. I thought she's done pretty good this time for sure, I just didn't realize by how much.
Turning the corner onto the track for a partial lap, we could finally see the finish line. I tried to use up anything I had left and the last 10th of a mile was covered in 11 seconds. I had done it, finally I had another PR and beat my old one by just over 3 minutes. Its nice to know old age hasn't caught up to me yet and I'm still capable of doing a PR in the half marathons. Saw Susette and she was ecstatic, she had beaten her PR by a huge amount. Finish time of 1:34:27 knocking off 19 minutes from last years PR! Totally WOW. I was so excited for her.
Her training sure paid off today and I look at her now as one of the elite runners!
I was going to take pictures of friends crossing the finish line but my camera battery went dead before I even got one.

Susette got 1st in her age group!

Checked the finish times and on their posting I was showing 7th in my age group with a 1:40:50 finish time. But during the awards ceremony Rendi came running over saying my name was called. I got 3rd in my age group! I wasn't going to argue with that at all and took the extra medal.
Met up with Jennifer Rieske afterwards. I met her first when we PRd the first time in Nebo two years earlier, we ran that one together for quite a bit. She was still doing pretty good with her finish times.
Becca didn't quite make her sub 2:00, but she got a very good PR (2:02) at the cost of very painful chafing.
Camille knocked off time off her PR too with a 2:08 even though she's pregnant.
Rendi was another with a great PR of 1:40:12. She and I have to break into the 1:3X finish time next year!
London squeezed out a new PR with a 1:48 finish.
Cathy also got a PR of 2:05!
Katheryn Massa got her Sub 2:00 with a 1:59:46! Way to go every one!

Came in 3rd in my age group.