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Utah Valley Marathon

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Location:

Riverton,UT,

Member Since:

Jun 19, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Short-Term Running Goals:

 2022 Running Goals:

Stay fit and healthy.  Run a decent Boston and St. George marathon.

 

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Keep fit and stay semi-competitive as long as I can.

 

Personal:

I have a wonderful wife and son and we live in Riverton/Herriman Utah. I am a high school teacher, and head coach for cross country and track at Mountain Ridge High. 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Type A Lifetime Miles: 66.60
Saucony Kinvara 8 Green Lifetime Miles: 131.90
Hoka Speedgoat 3 Lifetime Miles: 408.85
Nike Zoom Fly (Black) Lifetime Miles: 236.85
Saucony Endorphin Pro Lifetime Miles: 59.50
Saucony Endorphin Shift Lifetime Miles: 231.50
Saucony Triumph 18 Gray Lifetime Miles: 99.20
Nike ZoomX Invincible FK 2 Lifetime Miles: 107.50
Altra Rivera 2 Black Lifetime Miles: 25.62
Nike Zoom Alphafly Lifetime Miles: 35.10
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.2 Miles) 02:56:06, Place overall: 21, Place in age division: 4
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.5026.200.000.000.0026.70

Not much good to say about this one, I'll just chalk it up as a learning experience, and one I don't wish to have again. Nice morning and pre-race rituals.  I got eaten up by fighting the headwind for 13 miles by myself, mentally and physically destroyed!

Everything went well through mile 7 (42:04 at mile 7) and then I fell apart and was lucky to finish.  Worst I have ever felt in a marathon!  I got passed the entire race and never passed one person (except Steve Anderson who was walking about mile 13), not the norm for me, I usually negative split and catch all kinds of people.

I started out with two young guys and we came though 7 miles at 6 minute pace and I felt good.  Then the wind hit!  I run in the wind all of the time, but today it hammered me.  I lost the two guys when we hit the hills and I was trying to suck down my first GU.  I was on my own from then on.  I started to break down mentally first, since I could see that time was going to blow away with the head wind.  Even on the 10th mile that was good downhill I was slowed up, it felt like I was running in place.  The wind was nothing like St. George 2008 and minus the rain, but I was in great shape then, sub 2:30 shape and had people to run with in the second half, not the same situation today.  I kept trying to mentally get back into things even when I slowed down so much over the next 6 miles.  I came through the half at 1:24:25.  The more I went the slower I got, it seemed like the whole canyon was uphill instead of down.  I took another GU at mile 13, but it didn't agree with my stomach so I never took anything else except water, and I know that was a mistake too.  I was lucky to average sub 7:00 pace down the canyon.  Around mile 19 or 20, just before getting out of the canyon, I started cramping up in my calves, I am sure from nutrition and hydration during the previous 20 miles, that was apparent by the amount of salt and minerals all over my body when I finished.  I have never had the cramping like that before.  This is where I fell apart all the way and people started to pass me and there was nothing I could about it, because if I tried to speed up my calves would cramp and I would almost go down.  I knew if I stopped I wouldn't get going again or finish so I kept crawling along clicking off 7:00 plus pace for the last 7 miles.  I had one mile, (mile 25 I think?) that was 7:49.  At one point around the last mile Josse started running with me, or ahead of me, and asked me if I could catch the guy in front of me, I said no way.  I would have loved to catch him but my legs wouldn't let that happen, they were lucky to be moving at all.  I was lucky to get in and finish. Marathons can be a gamble some times, you never know how your body will react to conditions.  I lost a big on this one!  I did finish though right?!

My final time was 2:56:06, definitely my worst marathon of all time.  I was pretty bummed, but so glad to be done at the same time.  I know most people didn't have a good race today.   I felt awful afterwards too and walked for a while then had to lay down on the grass.  This was a mistake because my calves cramped up bad when I was on the ground.  My wife tried to dorsiflex my feet, but the calves were contracted so tight that she couldn't move them.  She finally got them to dorsilfex and I was able to turn over, then started to cramp again and had to have help standing up.  I limped around the rest of the day.  I did still place 4th in the age, but since I should have won it, and got passed by all of the 3 ahead of me in the last few miles, that was no consolation either. 

On top of an awful marathon, my son Jaren broke both bones in his lower arm at my little sisters house this afternoon, which puts a bit of a damper on our vacation to Disneyland and San Diego next week.  Then we found out our friends just up the road had a little baby with Down Syndrome and they had no clue about until he was born.  They are devastated right now!  That would be a hard trial in life!  Anyway, not a super good day for me. 

The good thing for me is I learned a lot and relearned a lot and I will do everything in my power to not have a race like that again.  I will be ready for St. George this fall.  I will be smarter in my training, in my nutrition and hydration, and my race tactics next time.

