Jose's Flat Foot Blues

Well after a long absence from the blog I have decided to post again.  I ran the Del Sol relay with a few people from the blog (Walter & Misty and Scott and Kelli) this past weekend.  Our friend Lamont from my ward was also part of the team.  We were van 2 of the Redmond Racers team.  Redmond is a company in Heber that sponsored van 1.  The overall team had differing skill levels and the race was a fun experience for all.

It was great for me to hit my goal of 8:30 pace for all 17.4 miles of my legs.  My first leg was 5.5 miles and I did it in 8:35 pace (lots of uphill).  My second leg was 8.8 miles and I did it in 8:27 pace.  This one was interesting.  It also had a lot of uphill but it was in the middle of the night, which I think somehow helped my pace.  My last leg was an easy 2.9 miles and I did it in 7:52 pace.  I know some of these paces look painfully slow to some of you but for me it felt like I was flying, so I am very happy with my performance.  I am also optimistic that if I keep up the training I will be able to break the 4hr mark in Ogden in May (my ultimate goal for the first half of the year).

The best part of the race, however, was watching Walter tear up the trail.  I had never seen anyone running long distance that fast and it was definitely a treat to see people's faces when he would pass them.  Good job Walter!

The hours in the van were made easy by the quality of the company.  Thanks to all my team members hopefully we can repeat it some day.

Ran five on the treadmill at 7.1 mph.  Too windy to run outside (hey, I'm feeling wimpy today).  Still stiff from Ragnar but very happy to have run the miles.  I am planning on doing 20 on Saturday, probably on the Lehi trail.  I will put in about seven more miles between now and then.

Had a very good race. My best time at that distance was 1:58 so i was glad to beat that on a fairly challenging course. The wind was more of a factor than what I was expecting. Once more Weather.com sucks. They predicted light winds and the winds were not very light.

It was great to run with so many people I know like Kelly, Alan, Eric, Chad, Allison, Smooth, Walter, Misty and others. It was also good to have Scott and his kids as cheerleaders on the course, especially after the first big hill.

Alan and Eric were essentially my pacers until they decided to stop for water at mile 7, which almost killed me because I was then on my own. My legs don't respond well to pauses along the course. I surprisingly was able to maintain a really good pace during the whole race. I used my Garmin religiously and it really helped me stay on pace.

The race was very well organized. Kudos to the organizers you guys did an awesome job. I am proud this is my hometown's half! I will definitely run this one again next year. I loved the T-shirt (Eric, great job on the design). I also appreciated the many inspirational quotes along the course especially the one about giving it your best from Pre at "S Curve" hill and the one from George Sheehan that read something like "..sometimes you need to go a little berserk." Great quote to have with one mile to go. You can tell that the organizers are runners themselves.

All in all great experience.

The evening before the marathon I could not sleep.  First I made the mistake of going to bed late (11pm) and the adrenaline would not let me have a very restful sleep.  This was OK though because it meant that I got to the buses very early (4am).  So I waited around and chatted with a couple of kindred spirits until Scott, Kelli, Alan and Rachel got there.  I also saw Walter and Misty some time later.  A little while later I decided to board the bus for the LONG ride up the canyon.  I swear it felt like the bus ride was taking forever.  This was bad because halfway through the ride I had to go to the bathroom something fierce.  The bus finally got there and I jumped out into horribly cold weather.  The temp was in the 20’s!  Luckily I dressed for the occasion with a jacket, long pants, and my beanie.  But even then it was still cold.  The lines for the port-a-potties were short (thank goodness) and after that I set out to find my sister-in-law and /or some of my running blog friends.  Luckily I found everybody around a nice fire pit.  The group was Scott, Kelli, Emily (my SIL), Eric O, Alan, Michelle, and Rachel. There were about 20 fire pits up there, which was nice.  Then the countdown began.

The sun eventually came up and started warming things up.  The call came to shed warm-up clothes and put them in the clothes bag truck if we so desired.  This was about 25 minutes before the start so it was a bit painful but understandable thing to do.  We then said our goodbyes and everyone made their way to the start area for their assigned goal pace. 

This is one of my favorite parts of a race, especially a marathon.  You literally can take in people’s excitement and anxieties.  I felt so happy to have trained hard all those months, luckily without significant injury, so that I could be there at that moment pumped up to go.  It is a feeling of elation that is difficult to explain and probably difficult to understand if you haven’t lived it.  Everybody stands around and tries to warm up and stretch as best they can.  We give each other anxious smiles and wish each other good luck.  The harsh reality of what lies before you, those brutal 26.2, for some reason doesn’t seem to damper anybody’s mood.  On the contrary, everybody is probably thinking “fire the freaking gun already”.  Then when that moment comes yelps of happiness and celebration come from the crowd and the test begins.

