A Runner at Heart.....Riding a Bike

Utah Valley Marathon

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Location:

South Jordan,UT,USA

Member Since:

Sep 01, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Started running in 2001.  Have completed over 100 marathons and ultras since then. 

Marathon PR 2:56:04 (2005 St. George)

New PR 2:53:24 (2008 Tucson)

Finished 2nd Overall in 2005 Utah Grand Slam to Paul Peterson.  He beat me by 30 min in every race.

1/2 Marathon PR 1:23:56 (2008 Just Cuz Half Marathon)

Completed the Utah Grand Slam 10 consecutive years (2003-2012).  I don't know if anyone else has done that.

Short-Term Running Goals:

2024 Goals:

Be consistent in my Riding.

Drop a few lbs.

Long-Term Running Goals:

I have long-term biking goals.  Running is completely out of the question with the Meniscus in my knee.

Personal:

I'm in the 55-59 Age Group.....Yikes!

I have been married for over 39 years.  We have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.

 "Only those who risk going to far can possibly find out how far they can go"  T.S. Eliot

"Putting miles in your training log (blog) is like putting money in the bank.  You begin to draw interest on it immediately."  Hal Higdon

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Biking 2021 Lifetime Miles: 653.86
Biking 2023 Lifetime Miles: 702.58
Biking 2022 Lifetime Miles: 2001.75
Biking 2024 Lifetime Miles: 383.13
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:48:53
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
19.347.0026.34

Not too sure what to say about this...

I originally planned to do this as a training run again for my ultra in 2 weeks.  I didn't sleep well at all in the hotel.  I kept waking up.  I have a lot on my mind with work-related items.  I woke up to a warm (66 degrees) in Provo and thought the heat would cause me problems.  There was a big problem looming....but it wasn't the heat.

I got to the start area with about an hour to kill.  I used the time to take care of nature issues and just relaxed in a grassy area.  I decided that I wanted to try to see if a 3:25 was possible without too hard of an effort so I could get my Boston shirt like in years past.  I set a goal to have a 7:20 average by the turn at Deer Creek before the rolling hills started.  It seemed like a good idea.

At the start I felt good and we had a good tail-wind for several of the miles heading out of Wallsburg.  The wind shifted at the 5 mile mark and then shifted back behind us for a while at 6.  This was just a sign of things to come.

I had a 7:18 average at the turn which is around the 7.5 mile mark.  When I turned for the first uphill and the 30+ mph headwind slammed in to me....I hit the wall.  I couldn't seem to catch a decent breath and it felt like I was carrying someone on my back on the uphills.  When I would hit a downhill stretch it felt like I was still working too hard and my heart rate was too high.  I took a bathroom stop at the aid station at mile 9 hoping I could catch my breath and do better.  It didn't work. 

I threw all goals out the window and decided it just wasn't my day and I would just take it easy and run/walk to the finish.  I ran in to Bret around 16.5 after walking a good portion of the uphill.  She was having a bad day as well so we ran most of the rest together.  I would run ahead for a mile and then walk until she caught me.  I thought I might be feeling better on mile 19 so I tried to focus and see what kind of pace I could muster.  I fought the wind and pushed that mile.  It felt like a 7:10-7:20 effort.  When the split popped up on my Garmin...it said 8:15.  Are you kidding me?  I knew I was toast.

I stopped at 20.5 to talk to Smooth who was cheering us on in her walking boot.  She said a lot of people were having bad days.  Bret and I played leapfrog the rest of the way in and she came in just behind me.  I was very glad to be finished with this long day.  Hopefully the walking will speed my recovery so I am ready for my ultra.

Marathon number 88 is in the books.  Ugly!

Mizuno Elixer 4 (new) Miles: 26.34
Comments
From Kory on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:27:32 from 134.50.89.24

Sorry about the awful day... It's amazing how wind can affect a marathon race. It's impossible to do well and perform in those conditions like you want to.

Quick recovery. Plans this Saturday for the Pocatello Marathon course. Let me know.

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