The last couple years at Ogden have been less than stellar
for me. In 2011, I believe it was just
simple under training, and for 2012, I was returning to running from a pelvic
fracture. I arrived at the starting line
this morning looking for redemption.
Melissa and I arrived at the packet pickup, did the usual
scouring of vendors at the expo, and headed to our hotel. I figured we’d relax and prepare for the
early morning awakening. Unfortunately,
this is not exactly as things turned out.
Our hotel was a run down, mess of a shanty that appeared to be a frequent
of transients and meth addicts. I
walked into the front office and had an instant sinking feeling about this
place that had appeared respectable on their website months ago. A simple mistake of overlooking the online
comments and rating will not happen again!
I managed a mere couple hours of sleep, as the bed was no
more comfortable than sleeping on the floor, the front door did not seal
tightly and let the noise of falling rain and passing traffic in. There were also sounds of slamming doors,
pounding feet, and raised voices permeating the walls and ceiling. A final blow was the presence of only a half
used roll of tp in the bathroom! I have
never been so anxious to be out the door and aboard a shuttle bus.
The ride to the start was uneventful as I looked out the
window at the falling rain during the early morning darkness. Since I had been so eager to leave the hotel,
I caught one of the first busses and would therefore have more time spent in
the soggy conditions at the start line. Two hours spent meandering around a
field could have been worse, as I instantly connected with friends and the time
passed quicker than ever.
I had three goals for this race: 1. Shoot for sub-3 hour
finish, 2. Under 3:05 finish, 3. Under 3:10 if the wheels fell off. I wouldn’t have been devastated had I not
accomplished one these, but I assumed my current fitness would at least yield
the 3:10.
I felt better in the early miles than I had at the Salt Lake
Marathon last month. My warm up seemed
smoother with my stride and breathing settling in with seemingly less
effort. I was enjoying the race, and
even the rainfall right from the start.
I wondered if the faithful spectator around mile 7 had an alternate to
the Beatles “Here Comes the Sun” given the weather conditions. He most certainly did, and I appreciated the
spectators and volunteers choice to support the runners even at the cost of
getting soaked.
I struggled mentally and physically from around miles 10-15. I was still feeling ok, but just hit a low
point and just needed to put one foot in front of the other. As I grew closer to the dam at Pineview
Reservoir, I knew some of the best downhill miles were ahead, and so it was the
shifting of gears I needed. I then plodded
down the canyon and kind of zoned out.
The last 5k, which is essentially just beyond the mouth of
Ogden canyon, to the finish line felt decent, but I could clearly see that goal
number one was out, and goal two was still plausible. It appeared as a slog to the finish, but I
was pleased to not experience a total crash.
My legs did cramp up very shortly beyond the finish line, and it was a slow
hobble to retrieve my drop bag and back to the car. My Garmin splits were:
1. 6:43
2. 6:54
3. 6:47
4. 6:29
5. 6:48
6. 6:51
7. 6:53
8. 6:43
9. 6:54
10. 6:58
11. 7:06
12. 7:05
13. 7:03
14. 7:12
15. 7:29
16. 7:01
17. 6:52
18. 6:55
19. 7:04
20. 7:00
21. 6:53
22. 6:56
23. 6:40
24. 6:54
25. 7:11
26. 7:20
.20 7:10 (3:19:56, read .46 mi.)
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