Marathon Down

Well, I completed my third consecutive Ogden Marathon. Mom and Dad took the kids, so Brandi and I had Friday to chill. We ate a dinner/lunch at Macaroni Grill (the Seafood Linguini is to die for!). Then we picked up my race packet at the Union Station in downtown Ogden. The guy speaking was Dane Rauschenberg - a guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 days and wrote a book about it. The only thing I heard him say as I was picking up my packet was, "Don't take longer strides on the downhills or it will trash your legs. Take normal strides or even shorter, quicker strides." I took his advice.

We hung out with John and Sunni for a bit, and then Brandi took me to see Star Trek. Coolest movie I've seen in ten years. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. I finally fell asleep around 11pm, and then I got up at 3:45. Showered, shaved, clothed, grabbed all of our stuff, and headed for downtown Ogden. I boarded the bus at 4:45 on Washington Ave. The energy on the street is pretty cool with loudspeakers and thousands of runners boarding buses.

Brandi didn't want to get up early and drop me off, so she slept in, and then walked the 2 miles to downtown Ogden to meet Mom and Dad and the kids at the finish line. She said the walk wasn't bad, but I had left my memory foam pillow behind, so she had to carry it the two miles and stand around with it at the finish. I told her I would have just left it at the hotel. So sweet.

I sat next to a high school kid on the way up, and he seemed a little nervous. It was really cold up at the starting area 26.1 miles up in the mountains. They dropped us off in the cow pasture with a million port-a-potties and a bunch of 50 gallon barrels full of firewood and warmth. All 2,500 or so runners huddle together and listen to the music and chat. Some guy had a remote controlled helicopter with a video camera attached, and he would fly it around taking video. I dressed really warm this time and was quite comfortable the whole time. Around 6:50, I ditched all the warm clothes into my race bag with my number on it, threw it in the back of the truck and.....as I'm typing this, I just realized I forgot to pick the bag up at the finish line. Crap.

Stretched some, then took my place right around the 8:30-9:00 minute markers. The cannon went off promptly at 7am, and we were off. I took it easy this time, trying to average 9 minute miles the entire race. I felt strong, and I took my first brief walk break at Mile 9 while I sipped Powerade at an aid station. I cruised through the Halfway point with the live band and crowd in the small town of Eden at 1:54. At Mile 18, I began feeling nauseated and had to stop for a minute to keep from vomiting. At Mile 19, I was still on 9 minute per mile pace, and I thought I would finish in 3:54 or so, breaking my personal best by about ten minutes.

However, right around Mile 19, I was nauseated again, and I almost stopped running. I would run until I was about to puke (I puked into my mouth at one point), and then I would stop and walk until the feeling went away. I couldn't eat anything and had a hard time drinking the last 7 miles. I was really looking forward to the cold watermelon at Mile 25, but after eating one piece and almost vomiting, I had to throw away the other two pieces I grabbed. The ultimate disappointment - running 25 miles for some watermelon and then not getting to eat it!

It took me almost 45 minutes to go the last 3 miles. I was really frustrated. I entered the final quater mile and spotted Brandi and the girls (didn't hear my parents on the other side yelling). Annie and Emmy came out and ran the home stretch with me. They hung the medal on me, I walked through the misting station, and then into the runners' area for some Jamba Juice and oranges. The fam met up with me, and we made our way to the cars. My parents took the kids to meet us at John and Sunni's, and Brandi made me drive. I had to stop about 2 blocks away and I finally vomited. As soon as I got to John and Sunni's and was showering, I vomited more. Looking back, I'm convinced it was physical fatigue. It happened once in high school after wrestling practice. I went so hard, I puked as soon as practice was over.

We wolfed down pizza at John and Sunni's once I stopped puking. It was a relaxing afternoon before our drive home to Moab.

All in all, it was a cool race. I only trained up to 15 miles and I was able to run my fastest 19 miles in the three marathons by far. This year, I'm going to train properly and do it for a full year. I'm positive I can sustain my pace and finish under 4 hours.

I wore sun glasses for the first time and it made a world of difference. I wasn't squinting the whole time and it made the 75 degree weather seem ten degrees cooler. I'm always going to do long runs with sun glasses.
Good times.