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Utah Valley Marathon

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Location:

Orem,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 03, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

HS/COLLEGE:
mile: 4:56, 2 mile: 10:21 (1978)
marathon: 2:52 (St. George 1982)
OLD MAN (20+ years later):
5K: 19:53 (Nestle/Art City Days 5K 2007)
10K: 39:55 (Spectrum 10K 2008)
half marathon: 1:26 (Hobble Creek 2008)
marathon: 3:07 (St. George 2007)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Get back to a BQ marathon time (currently 3:40).

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun running, keep fit, and fight middle age spread. Run consistently and injury free. Maintain a healthy balance between running and other life priorities. Encourage my ever-aging running buddies to keep running so we can continue to share runs on the trail instead of rocking chairs.

Personal:

Blessed to be married to Karen for 30 years. We have six children (4 daughters/2 sons) ages 16 to 30, and one wonderful granddaughter.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Altra Instinct 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 83.50
Altra Lone Peak 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 21.80
Saucony Guide 7 Blue 2 Lifetime Miles: 376.95
Saucony Fastwitch 6 Lifetime Miles: 200.05
Saucony Guide 7 Black 1 Lifetime Miles: 271.15
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
3.000.0026.200.002.0031.20
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
3.000.000.000.002.005.00

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne and Kent. It was 4 days after the Squaw Peak 50 and 4 days before the Utah Valley Marathon. My goal was to see how my legs felt to help me decide whether to run the marathon.

As I jogged up to the meeting corner, I had some pain in my right heel, my left knee hurt a little, and my feet still felt a little beat up, but I felt up for the run.

The PF-related heel pain felt better as I warmed up. I've been used to this since the PF flared up back in January. It feels a little different after hyper-extending it 3 times during the 50, but I'm not too concerned about it.

The feet felt a little tired during the run, but nothing to worry about. With a few days more rest they should be fine.

The left knee only really bothered me on the steep downhills where I had to watch my footing.

When I hit the level section between hills 2 and 1 on the way back down I picked up the pace to catch up to Wayne and Kent. I was moving along at a fast pace and my legs felt great. It felt good to open up and run fast. I passed them just as we began the descent down the steep first hill and the knee didn't bother me when I didn't have to brake to watch my step.

I'll decide on Friday whether to run the marathon, but it looks like a go. With the "no rocks, snow or mud", secure footing, and a mostly gradual downhill course, I think I'll be fine if I don't push the pace. I took it easy last year and ran 3:50. This year's course should be faster. That's only about 1/4 as long as I ran last week.

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Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.2 Miles) 04:28:59
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
0.000.0026.200.000.0026.20

Well, this is embarrassing...or at least enlightening. I was wondering what it would feel like for a 50 year old man to run the Utah Valley Marathon the week after running the Squaw Peak 50 Trail Run as his first ultra-marathon. Not too surprisingly, the answer is...not very good.

I finished in the very slow time of 4:28:59. It started out okay, but that okay feeling only lasted about 6 miles. I guess that's about how much I had recovered from the 50 miler, because familiar feelings returned...sore heel, sore hip, sore left knee, tired feet. As the steady rain began, my pace slowed. My splits were:

8:02, 7:27, 7:45, 8:24, 8:49, 8:57, 10:37, 10:30, 9:30, 9:49, 10:38, 9:49, 9:35, 9:34, 11:43, 12:25, 12:20, 11:07, 11:01, 10:29, 11:16, 10:57, 10:37, 10:21, 8:14/mi at the end.

The good news is I finished, but I couldn't have without help from my son Andrew and from Larry. I called Andrew and asked him to bring me a knee brace so I didn't over do it on my left knee. He met me at Bridal Veil Falls Park with two different braces. I crossed the highway and ended up putting one on each knee. They started to help almost immediately and I didn't worry about my knees for the remainder of the marathon. As I approached the mouth of Provo Canyon I met Larry on his bike. He road the last 7 or 8 miles in with me. His conversation kept me going. Those miles were hard. What am I saying, all the miles were hard, except maybe the first six.

So my experiment this year is to see if a 50 year old man...specifically this 50 year old man...can run the Squaw Peak 50, the Utah Valley Marathon, and the Ragnar Relay on consecutive weekends and survive. Two down, one to go. After a very cold bath I actually feel much better. I'm optimistic.

Comments(11)
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
3.000.0026.200.002.0031.20
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