I have been looking forward to this race for a long time. When Heidi told me how beautiful the course was and how much she loved it, I decided to go ahead and enter the lottery. I had only been running for a few months at that point and was no where near being able to run 13 miles. I was mildly concerned about being able to run that far, but I didn't think I would get a spot. When I actually did get in, I was excited and terrified all at the same time.
Working out the logistics for this one was a bit of a struggle. I had a ton of things to get done right after work on Friday (pick up part for broken air-conditioner, drop off kids' stuff at Grandma's, pack the car, etc.) and Matt had to rearrange his work schedule a bit so we could make it to Ogden in time for me to pick up my packet. We got on the road a little later than we wanted, but made it to the expo in plenty of time for me to pick up my stuff. Unfortunately, we were already a little late for a dinner reservation with Dave (who I ran with) and some of Heidi's family, so I had absolutely zero chance to look at anything.
We met up at Sonora Grill in downtown Ogden. Everything on the menu looked amazing, but I was trying really hard to stick with something that wouldn't give me stomach issues the next day so I ended up getting chicken tacos. Boring...but tasty. I'm looking forward to getting up there again sometime when I can be more adventurous with what I order. Dave managed to sneak a ninja photo of us during dinner...
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| Matt and I - I look like I'm already having issues guessing from the expression on my face! |
We split off from the rest of the group to go find our hotel and get checked in and settled for the night. I had booked a reservation the same night I registered for the race. I'm so glad I did! The hotel we stayed at filled up really quick since it was right next to the bus pick up and the finish line. It was amazing location-wise. Comfortable bed-wise...not so much. We hardly slept at all. I ended up staring at the alarm clock for the last 30 minutes before I needed to get out of bed. Oh well...good practice for Ragnar and running on no sleep, right?
I got up and got ready to go at about 3:30, then headed down to the lobby for the pre-race breakfast from the hotel. Since we still had about 3 hours before the race was supposed to start, I ate a banana to keep from getting too hungry. While I was sitting there, I looked out the window and saw rain. Blast! Some of the other runners mentioned that it had been raining hard all night. When I left the building a few minutes later, it was only sprinkling so I had high hopes that the worst had passed over us during the night. (Spoiler alert - it didn't.)
I waited outside for a few minutes to meet some friends of mine that were doing the full. I couldn't stay long enough to meet up with Becky since she was running a little late and I had to get over to the half buses to meet Dave, but I did get a couple of minutes with Evelyn before I had to take off. This was her first full marathon! She is such a fun person and an amazing inspiration to boot!
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| Me and Evelyn |
The start line was in Eden Park, which I'm sure would have been a lovely place if we had been able to see it in the daylight hours. We were at the tail end of the buses to arrive so by the time we got there, all the fire pits were completely surrounded and all the porta-potties had healthy lines. It was still drizzling outside so we decided to take DRY over WARM and camp out under the small pavilion for the 1 1/2 hour wait that we still had ahead of us. At one point during said wait, some people got an extra wake up call in the form of giant farm sprinklers turning on them while they were waiting in line for the porta-potty. Many screams were heard. We even had one guy tell us that he got blasted in the face by the full spray of one as he came around the corner. Ha! Good times.
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| An hour and a half of this... tons of people huddled together in a pavilion surrounded by porta-potties. it did not smell good. |
About 15 minutes before the race was supposed to start we decided to leave the shelter of our pavilion so I could drop off my bag and we could make it to the start line. Coincidentally, this is also when it decided to start pouring buckets of rain. Yay. I managed to find a longer garbage bag in a discard heap on the walk over, so I snatched it and put it on over the other kitchen size bag I was already wearing. Double bagging for the win! Also, at some point in the extra long walk to the start line, they actually started the race. We didn't hear anything before that so it must have been the quietest race start ever.
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| Dave caught a picture of me in all my garbage bag glory... |
Miles 2-3 had some rolling hills (small ones) and some fun aid stations. It was somewhere in here that my IT band started to hurt and I decided (again) that I was really tired of having it hurt every time I run.
