2012 Ogden Marathon

Well, it's done. I was so close to my goal. I ran my 8:50 or so pace through about Mile 23 then went into full leg cramps and averaged about 12:00 the last 3 miles. I hit Mile 23 at about 3:30 and on pace to beat 4 hours. I finished in 4:08. But I wasn't bummed out. In 2010, when I trained up to 23 miles on trails (a first for that high of a training mileage and doing it on trails), I felt strong all the way through to the finish. I averaged 8:58 that year and cruised strong. This year (2012), I did a lot of trail running, but never went past 20 miles. I felt my legs starting to give out around Mile 20 this year, and at Mile 23 hit the wall. From this point on, I'm going to train up to 23-24 miles on trails and have total leg strength to finish. I'm also going to spend the next 12 months working myself toward an 8:00 per mile pace. I'd like to finish in the 3:30s at next year's Ogden Marathon. 

It was funny, but at the 23 Mile marker, the 4:00 pace guide with her sign and balloons and small group of 15 or so runners slipped by me. I tucked in behind them and thought, "I'll just feed off their energy and gut through to the finish." That lasted about 2 minutes and then I faded slowly back. I had been ahead of them for 23 miles, only to get passed at the end. It was a good race.  

I ran with my brother, Dave, for the fourth time. We ran together until Mile 11 when he walked a little longer at the aid station, and I took off. I figured he was gone, especially when I ran all the way up the only real hill around Mile 14 without stopping. But, just past the top of the hill, I hear, "So, how's it going?" And there was Dave. He said he charged like a crazy man up the hill. My first thought was, "He's going to pay for that and crash soon." Which he did. He slowed down around Mile 16, and I never saw him again. Although, for the last ten miles of the race, every time someone came up next to me, I turned to look hoping it was Dave leading some crazy charge to catch up. 

For the first time in seven marathons, I didn't have to stop to go to the bathroom. I tried to eat fairly light the day previous, and I only had a Carnation breakfast drink and half a bagel at 4:30am for breakfast on race day. 

Dave and I were hanging out around the campfires in the cow pasture at the starting line from 5:30-7:00. I was in the porta-potty a little long, and we were almost late getting to the starting line. They announced, "2 minutes to start" just as we stepped to the back of the pack on the road. We quickly ran up along the crowd in the deep, wet grass just off the road toward the front of the pack and hopped in at the 4:00 Hour pace marker. It was so cold, though, that our wet shoes made our toes go numb. It hurt pretty bad running with numb, tingling toes for at least the first mile or two of the race. Idiots. 

Waiting in the long line at the porta potties, a bunch of guys were just walking over to the pasture fence about 30 feet away and peeing. A small group of 4 women hopped the fence and held a blanket up while they took turns peeing. All of a sudden, one of them just turned, pulled down her pants, exposing her butt to all of us, and squatted for at least a full minute peeing. Her friends were all laughing and taking pictures.

Dave started dry-heaving around Mile 16, and I said, "Go over there and puke." And that's when I left him. It made me a little queasy hearing him dry-heave. Then, about a mile later, another guy started to puke next to me, and I almost got sick just hearing that, too. 

Many thanks to Brandi for the pre- and post-race massages, Erin for taking care of us, and Dad and Mom for watching the kids. Dad brought the kids to the Finish Line and watched them for a few hours after. I love Marathon Weekend.

I put this graph together comparing my 3:57 time in 2010 with this year's 4:08 time. So close...

Ogden Marathon
Ogden	2010	2012
Mile #	Mile AVG	Mile AVG
1	08:43.8	08:47.6
2	08:50.4	08:47.9
3	08:46.4	08:42.0
4	08:49.2	08:44.5
5	08:48.5	08:47.1
6	08:52.5	08:49.7
7	08:44.6	08:54.1
8	08:50.8	08:52.2
9	09:00.0	09:00.2
10	08:54.4	08:53.4
11	09:05.4	09:09.6
12	09:28.6	08:56.0
13	09:04.3	08:55.7
14	08:57.3	09:14.2
15	09:17.6	09:17.9
16	10:22.7	09:09.7
17	08:51.9	09:06.6
18	08:40.1	09:00.6
19	08:59.6	09:27.5
20	08:49.1	09:54.7
21	08:55.8	09:22.5
22	08:54.6	09:47.4
23	07:24.5	09:21.5
24	08:52.9	10:42.6
25	09:26.5	11:48.5
26	09:27.2	11:59.8
27	05:07.1	04:57.8
AVG	8:58	9:24
Finish	3:57	4:08

My marathons so far...

2012- Ogden Marathon - 4:08 - Longest training run was 20 miles

2011- Morgan Marathon - 4:38 - Longest training run was 11 miles (4 months after getting out of leg cast)

2011- Ogden Marathon - 5:03 - Longest training run was 13 miles (2 months after getting out of leg cast)

2010- Ogden Marathon - 3:57 - Longest training run was 23 miles on trails

2009- Ogden Marathon - 4:23 - Longest training run was 19 miles (heat this year made me really sick at Mile 18 and struggled to finish)

2008- Ogden Marathon - 4:11 - Longest training run was 19 miles

2007- Ogden Marathon - 4:03 - Longest training run was 13 miles (I don't know how I finished so fast this year - lots of "First Timer" energy I guess)

That's my career as an amateur runner. I will be 40 next April 25 before the Ogden Marathon in May, so I'd like to break 3:40 to celebrate 40!