Asics DS Racer 8 Miles: 26.20
Comments
From Tara on Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 23:49:33 from 75.169.152.18

Sheesh! What a report. Sorry things didn't pan out as planned. At least you can take this with you and apply to the next. Under the conditions, not sure anyone was able to get anything close to goal time. Keep it going into the fall. Congrats, you got it out of the way:)St. George, here you come!

From Scott Ensign on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 08:51:46 from 70.58.47.132

James, way to handle a tough day, I am impressed in any event. you are coming back nicely. I hope your son's break isn't too bad. good to see you are running SG- I got in as well though I am not really looking forward to it. I have decided I hate marathons. and reports like these from UVM just scare me even more.

From Jake K on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 10:13:12 from 155.100.226.54

Tough day - but now you are owed some good weather karma, right? You'll bounce back for the next one.

Sorry about your son - that stinks!

From jtshad on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 13:47:55 from 204.134.132.225

Tough day but you got it done in hard conditions. Sorry about the cramping and intestinal issues, but you are back marathoning!

Sorry, I forgot to wish your son a fast and easy recovery. Tough but they heal quickly (my son broke his last winter and rebounded pretty quick, I pray for the same for your son).

From Andrea on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 14:21:34 from 72.37.244.100

Good perspective - use this race as a learning experience. Sorry to hear that it was not your day.

Sounds like you guys need a vacation to Disneyland and San Diego! Might be a little more challenging with a kid of two broken bones, but it's hard not to smile when you see Goofy! :)

From josse on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 14:40:49 from 70.196.194.105

I had to learn all those hard lessons over again this year. I am sorry it was so bad and you all had to battle the wind for so long. train hard but smart for SG and go rip up the course:)

From Christi on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 15:29:13 from 160.7.239.198

Sorry to hear you had such a tough day... (there's not a lot u can do with 20mph winds and calves that keep cramping) way to Hang in there and finish... (this was my second slowest marathon time-and i knOw most people were way off their goals) I'm sure at George will go much better for u!:)

From James on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:24:14 from 97.117.85.3

Thanks guys. It was one of those kind of days on Saturday. Good news is that we took Jaren in to the Orthopedist at the U of U Sports Med hospital and he was able to cast the arm, and no surgery is needed. And thank goodness for "water casts", eh!

Tara- It was good to see you this weekend, it has been a long time! Your sister was a little weirded out by me I think. Had I met her before? Get better and stay away from those over zealous trainers.

Scott- It was a rough day for most, but don't let the reports scare you, most of it is venting anyway. You will do good in St. George.

Jeff- You didn't miss out on this one brother! Get that hip better and let's hook up this year sometime.

Jake- I am ready for the good weather karma! Your 2:21 on that course from last year is super impressive!

Andrea- You didn't miss out on that half either if you were planning on it. Although I am sure the half wasn't too bad compared. I am all about Goofy!

Josse- Thanks for running with me for a bit. I really couldn't go any faster when I saw you. But you still motivated me to keep crawling along, especially when I realized that the first lady was probably rolling on me.:)

Christi- You ran tough today. I saw you getting your award on the stand, but you busted out before I could limp over to say a quick hi. Are you running St. George again?

From Holt on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:49:17 from 75.162.170.209

James - not that it is a consolation, but... Great to see that you were able to get out there and hit a marathon (even though it hit back).

From James on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 16:52:15 from 97.117.85.3

Thanks Dave!:) Not my ideal comeback after 3 years, but true. At least the marathon doesn't hit back as hard as that Squaw Peak 50 Miler eh!

From josse on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 17:37:36 from 70.196.194.105

I looked for you after bit couldn't find you, wanted to talk but oh well some other time.

From James on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 17:59:41 from 97.117.85.3

I was the one laying on the grass all cramped up and screaming, not hard to find.:)

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 18:28:41 from 67.222.225.187

James:

Doctrine and Covenants 121:10 - "Thou art not yet as Job", but I'd have to say pretty close.

We had a broken bone (leg, Jacob) in the family last year, this does make life quite a bit more difficult, but at least we are in the United States, and have cars, easy-to-access shopping centers, and decent doctors.

From Superfly on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 21:30:17 from 74.211.21.81

Dude I'm late in getting to this but good job. The wind sucks and that's that. Still for a comeback race to be under 3 hrs in those conditions is still great. Keep it up and you'll be turning it over down here soon enough.

From James on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 21:38:24 from 97.117.85.3

Sasha- Thanks!:) No I am not that bad off, but it was a downer of a day. Hey, I thought you ran really tough. I don't have the right glut contractions down yet to make me run faster in the last 10k like you. But in my case I need to get the calves contracting and RELAXING in sync next time and I will be fine, eh! I'll work on it.

Clyde- I appreciate the confidence. I will get back soon. I just need to work on doing what works and get some good training and confidence building races before fall.

From Tara on Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 21:45:53 from 75.169.152.18

I don't think she was weirded out but she did think it was funny how I introduced you. Why was I supposed to say!? Fun seeing you anyway.

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