Ogden Marathon 2010

So Erin and I had a crazy idea to enter the Ogden Marathon and run it together. I always wanted to run a Marathon and though it would great to run with my wife. The only problem is that Erin HATES running, which we discovered after her running twice for training. I don't like running in the cold so I had the idea to start training in March when the weather warmed up. Living in Utah my 28 years I should have known that weather doesn't warm up in March, so I kept delaying my training. I never meant for it delay into the last week of April though.

So I officially started training about 3 weeks before the Marathon date. Giving me 2 solid weeks of good training so I got to work. I ran a couple miles for 3 mornings then on Friday after work I went for a long run, I planned on doing 10 miles but only got 7.5. The next week I ran less because of rainy weather but ran two 5 milers at the end of the week. The week of the Marathon I ran one 5 miler and decided I was ready for 26.2. So I had a total of about 26 miles of training over a two week period, far less than the recommended 6 to 8 months.

Come the day of the marathon I was feeling pretty good, despite waking up at 2 am because Erin  couldn't sleep. Then I couldn't go back to sleep cause I had to get up at 4 to get ready to go. As the race started I told myself that as soon as cross the line I am committed to finish no matter what. The first 5 miles I was feeling great, I had a great pace going but I knew I couldn't keep that pace so I slowed down a little. At around mile 6 or 7 I started having some pain in my ankle and shin, it was either shin splints or a sprained ligament or something. The pain got so bad toward mile 8 that I had to stop and stretch it out and walk a little. The pain never really went away, but I ran thru it as much as I could. I made it to the top of Ogden Canyon by the 11:30 cut off time, I believe it was about 10:45 when I reached it.

Coming down the canyon, my ankle was excruciating, I walked probably 1.5 to 2 of the 5 miles, until another runner gave me some ibuprofen at around mile 20, once that kicked in at about mile 22 I felt great and ran a great pace, I'd guess around a 8:30 or 9 minute mile, all the way to the finish. Once I finished my legs felt really pretty good, a little sore, but what do you expect after 5 hours and 45 minutes of running?

Later that night is when my legs started feeling really sore. I think it might have been cause I didn't eat for like 2 hours after I got done, and I didn't get to rest at all because I had to go get my kids.

All-in-all, I enjoyed running the marathon and am planning on running one or two more this year, and actually training for them. My goal for the next marathon is to knock 2 hours off my time and get 3:45 or better. It also would have been nice if I had somebody I knew cheer me on at the finish :(