Ogden Marathon

 Done.

And I feel great about it!

I’m not the type of blogger that runs with a camera in my hand, in reality… I like to run with almost nothing. I depend on the aid stations for fuel and luckily Ogden Marathon is known for their amazing volunteers and aid stations. There was cold water, powerade, fruit, cliff bars, Gus, cold wet sponges, candy and even cookies at one! Other then my shuffle and Garmin, all I had in my belt was extreme jelly belly's.

Here is the run down!

We headed to Ogden on Friday night to drop by the expo to pick up our packets and browse the different booths.

The expo was filled with vendors. I was actually waiting to purchase some compression socks while I was there but nobody was with the booth and I waited for a good 10 minutes? CEP you let me down. I almost figured they were free.. but the price tag on the socks told me otherwise. I did pick up some extreme jelly beans for the run. Jelly beans > GUs

After the expo we headed out to eat some dinner! We were all pretty hungry and everywhere had at least a 45 minute wait! No, thanks. We headed back to our hotel to just eat at the restaurant there. There was no wait and it was reasonably priced. Win Win!

I have a pretty sensitive belly when eating out, (especially pre-race) I ordered a simple grilled chicken walnut salad. They served some cornbread for us to share and it was gone in seconds! I also had a sweet potato in my purse that I pulled out and ate along side the salad.

After dinner we laid out our gear and got to bed, because we knew we had a early wake up call coming..

My alarm went off at 4:30am. I slept really well. weird how that happens when you don’t have twins in the bedroom next to you .

We quickly got dressed and to the buses. We waited a good while to jump on a bus.. race start time wasn’t until 7 and we didn’t want to wait at the top longer then we really had to. We walked right by the finish line to get to the bus.

see ya soon …

Once we got to the starting line, we huddled around one of the many fire pits that were available and then about 15 minutes before go time I decided to take a final bathroom stop. There was plenty of porta-potties there but for 3,000 crazy runners there were still some pretty long lines. Which caused me to miss the actual GO by 2 minutes. I was glad I was able to make it because I didn’t have to stop the rest of the race. No pictures because I didn’t actually carry my phone with me. Maybe one day..

I decided I would stick with the 4:15 pacer. I would of loved to sub 4 this marathon, but with my hip injury I decided that finishing this marathon would be good enough and running through the finish was more important then a sub 4. I was prescribed a lidocaine patch to help me get through it. Because I missed the the pacer at the start I caught up to him pretty quick- and stuck with him for the first 8 miles. I was feeling good and pretty confident so I picked it up a little and got ahead to the 3:45 pacer! I felt great by the half way point. I grabbed some water and a orange from a volunteer and kept on trucking.  My hip was starting to bug a little but nothing that was telling me to stop. At mile 14 there is a pretty good hill and that is when I lost the 3:45 pacer.  I slowed down a bit through a aid station to eat a banana and drink some powerade.

At about mile 17 we passed over the dam and headed down the canyon. It was downhill for the rest of the race! The canyon was beautiful and there were a few spectators out cheering us on. At this point, my hip was really hurting, I could feel the pain in my IT and down into my right foot. I slowed my pace down, I had already made it this far, I could finish.

Source

I walked through the next aid station, had another banana and water with some extreme jelly beans. I looked behind me to spot the 4:15 pacer catching up.  I decided that was my goal so I’ll stick with him. He was very encouraging and helpful. I was able to stick with him until mile 25…. Endurance wise I felt great, but my hip was throbbing and my toes were on fire. I couldn’t keep up anymore.. I faltered and fell back.

The last mile was onto the main road leading to the finish. Spectators were lined down both sides of the road. That gave me a little extra push and I sped up a bit and was able to cross the finish line in 4:16

One minute behind my goal. ONE MINUTE. I’m okay with it though. I did it and seeing my husband and kids on the side cheering me on was downright the greatest thing in the world at that point. I also have to give a big thank you to GPP and all my friends that were there to support me.

The Ogden Marathon Course is beautiful! At about the half way point we ran along side a lot of horses that galloped along the fence with us. We ran alongside Pineview Reservoir and over the dam, down the canyon with tall mountains and a waterfall.

Source

Overall, it was a great race! It was an amazing experience. The race was very organized- start to finish, marked well with amazing aid stations and volunteers.

Things I would of done differently-

1. Wear gloves! My hands were freezing until the sun came up over the mountain.. It was 33 degrees at the top and I had some old sweats I was wearing, I threw my pants of at the beginning but kept my jacket on till about mile 4.  A fuzzy, comfy robe would have been a been a bit more convenient, then I wouldn’t have to pull anything over my head.

2. I could of probably taken off a little faster at the beginning. Everyone I think starts to falter in the last few miles and I think I could of improved my time if I didn’t pace myself the whole race.

3. The time markers were placed after aid stations! It was my goal to hit the half way point at 2:00. So when I hit the aid station I though that was that. After snacking on a banana and downing some powerade I hit the strip at 2:01. Lame. I would of preferred to hit the time strip then the aid station. Wouldn’t that make more sense?…

Things I really enjoyed about this course-

1. The fact they had oranges and bananas at some aid stations! My stomach hates gus, and nothing can beat real food for fuel!

2. They had wet sponges at one aid station, which felt pretty amazing.

3. The whole course!  Pineview is one of my favorite places to wakeboard, and Ogden canyon is a place we often drive through all year around. It is very scenic and the views are amazing.

4. The race volunteers and sponsors went above and beyond my expectations! 

War Wounds-

Well, I came out of this with two blood blisters. They are located under the toenails of both feet. (The toe right next to the big toe.) I will spare you a picture. It’s disgusting. Last night my right one burst after getting caught on a door jam during a toothbrush war with Bee.  It hurt. A lot. Then today, I dropped my brush on it, slammed it against the wheel of the shopping cart, was stepped on/hit at least 4 times by the kiddos and then to top it off, I dropped the box of garbage bags on it. Seriously.. Its pretty swollen and throbbing. Help me Dr.. or anyone that has dealed with such agony.

Here is a video of my crossing the finish line!

Ogden Marathon finish!

Cartwheel. Heck, yes.

P.S Thanks to all the readers who recognized me and said hello!! Love it.

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Q. Favorite race? Ready go.

Q. Any other blister sisters out there that feel my pain..

Q. What do you carry with you on race day?