Ogden Marathon today! I came in at 3:47:43 (my watch time--I'm wondering if Ogden's times are chip times or clock times). Just one minute and 44 seconds short of qualifying for Boston. Took 11 minutes off my PR!
I started out slower, like planned, with Julie, with our first two miles at about 8:45 and 8:30—we had tried for nine minutes, but it was so downhill! We felt great those first 10 miles, then we both had to go to the bathroom—and it took over two minutes, so we tried to catch up a little after that. We were doing walk breaks every mile, and had a woman in a pink shirt that we would catch up to in between our breaks (then she would pass us while we were walking). We probably drove her crazy.
At the half we were about 2 minutes behind our goal, but we weren’t too worried, with the big descents coming later. Our mile pace for 14 with the hill was 8:48. Then we sped up again, but Julie started to get stomach cramps that were slowing her down at about 17-something. So then I was on my own, watching for her out of the corner of my eye to catch up.
My miles from then to 23 were a little over 8 minutes. Michelle joined me at 23 to run with me the rest of way, which totally saved me! I was really starting to fade on that trail, but she kept talking to me and keeping me going. It was awesome! I really ran out of everything at the end, and my last two miles were a little slower—more in the 9-minute range. They would have been a lot slower without Michelle. I know working with Steve and increasing my mileage will allow me to improve my time for St. George. Woo hoo!
I did gu’s at 5, 11, 17, and 23. That seemed to work well, also the electrolyte pills from Peggy were great—and then I didn’t feel like I had to drink Powerade, instead just going with water.
So my next goal is to get about a 3:30 in St.George in October. | 