Ogden Marathon

What a fun day. A day to always remember. Marathon morning came early with a 4:15am wakeup alarm on Liz's phone. Liz, Angie and I got up and dressed, then packed our stuff. We ended up finding out that we had a late check-out at 2pm so we took all our stuff back to the room.

Waiting for the race to start.

The race weather: ideal. I’ve been running in similar weather all year. Liz and I met her Marathon Maniac friends for the bus ride to the start. We just talked and visited on the ride up. I ate my two eggs and piece of bread for breakfast. I was excited but no nerves, I knew I had done my best to be prepared. If you know me well, you know I have struggled with competition nerves. Running doesn't do that to me. The start line area was in a wet cow pasture, complete with all the trimmings! Plus long rows of potties and lots of fire pits to keep runners warm. A news helicopter circled overhead.

When all the buses cleared out the the start line it filled up quickly. Liz and I wanted to be near the back where the 5:30 pace group was so we politely pushed our way through the middle of the crowd trying to get through. Ready. Set. Go. and the race is on! Before we made it back - so we moved to the side of the road. When the 5:30 pace group came by we fell in after them.

Waiting for buses to move off the start line.

A big part of a marathon is waiting. Waiting for the day to come. Waiting in line to get your bib. Waiting in line at the porta potties. Waiting for the race to start. If you are good at waiting you are halfway there.

Waiting.

At top of hill.

The hardest thing about the run/walk is that when everyone is in the big group at the start, after 2 minutes we walk. It looks to others like we have already quit. But if we don't walk early, the whole plan doesn't work. I had programmed my ipod for my more mellow run music so we wouldn’t tear out and get tired fast. In the marathon it is all about what pace can you endure for 26 miles or 6 hours! Cyndie laid out a pace plan for me, basically the first few miles were the fastest pace of the race, when fresh and excited! then the middle add about another minute to pace, leaving the last few tired miles for the slowest pace.

Me with Marathon Maniacs
L-R: Angie, Liz, Marsha, Teresa and Karen.

Happy marathoner.

Another happy marathoner.

Well the first ten miles I was able to spend with Liz. What a delight. She is very easy to run with. We seem to set the pace together. This was her 6th marathon. Being with her gave me confidence. A marathon is a heck of a long way. I trained for it, but now I had to actually test that training - trust what the schedule said - run 20 miles and you can run 26.2. It was so nice to have a friend to run with. When I started out on this whole marathon journey I was going to be running alone. Making such good friends along the way has been such an added bonus to this whole adventure.

Making it to mile 1. Only 25.2 to go.

Liz listened to me talk about my dedication list as we ran the miles. I was with her when I did the “coat toss.” I had bought it at DI and when I got too warm I threw it by the side of the road. $5 of fun. Doesn’t take much to entertain me. We were running 5 and then 6 minutes ahead of her virtual partner on her watch. I was concerned about being on time to the dam - cut off 4.5 hours. For several miles we kept the Clif 5:30 pace group in sight. The pace setter was carrying a stick with balloons and a sign on it so they were easy to spot.

Marathon fun with the hippies.

While we were running together I knocked off my Gymboss, it hit the ground and out rolled the battery. Liz put it back together and reprogramed it for me during the walk break. In the meantime we turned hers on. I also dropped a GU & one of my arm warmers. 3 things. I was done with dropping stuff, geez. We went through the “hippie” aid station together. Stopped for some pictures. Liz looks pretty in the pictures - she doesn’t need makeup like me.

Well organized aid station.

When Liz started to get a bit tired and was struggling to maintain my pace she told me it was time to leave her. I asked her if she was kicking me out? We were going up a gentle slope and so I turned on my Gymboss again and went on ahead. Still doing the running with walk breaks. I was sad to leave Liz but I had to run my race. And I was running it like I had trained.

Beautiful scenery.

Me during a walk break.

I got lots of attention and encouragement from others because of the sign on my back. Some people encouraged, some told me it was their first marathon. Thanks to Cyndie for making that sign, it was like having some built in company. 

Crossing the Ogden Half Marathon start line, lots and lots of Johns. I took the opportunity to stop again. I also had a banana piece.

Waterfall in the canyon.

The last 6 miles. My PR for distance. Running a little slower, leg muscles getting pretty tight. At this point I thought, I can do 6 miles. That is a short run to me now. The run through the Ogden River Parkway was beautiful. Shady. No head wind. I was sure glad to have that gone. Mile 23 & 24 my legs were complaining - pretty tight muscles. They were telling me that it was more than a 10% increase to my run. Anyway, some of my special people and a dog that were on these last few miles gave me some good times to think about. It made these miles special. Memorable.

Run into finish line.

When I finally hit the city streets it was just a short distance and I made the turn onto Historic 25th street and saw the finish line in the distance. What a cool experience. I decided to just run. As I got going I picked up speed and power. It felt good to have energy in the last few minutes of the marathon. It was fun to run a few "red lights." Came into the finish line running strong. What a great feeling of accomplishment - I finished a marathon. In less than 6 hours was my goal. 5 hours 57 minutes 53 seconds. And I thought when I finished I would know if I would ever want to do one again. I do. Want to do one again. I just don't know when.

Coming into the finish line you could see the temple.