Ogden 1/2 Marathon 5/16/09

It had been 15 + years since I had ran more than a mile or two. It was December 2008; I was 225 pounds and trying to get fit and healthy. I started to talk to a marathoner that attends my gym and decided to give running a go. It has been so long since I ran cross-country as a sophomore at Bonneville High School. I finished dead last in the 1993 Region 1 cross-country championships. It was a huge blow to my 15-year-old ego! I had the flu and was in no shape to be running, but the coach had me run. The moment of crossing the finish line sick, dehydrated, delirious and minutes after everyone else had haunted me away from ever running competitively again. You can’t talk to my mom about running without her bring up the story of me spending more time in the restroom than on the cross-country course. I think I heard it 3 or 4 times in the week leading up to the Ogden ½ marathon.

Saturday May 16, 2009 started a new era for competitive running and me. My very aggressive goal was to finish between 1:45 and 1:50. To hit the 1:45 mark, I would need to turn 8-minute miles. My friend Brandon and I caught one of the last buses up to Eden park. We still had about a 90 minute wait in 40ish degree weather. We lined up at the start and were off a few minutes after 7:00. One mile into the course we hit the only big hill we would see all day. We managed to take it in good stride and kept right to our pace. At mile mark 3, I saw the first port-a-jon and used it. I tried to catch back up to Brandon after but he was out too far. I felt fantastic at mile mark 5 running over pineview and was right on schedule averaging 8 minutes per mile. Once I was in the canyon, I tried to take full advantage of the downhill. With the tight canyon walls and roaring river, this part of the course may be prettiest running route around. At the mouth of the canyon, I still felt great and 10 + miles into the race was exactly averaging 8-minute miles.
Then the wheels seemed to come off the bus in the next mile. The muscles started to get tight and I could feel my pace slowing. Mile 11 came in at a 9 minutes, followed by 10 minutes at mile 12. One mile left and 11 minutes to hit the top end of my goal. Mentally I thought no problem this can be done. Physically I had to take walking breaks and I knew it was going to be a slow mile. We exited the walking path and told myself I was going to run the entire 6 blocks to the finish. By the third block in, I was taking a little walking break. I knew I would be just over my goal if I took it strong to the finish. With two blocks left I saw Glen an OPD officer who also works with me. He spurred me on and I was picking up steam. I then saw my mom and my two girls and forgot about the disappointment of not finishing under 1:50 and finished the last five strides as hard as I could. My final time was 1:50:31.

Brandon, who I had not seen since mile 3 finished with a strong 1:43:50. He was waiting just inside the finish line. His wife Shasta said I looked like I was going to vomit. I want to thank the Standard for capturing that moment so I can review it forever. Next up is the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay June 19.