Ogden Marathon: Well, this race didn't really turn out how I wanted it, but hey, it was still great to run another marathon (#13). It was pretty much wet and rainy the whole race.
Last fall after the TOU Marathon, I was pretty committed to losing some pounds, and even got down to 189 (once) before Thanksgiving. Long story short, during Thanksgiving, Christmas Hollidays, etc. I didn't push away from the table enough, so I gained it back. I went into this race at 204, which means I am still in the Clydedale division. So this should be my last Clydesdale race (pending I push away from the table enough and train well this Summer). Commitment will be the key.
Back to the race: Got up to the start, was able to talk to a few people I knew. Had a few good quick visits with Steve Anderson, Walter Brown, and a bunch of others. It was wet. I had on a garbage bag over my top, and grocery bags tied around my shoes to keep my feet dry.
I took the bags off my feet and chucked the garbage bag while I was talking to one of my friends about 40 feet back from the start. We noticed the race started, so we worked our way down to the start line, started our GPS's when we crossed and were off. I really didn't think I was taking it out that fast at all, then looked at my watch at about .4 miles and noticed it was a 5:51 pace, so I quickly turned on the brakes and slowed down. first mile was a 6:20. Still felt like I wasn't going that fast, and felt good, so I said ok, I'll try a little more speed this first half--it may bite me later, but may not.
After the first mile or so, I noticed my feet were already wet and my shoes were making "sloshing" sounds with every step. About mile 2-3 I noticed I was running about the same pace as a girl from Logan that I've seen at a few races, so I decided to pace with her for a little while. She has gotten a lot faster. About mile 4, a big guy passed me (Turned out to be Chad James from Roy who won the Clydesdale division last year). I thought it was him when I saw him. So we kept up with him and it went back and forth. He slowed down quite a bit for water breaks, and then would pass me in between. The girl from Logan sped up about mile 11, and so I ran back and forth with Chad until the Half. I passed him right at the Half way point, and didn't see him again until later. Half way was 1:27 something. Overall I still felt great, other than a little bit of normal soreness in my legs that I always have by the half way point.
I did the hill at mile 14 ok, a little faster than the wrist band I printed with the times from my fasted Ogden Marathon in 2010. Did mile 15 great, slowed down just a few seconds/mile on miles 17 - 19. The rain made an ideal situation for chafing - not to mention the right side of my shorts kept coming down a little, which made me have to pull the right side up about 2-3/mile (didn't want to shock anyone by loosing my shorts HAHA). I only wear these shorts on races, and they have never done this in 6 races, but were so soaked and heavy the right kept riding down.
20-22 was a bit slower, and I was starting to notice some right hamstring issues. After entering the trail, right around mile 23 there is a small steep hill (more of a big bump on the trail). I saw it and said great, so I pushed it right up. That's when my entire right hamstring and calf just cramped up. So I slowed down quite a bit to work it out. After about a mile it worked out, but I was kind of stuck on the same slow pace. I sped up a little, but it started bugging me about mile 24.5, so I slowed way down to work it out. At mile 26 it worked its way out a little so I speed up for about another quarter mile, then it cramped up again, so I slowed way down to work it out...just a little faster than walking pace. about 30 meters left, a guy came up on my left, patted me on my back and said good job, keep going. I looked and noticed it was Chad, the Clydesdale runner who I hadn't seen since the half. When I recognized him, I notice the cramp was gone and took off at a sprint. I heard him say whoa, and got 4 second on him. After the finish I talked with him briefly--nice guy, we talked how it was a tough race with all the rain, etc. Great temperatures, just wet.
Later I talked to a bunch of people, again, picked up my award/plaque and Claire's (she did the half and won the 13-18 female division). Fun race, wish it would have been faster, but that give me motivation...
One thing about the distance. 5th time running the Ogden, every time it is exactly 26.45 miles. And my GPS is pretty right on. I've checked it against other professional GPS's and it correlates with them perfectly. It has registered St. George at exactly 26.22, and seems to do well on all training runs in Canyons, etc--interesting.
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