The story of this race really began on Friday night for me. A week or so ago I got offered a spot in the Ogden Marathon, but I had completely written off running with my friend’s # due to a strained soleus/calf that knocked me out on Monday. So, driving home from work at 5:30 on Friday night my phone rings and it’s the girl I was going to get an Ogden Marathon entry from asking if I wanted her packet and number?. . . . .. Hmmm?? . . ., strained Soleus felt o.k. on my walk Thursday night??? Maybe?? . . . . My answer was “let me get back to you in an hour or so.” Got home, and the packet and number were already there waiting . . .dang it! More pressure! I put on my shoes and went for a walk/run on the trails to see how things felt . . .after about 5 miles I thought “not bad, a little tight, but I could probably pull it off.
Me being me, I hemmed around about making a full commitment to myself all night. Did I really want to risk further injury for a race I had no intention of running and have not really thought about much at all? About 9:30 last night I got my stuff together, set it out like I was doing a long run and, still not totally committed, went to bed and set the alarm for 4:00 AM.
Alarm went off, I thought naaah, hit snooze and went to sleep. Then the thought hit me, “if I go to the finish to watch my wife’s friends run I’ll kick myself all day for not running.” Got up, grabbed breakfast and my gear and I was out the door, hurt calf, no taper, poor diet and all. I had no idea what pace I could run or what to expect really, I just haven’t run for speed or on flat, smooth ground for a long time. A good fun, training run is all I kept thinking.
I got to the start pretty late and ran into my brother-in-law at the bathroom line. I think they could put 1000 toilets up there and there would still be a 20 minute line. We talked, the line didn’t move, the race start got down to 2 minutes, then 30 seconds, then me running across the field as the train of runners poured through the start. I stood at the start line banner for a minute or so and waited for a friend I knew was running and said hi and good luck to several friends as they went by. I jumped in with my friend and we talked and ran slow for a ½ mile or so, I sped up a little, looked back and she was gone. Bummer, we have run together the other two times I have run this, the 1st time she literally pulled me to a 3:46 finish in my first, and off the couch, marathon.
Story gets short from here out. Felt good on the down hills at the start, no calf issues. Running on pavement on purpose for literally the first time in a year sucked! Sorry to you guys who like it, no offence. I read on Davey’s report that he ran on the dirt shoulder when he could and sped up when he did, I had the exact same experience, only my experience was about 1:00 p/mile slower than his experience. Splits for the first 8 miles were consistently between 7:40 and 7:50, which I was good with.
Mile 8-9 or so is where the story gets short. My calf started to flare up bad after only a few miles on the flatter part of the course. I thought, first, “slow down”, second “stop at the next aid station and wait for you bro-in-law and run/walk at his slower pace to the half point where he had a car parked.” By the water station it felt a little better so I kept going, then it would flare again, and I would think “ok stop” then “why not just get to the half.” On and on like this for 4-5 miles.
At that point, and for the rest of the race it was really in my head, I was worried about messing up my whole summer over one dumb, unplanned run. My splits dropped immediately from high 7’s to mid to high 8’s. Except for a few slow miles, that’s where they stayed the rest of the race. My gate felt weird, between the knee I hurt skiing and now right soleus/calf strain, my poor left leg has had to carry my injured right all year. Most of my acceleration was coming from my left leg and I could feel my left hip and hamstring aching all the way through the rest of the run. Oreo, on his marathon report, said about his ITB issues, “one leg says go the other says whoa!” Perfect description.
I was hammered at the end. Last two miles were rough. Marathon’s are very hard for sure. I’ll take 50 miles on dirt anytime, much easier. It was good to run a couple of miles with friends along the way and see even more at the finish. The weather was perfect, beautiful day. I finished somewhere around 3:41, I forgot to stop my watch and haven’t seen my chip time. I qualified the girl whose number I had for Boston, not that she would run, but she’ll have fun explaining that to friends and family for a few days. I managed a marathon PR and hit the half at about 1:46 which is also an unofficial PR. Given the craziness of it all, I am totally happy with how it went. My calf is tight and a little painful and my left leg is going to be sore tomorrow, but it should all recover o.k. for Squaw Peak in a few weeks, I hope. (oh ya, I’m OFF the wait list and in the race!) If not , I’m sure I’ll be dumb/stubborn enough to be out there anyway.
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