Keeping myself sane!!!

Top of Utah Marathon

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Location:

SLC,Ut,USA

Member Since:

Jul 31, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

It was an evening in November 2005 that I'll never forget...I was nearing the end of a long term relationship when I needed to unleash some pent-up anger.  I was driving past a baseball park near my house, when something told me to park my car, and just RUN!!  It wasn't long before I moved on with my life and continued running for new reasons.  I now run because I am truly obsessed!  It is a way of life, and I feel incomplete without my weekly runs.  I have completed 28 half marathons, 78 marathons, 7 ultramarathons, and a few other distance runs.

Pr's:

5k:  18:37 Willow Canyon Fun Run  2010

10k:   39:26 Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series 2012

10 Miles:  1:02:15 Emigration 10 Miler 2014

Half Marathon:  1:22:01 Provo Canyon Half  2011

Marathon:  2:56:52  2017 Utah Valley Marathon

50 Miles:  9:22:03 Antelope Island Buffalo Run 2011

100 Miles: 30:40:28 Wasatch 100 2013

Short-Term Running Goals:

Qualify for Boston

Run 100 mile ultramarathon

Sub 3 hour marathon

Beat my old pr's

Long-Term Running Goals:

A marathon in each state, a few ultramarathons....

Personal:

I have a wonderful wife, Melissa, who does not understand why I would want to punish my body with running marathons, but she is very supportive.  She patiently awaits my arrival at the finish line of most of them.  I slipped on a shirt at the last mile of the Ogden Marathon in 2008, that asked: "Melissa, will you Marry Me?"  It was a wonderful moment!

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Race: Top of Utah Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:13:09, Place overall: 83, Place in age division: 18

This was my ninth marathon this year, and it was my fourth in a five week stretch.  I could definitely tell that running them so close together had taken its toll.  I'm glad to have next weekend off from racing to prepare physically and mentally for St. George on Oct. 2nd.

I have had a difficult time with this race in the past with the inclines appearing from around mile 19 onward, when a good downhill (like Utah Valley, or St. George) is needed to keep the legs moving.  I knew that I'd need to take advantage of the canyon segment and the next 5 or so miles thereafter.  I hit mile 13 approx. 1:33:23, so my next 13.2 miles were around 1:39:46.  I guess that wouldn't be construed as major of a blow up as it felt at the time.  Around mile 21, I could feel that my legs still had some speed in them, but no longer the energy storage to support them.  I had kept my fueling consistent as with other races, as taking GU every 4 miles, and orange slices when available. This proved to keep me hanging on from total disaster, but I did ultimately bonk in the end.  Each time I'd try to hold a steady pace of 7:00-7:15, my heart rate and respiration would begin to climb significantly.  I knew I could only hang on for the finish I had left in me.  

By mile 24, I really wanted to shut down and finish up with walking, but this wasn't to be.  I spotted a runner friend ahead, and knew that if I could catch him, he would be nice enough to help pace me through the last 2 miles.  This really helped me from mentally giving up.

Going into this race my primary goal was to go sub 3:10, but my back up plan was to better my time from last year of 3:19:39.  I guess it wasn't a total failure, as I did manage to course pr by 6:30. With this marathon behind me, I can now prepare to take on the challenge of St. George in 2 weeks!

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