Miles 4-5 we kept running and only slowed to a walk for a couple of minutes to get fuel out of my belt and grab some water from an aid station. Tried a new flavor of Shot Bloks - Black Cherry - and they were gross. Tasted like medicine, blech. I spent the next few miles trying to get the taste out of my mouth. I didn't carry water this time though, and I was really glad for that. There was an aid station at pretty much every mile and a hydration pack would have been annoying with the garbage bags. At mile 5, I ditched the black garbage bag, but kept the smaller one on.
Miles 6-8 Tried our best to avoid puddles and keep running. Somewhere in here we crossed the dam. Dave's foot was hurting and my knee wasn't happy so we didn't talk much. Dave was trying to concentrate on his form and I was mostly just zoning out and trying to enjoy the scenery. It really was so pretty...there was a low fog over the mountains that was breathtakingly beautiful. We also hit a section here where the wind was whipping through a narrow part of the canyon that made it SO COLD. Aside from that part, it really wasn't too terrible temperature-wise. A little chilly, but not nearly as bad as the Salt Lake Half.
Mile 9ish - There was a spectacular waterfall at the mouth of the canyon. I made Dave stop so I could take a picture of it. Also took the opportunity to fuel again while we were stopped. Had one of the Clif gels from an aid station and it was much better than the Shot Blok.
Mile 10-11 Hello second wind! This section was through some wooded but paved running trails. After the first little steep bit to get down into them, it was lovely. I felt refreshed since we were sheltered a bit more from the rain down in here. The trail was like a green tunnel through the trees and offered a bit more variation in the terrain. While the little hills felt big, it was a nice break for my IT band which was tight all the way up into my hip by this point. I ditched my other garbage bag finally somewhere in here too. Also, texted Matt at mile 11 to let him know we were in the home stretch.
Miles 12-13.1 Ouch. I think Dave and I were both just getting to the mentally done point after all the rain and aches and pains we both had. We sort of took turns pushing each other through to the end. I would have to stop and stretch out my leg, so he'd get me going again, and then he would want to walk for a bit to ease his foot pain, but I would get him started up again by telling him stuff like, "Okay, we'll walk to the next tree..." or whatever. I was looking for Matt as we came up on the finish, but I didn't hear him until he was behind me and on the opposite side of the road from where I was looking. So glad he was there! Seeing him gave me enough gumption to sprint the last few yards.
That last mile was rough, but we ran it in and got the exact same time. :) A new PR for me at 2:10:57! I walked over to the finishers area and, just like Salt Lake, all I wanted was to get my stuff and find to a hot shower. The line was forever long and I had to wade through ankle deep water to get it, but I was able to get my things relatively quickly. There was a lot of good food there that I wanted to try, but I just wasn't feeling it. I was tired of being wet and cold. The only thing I grabbed was a chocolate milk.
You can see the winding around the slow people we did in the first mile and the stop for fuel and pictures in mile 9...then the complete breakdown of mental fortitude in miles 12 and 13...
I wound around until I found Matt, then made him take the obligatory end-of-race-with-medal picture.
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| I had to hold the umbrella so Matt could take the picture.... |
After the picture, we walked back to the hotel room so I could stretch out my pesky leg and take a hot shower (bonus of being in a hotel was the endless hot water for the shower...I spent a LONG time in there). Once I was finally warm, I was HUNGRY. We packed up and checked out, then grabbed lunch at the MacCool's downstairs. After that, it was time to head home and pick up the kids.
I had such a great time at this race. Yes...it was soggy and wet the whole time, and my IT band flared up early, but holy moly, I would jump at the chance to run this course again. The whole thing was SO well organized, fun and just pretty. I would love to see the course on a nice (dry) morning. I just might consider doing the full on this one even. It was such a great experience.
Next up - Utah Valley Half on June 8.
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