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Teton Dam Marathon

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Location:

Bountiful,UT,USA

Member Since:

Jan 24, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Winner of 1994 Teton Dam Half Marathon, 1:25:01.

Best Marathon: 3:23:40. (Deseret News 2006).

Completed Utah Grand Slam (2006).

Completed 8 Marathons in 1 year, the last four were each two weeks apart.

Marathons to date: 25.

Short-Term Running Goals:

Stay Healthy

Sub 3:15 Marathon

Train consistently

Finish in the top 10% at all races 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Sub 3 hr marathon

Complete a 100 miler

1st Overall at any race

 

 

Personal:

Hi, my name is Matt and I love to run! I especially enjoy trail running. I am married to Susie and we have six children Connor-10, Jed-8, Jaxine-7, Evan-4, Eliza-2, and Susanna-0. Look for me at your next race, I wear the same bright yellow Twinkies shirt at all my races.

Favorite Course: Mid-Mountain Marathon, Park City, Utah

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.7626.200.000.0044.96
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Six miles nice and easy this morning. The weather is perfect today.

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.610.000.000.008.61

Hill workout.

 

I decided to get in one more hill workout before the marathon this Saturday.

Here is a picture from last week's race. The people I am running past our on their first lap, and I was on my second.

 

Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.150.000.000.004.15

Last run before the Teton Dam Marathon this Saturday. I am getting very excited about this race. This will my fourth time to run it. The course goes through my hometown and the farms that I grew up around. I just found out that this year they have certified the course to be a Boston Qualifier. I am in the most difficult age group, which means that I have to finish in under 3:10. I haven't ran a road marathon in about two years and have trained mostly on trails for the last year. I am confident that I could get 3:30 without too much effort. 3:20 would take a little work. 3:10 is difficult by still doable. I going to go for it. 

Comments(9)
Race: Teton Dam Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:23:44, Place overall: 7, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.200.000.0026.20

 

This is one of my favorite courses to run. It goes though my hometown, the town where I went to high school and ends in the town where I first went to college. The marathon also has relay teams which consists of six people who run 4 to 5 miles each. My Mom was on one of these relay teams. I caught a ride with her relay team to the start. My cousins and some of their friends were also on a relay team. The race started at the historic sight of the Teton Dam. The Dam broke back in 1976 and flooded the nearby towns. It has never been rebuilt. It was cold this morning and there was a strong wind blowing south. The race got underway right at 6:30 a.m. For the first mile and a half the wind was at our backs. Then the course turned right and we had a crosswind for a half mile. It turned right again and we were now going directly into the wind. It was a strong wind that made it difficult to keep on pace. I was trying to run 7 minute miles, but slowed to 7:30. This section of the course was the only stretch that was on gravel roads. The rest was on paved roads. We only ran into the wind for 1 mile, and then turned left so that we had a crosswind again. At mile four was the first transition point for relay teams. My mom was waiting there for her team. I knew that I would be faster than her team, because it is a group of older ladies. My cousin’s team was also waiting there. I was just ahead of them. My cousin, Wes, who just started with fresh legs, caught up with me and ran with me for his entire leg. I told him thanks for pacing me, but he said that I was pacing him. He told me that there was only one relay team in front of us and the rest were marathoners. It looked like I was in the top ten. At an intersection near mile six my wife was waiting there to cheer me on. I had put a few points in her GPS of where she could go to see me during the race. She would just select it in the GPS and it would tell her how to get there. That worked out great. At mile ten, we came into Teton. This was the first town that was hit with the wall of water from the dam breaking. My wife was there in Teton to support me. I was doing well at this point and averaging 7:15 pace. Leaving Teton we were heading south again and the wind was at our backs. Unfortunately that was only for a mile and we turned right having a crosswind again. At mile 14 we came into Sugar City. The course went right in front of my high school, and then headed down Main Street. The section through Sugar City was lined with hundreds of American flags. My wife was waiting there at a park. It was great to have her support throughout the race. Coming out of Sugar City my paced slowed a bit. I still felt good but couldn’t hold as strong of a pace. About mile 16 I started passing the tail end of the half marathoners. It was nice to be running near other people again and also fun to pass them. Even if they weren’t in the race I was in. At mile 18 we hit the race’s signature climb, three miles uphill. This wasn’t a big issue for me, because I have been training on a lot of hills. I just went into a lower gear and headed up. Part way up I got passed by a marathoner. He was looking strong and I couldn’t match his pace. I guess I still need more hill training. At the top of that hill the course had a short down and a short uphill, and then it is flat for a mile. The final three miles of the race were mostly down hill into the wind. The wind was blowing strong. I knew I was on pace for a good finish time, but couldn’t go faster than an 8:30 mile in the wind. It was a battle to stay strong at this point. Coming to the bottom of the hill I looked at my watch and saw that I was very close to my PR time. I poured in on through the final stretch and got some great cheers from the crowd. I finished in 3:23:44. Only four seconds behind my PR. I am still very happy with that. It’s a great time for this course especially with all the wind. I finished 7th overall and 1st in my age group. My cousin’s relay team came in about one minute behind me. There was only one of the relay teams that beat me. It was a team of members of the National Guard.

Here are some photos from the race:

 Me with my age group award.

 My cousin's relay team

 Me and my Mom with our new shirts and finisher's medals. 

 

 

Comments(19)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.7626.200.000.0044.96
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