Hurt so good.

First of all before I even begin with the race report I want to congratulate Bryant and Riley for fantastic runs. Two guys that are great runners and I one day I hope to touch times that they have ran. Also want to thank everyone for the support on the Stable. Great group and discussions that take place here. Also most of all. Thanks to Johnny boy for the time he takes to make me better as a runner. Seen some fantastic results in 12 short months and excited for better times to come.
PRE-RACE:
 Started the morning out with 3 plain pancakes and a banana and sipped water until about 45 before the race started. From there I took 2 servings of UCAN hit the bathroom and went and did a small warm-up before the race started.
RACE:
 Going into this race I had ideas on what I thought I could run but never really talked much about it. Plus I literally decided 4 weeks before the race was that I wanted to switch from half training to marathon and training. Johnny looked over some ideas and thought that it was doable.
 Start of the race as the gun went off the pack immediately separated into 4 guys (Bryant, Riley, Myself, Paxton). We all tucked into a group and started working the miles together. By mile 6 Paxton made it known that he had ran a marathon 2 weeks before and was going to drop off at some point into the race. As we reached around mile 10 Bryant through in a little surge which made me fall off the pack about 10 feet or so, by mile 11 I was able to make up that gap and paced off of the guys for a minute until I got my breathing back. As we came through the half marathon Bryant immediately put in a surge. Riley stayed content and I fell off the back again. From there I just tried to stay focus on Riley and thought that maybe I could get some good miles in and eventually catch back up to him. You know now that I think about it, I think I was catching him around the reservoir, though Strava shows differently. ;-)
 Around mile 15 I took 1 serving of UCAN, grabbed some water and just stayed focus on finishing the race the best that I could. I hit the Ogden Canyon and could see Riley for a bit but the turns became more often and lost sight of him. Around 19 miles in I started to feel that fatigue of the marathon, and just started taking each mile 1 by 1. Stayed focus and determined at my personal goal at hand. Around mile 23 I was still feeling okay, not great, but okay. I came upon an aid station and 2 half marathoners that were walking didn’t hear me coming and didn’t get out of my way in time and I literally ran right into them. Knocked them both over and I mumbled some words but kept running.
 I think this took a little more out of me then I thought. I never run that great on the Ogden Pathway anyways but I went from low 5:30s to about 6 min/pace almost instantly. Knowing I had about 2.5 miles left help me get through to the finish. Anyways the last couple miles felt like a death walk.
I looked at my watch around mile 25 and knew I had sub 2:30 in the bag, it was just a matter of how I wanted to finish. I saw Jason Holt with about 1 mile to go and he offered to run in with me. I think Jason was probably laughing at me because I was getting delirious! I told Jason every block look back and tell me if anyone is coming. He kept saying bro, you have 3rd locked up just run. I kept saying dude you have no idea, they can totally make up the gap! Haha! Finally with 2 blocks left I finally believed Jason that I would take 3rd place. Came into the finish line with a time of 2:28:59. So glad that I finally got the monkey off of my back for this race. I’ve been trying for years to go under 2:30 and finally got it. I say I am done with the Ogden Marathon but it’s most likely a lie. For some reason the difficulty of this course just brings me back to try to better myself. Who knows maybe one day I can get the win on the hometown course. Just have to see what happens.
POST RACE:
I’ve mentioned some of the post-race in the Stable already so I am going to copy it over to my race report. Got really interesting none the less.
Came across the finish line and staggered a bit. Got my bearings and started marking my way through the finish line area. About 3-4 minutes after my legs began to give out so I sat down next to a soda truck. From there a volunteer saw that I didn't look so well. She asked if I needed help and I looked at her somewhat unresponsive and couldn't reply. She took my pulse and it was all over the place. She grabbed a wheelchair and rushed me to the medical tent. From there according to the nurses my body went into shock. My legs locked up and I began to shiver and couldn't stop. At one point one of the nurses wanted to do a rectal temp because they couldn't get an accurate reading because I was shaking so bad. I wouldn't stand for that and that's when I started kicking and screaming saying, "You’re not taking me alive!" From there I was sedated and the rest is a blur. (Not to mention my rectum is a bit sore today, ha-ha, just kidding) no rectal was done. Paramedics then joined the scene and suggested a warm IV. So they got one of those going and 1000ml later I started feeling back to normal. I've ran over 30 marathons in my life and I have never had this happen to me. But as the Cookie Monster put it, I really think I ran my body into exhaustion. The Ogden Marathon has owned me for so many years, that I was determined to conquer this course regardless of how I was feeling. Very grateful for the med staff and concerned family and friends that took care of me yesterday. Cookie Monster and I had a good laugh after all was well.