My 4th marathon

I was able to reach my latest running goal, finish a marathon under 5 hours. I did that last week for the Ogden marathon. my finishing time 4: 52. Such an awesome feeling. Every marathon i've run so far i've had to run with some strange injury that occurs the weeks preceding the race. Like some kind of running curse. Still, i've finished all the races i've run. this is my 4th marathon, the first time running Ogden. The Reviews for Ogden were tops and they were right. This was such a well organized raced, from checkin to crossing the finish line.

Early morning wakeup
Ok, 3:45 in the morning is early by anyone's standards. the buses were scheduled to leave at 5am, but parking for over 1500 runners tends to go away quickly so i needed to get there at 4:30 to get a good place to park. I found a place by the DMV parking and trotted on my way to the buses a few blocks away. everyone walking to the buses looked groggy and the wind from the south wasn't making things easier. We boarded an old school bus and got under way. all the buses started up the canyon at the same time, went in one long train. So awesome to wakeup before the sun arrives. I'm not a morning person, but i do live a great sunrise. We got past Eden and then the windows fogged up. very cold outside. We got to 13 miles outside Eden at a park and they already had the firebins setup. this was at 5:55am, we still had over an hour left before the start of the run. so everyone just huddle together and did the best they could to stay warm.

start of race
Here was the start, 7am, everyone got to the finish line. as i walked past the pace signs, mine got larger and larger, from 6 minute per miles to 7 to 8, till got to 10 minutes. here was my group. we all looked like we were casual runners and we were, i like fitting in. more people crowded behind me, but with the start of every race, there are jitters, no matter how seasoned you are, you have the feeling inside and gets to your stomach. the shot went off, but it was still 3minutes before i actually got to the start line. Again, alot of people. only thought in my head: here we go again.

first half of run
Getting into a rhythm is probably the most important start for a long run. not only mentally, but physically your body gets into that motion of movement that helps it run long enough to endure the entire race. that is how things felt for my first 4 miles, i had just over a 9 minute pace, and kept it, at mile 5 i started to feel my energy start to give, had my first power bar and my first Gu packet, energy now back and start back again. same thing, but this time at mile 8.5 started feeling again so slowed down just a tad, dropped to a 10 minute pace and held that, then i ran into someone at work, i knew there were people at work there just so many people that i couldn't find them. so we talked for a bit, then just chatted with people along the way. at mile 11 found another person we talked until mile 13. she was running the relay portion with her husband. great talking, She went at a slower pace than I but was fun talking, so my pace dropped a bit, still, it wasn't so much about how fast as it was finishing. at the half way point alot of people dropped off for the relay. new faces to recognize.

2nd half of the race.
the first hill happened just at mile 14. heading toward Ogden and It was quite the hill for about half a mile. This was too much for me so did a walk/run up the hill, which actually helped me conserve my energy. Once i got to the top, i felt my second gear kick in and had plenty of strength to go much faster. It started going down hill again. at mile 15 they had another powerbar station, picked one, but it was really kind of dry, once i put it in my mouth my stomach seized around it and I about dropped, bad powerbar. by mile 17 i was hurting and half about to throw up. i needed food and water, but could barely keep it down. my muscles started hurting at this point. in fact, two weeks ago at a ward activity i fell into a hole playing ultimate frisbee. landed right on my knee and bruised it on the side on my left knee. i could still walk, even run, but it was still tender going into the run. at mile 18, it started hurting badly. had to slow down alot. dropped my pace to 14 minutes, had no choice but to do a run until it hurt, then walk, most of this was downhill so was ready for it. so kept going, i could usually go about 1/4 mile before it would get bad, but just kept going. by the time i got out of the canyon at mile 23, i was relieved i had come this far so i picked up my pace, still doing the run walking, but pushing the pain aside, i just pushed it faster, my muscles were out of rhythm so it took time, i was certain my time was over 5.5 hours, but still kept going, even half mile out from the finish line, i so wanted to just hoof it, knee wouldn't let me, running any faster and it would start to buckle. so ran as best as i could practically limping, at 100 yards, i could see the finish line, it was under 5, just just gutted it out and got my goal.

finish line
There is something so pleasant about the finish line, not so much the crowds still there cheering, or the fact that you can stop running and get food and whatnot. but crossing that line, somehow something inside you changes. It has happened every race. I think this is what drives me to run all the races i run. I don't care about coming in first, i know running when i am older, speed isn't the biggest issue. finishing and finishing well is the best kind of goal to have in any endeavor one pursues.

overall the Ogden marathon has been the best of all the ones of done before. Very well organized. Each station had plenty of food and water, every location had friendly and helpful people, and I felt like i was part of a group of friends rather than running by myself. They even had bags of ice for each person at the finish. I definitely want to do this again next year. The scenery was also very nice, most of the run was through the canyons. Even up in Eden, most of that farmland, all so very green, it wasn't too hot, wasn't too cold. just perfect. coming into Ogden at mile 23, you change and run along the river trail, which is covered with trees and bypasses all the major streets. out of 5 stars i'd give this a 5. My next run is just a half marathon, the bear lake half, then i'm up in the air about which one to do next. This will be my 7th half marathon. I have graduate school coming up and need to get focused on preparing for this 2-year run in my life. should be interesting.