"Marathoning is just another form of insanity."
WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!!!! My heart is racing, my head is aching, I feel nauseous, indescribably fatigued and every muscle in my body hurts. It feels like freight trains have just finished taking turns running over my body. So what is the cause of my distress? I just ran the Ogden Marathon!!
This marathon was only my second one. Last year I ran the Salt Lake marathon and after finishing, I told myself that I can cross that goal off my list and would never run a marathon again. I guess you have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming. Despite its many nasty side effects, the marathons that I have ran, have been 2 of the most positive and memorable experiences of my life. Nothing that I have ever done has been more rewarding or made me feel so incredible.
Since the buses left from downtown Ogden to the start of the marathon up Ogden canyon at 5:00 AM, Paul and I spent the night at Paul's parents house in Centerville which is only about 30 minutes from Ogden. I started the morning of the marathon waking up at 4:00 AM, eating Powerbars and drinking lots of Gatorade. At about 4:30, I left for Ogden to catch the bus. The bus ride up the canyon was very exciting. I was fortunate to sit by a very motivational guy named Charlie. The whole ride up, he kept telling me how awesome I am going to do and gave me tips to have a great race. The whole bus ride I kept thinking that I would have to run all the way back down.
Once arriving at the start of the course, about 40 minutes remained before the marathon started. The atmosphere was AMAZING! Since it was pretty cold, there were tons of firepits to stand around to keep warm. Bananas, granola, runners goo, and Gatorade were offered as a quick carbo-load before the race. It was so much fun looking around at all of the marathoners (About 2,000) stretching and prepping themselves to run the race.
The Ogden marathon course was absolutely breathtaking. It definitely reminded me of Norway with a gorgeous river and beautiful cabins lining the riverside. Amazing views of pine covered slopes changing into steep rock faces were at every turn. INCREDIBLE!!
Going into the race, I had no idea what to expect. As the race began I told myself that I would not focus on running a certain time or worry about a specific pace, but just enjoy the day and the experience of running Ogden. It seems that this strategy was the best one I could have used. The initial miles of the race were fairly slow as I tried to wind my way through the crowd of runners and settle into a comfortable pace. Watching the spectators that lined the streets really helped keep my mind occupied and hearing their encouragement totally lifted my spirits. Tons of little kids lined parts of the course offering "high-fives", candy, and would spray us down with hoses. That definitely helped a lot!
About half way through the marathon, I started feeling dizzy. Luckily, an older man (looked about 96) sprinted right by me (very humbling), slowing down briefly to ask if I would like some of his all natural runners goo and telling me that this was his 136th marathon.. :) I took one, and felt tons better immediately. The next couple of miles went fairly quick and easy until about mile 17. Luckily my sister Donna called and she was able to distract me for the next couple of miles. At about mile 20 I got a charley-horse in my left calf which hurt tremendously! I ran my best until the next aid station where I stopped for a couple of seconds to stretch and felt tons better.
The last 10K of the race was the worst. I had to play small mind games in my head to keep me going! I think I downed at least 20 runners goo this race and drank about 50 gallons of Gatorade and water.. and near the end of the race, my stomach felt about ready to explode. As I finished mile 25 and saw the last stretch of the race with the finishers flag ahead, I suddenly received some extra strength from somewhere stored within me, and I was able to sprint pretty fast at the end. It was so much fun to see Paul and my Mom cheering me on.
I FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes.... I am alive, and this will most definitely be the last marathon of my life. :)
So I've been wanting to go on a little road trip for a while, but with our busy schedules it hasn't been that easy to find time to go. Somehow I convinced Paul to take a couple of hours off last Saturday and head up Strawberry Reservoir for a little drive. It had been a while since Paul and I last spent some quality time together, so we were very excited about this little adventure.
The drive up there was absolutely beautiful. After passing Heber, the remainder of the drive was mostly through beautiful forests (Utah forests that is.. but it was still way pretty). :) After driving for an hour and a half, we were ready for a beautiful day by the lake. Our beautiful sunny day quickly turned freezing cold and it even started to hail. Paul and I were so cold, that we quickly took a couple of pictures by the reservoir and then ran back to our car. So all in all we spent probably a good 2 minutes by the reservoir! Oh well, I guess we will have to try that trip again! :) On the way home, we stopped by a very cute souvenir shop and bought some yummy treats. Even though we were only there for a couple of minutes, we had a great time!