I was completely pumped up at that moment. All the aches and pains that I had been dealing with miraculously went away and off I went.  I had three goals for this race:  #1 The acceptable goal – anything under 4 hours, #2 The challenging goal – anything 3:55 and under, #3 The “in my dreams” goal – anything 3:50 and under.  If I reached any of those goals I would be satisfied with the experience.  I told myself I would not make the same mistake that I did at Top of Utah last year when I went out too fast and at mile 19 I totally bonked.  So I religiously tried to keep to a pace of 8:45 in the hopes that I could achieve a pace of 8:50 over the first 20 miles.  The adrenaline rushes though you so powerfully at this point in the race that this is pretty hard to achieve.  I was pretty successful over the first few miles.  However, I quickly realized that my Garmin distance and the course distance were over a tenth of a mile off.  The course being further than the Garmin, of course.  So I told myself that I would have to pump up my pace to make sure that I achieved at least an 8:40 pace on my Garmin.  This strategy ended up in me running closer to an 8:35 pace, which was a little too fast for my ability.

One thing that drove me crazy over the first five miles is that the road was really sloped and when you have horribly flat feet like mine it makes running very uncomfortable.  Well, aside from that the downward slope was actually very nice and I really enjoyed the run.  I found this guy that was running exactly at the pace that I wanted and I paced him for a few miles.  That was great.  Then the guy messed it up by stopping to get water.  I wear a CamelBak so I have no need to stop.  After that, I didn’t look for a pacer anymore and decided that I was on my own.  Overall the first half was great.  The downhill was awesome the scenery was beautiful and the support staff were second to none.  This was a great experience until I reached the half and realized that had run it at a PR (1:53).  My exact thoughts were “damn!” (pardon my French). 

I had, once again, done the first half too fast which meant my hopes for a negative split were probably gone.  Then I saw it, the hill at mile 14, holy crap.  After the marathon Kelli said that when she saw the hill she was not fazed by it at all.  I cannot relate to that because when I saw the hill my heart sank.  It looked big and ominous but I bit down and made my way up it.  I definitely lost some time here but was pleasantly surprised with how well I felt at the top.  I got a second wind here and got right back on pace.  The downhill felt good at the beginning but after a while it didn’t help all that much.  I started feeling very tired but not bonked tired.  The uber-steep downhill at mile 18 was actually very nice and I got a second wind here.  Between here and mile and the start of the trail I had ups and downs but for the most part I was able to maintain about an 8:55 to 9:00 pace.  Then I got to the entrance to the trail and saw Jolynne (my wife), Sofia (my youngest), and Jacque (my wife’s aunt) cheering me on.  That definitely gave me a boost and I was very grateful.  However, then I hit the trail.  The trail sucked.

The trail was very narrow and I felt closed in.  Things got worse when I started catching up to people from the half marathon.  I was so tired by now that I kept my head down and almost run into two half marathoners.  At about mile 24.5 I was so tired I had to take a walk break.  I walked about 10 seconds and then panicked about not hitting my goal, so I picked it up again.  One grueling mile later I had to stop again.  I was done.  However, the thought of not reaching my goal was horrible so it gave me the boost I needed to keep going. 

I finally made it out of the stinking trail and a spectator said that the finish line was four stop lights down the road.  I could clearly see the stop lights and it looked like a long way but I stuck to it.  At this point I started running into a lot of spectator support which was great.  I picked up my pace.  I was close enough to 3:55 on my Garmin that I did not want to mess up the opportunity to come in under that goal on my chip time.   I picked up the pace and was finally able to make out the numbers on the clock at the finish line, they read 3:55:01.  I started pumping my fists up in the air knowing that I had a chance to come in under 3:55 for my chip time and I had certainly beat 4 hours. I started to run faster and I heard a “Go Jose!” I looked to the sideline and it was Walter, fresh as can be, with a smile on his face and a finisher’s medal around his neck.  I later found out Walter took fourth place overall in the race.  I waved to Walter and ran into the finishing chute, cheering all the way.  I did it! I later found out that my chip time was 3:54:40.  I reached my challenge goal and I cut 40 minutes from my Top of Utah time last year.  The best part was catching up with my family across the fence in the runners area and being able to bask in the accomplishment of the day.

Overall the 2009 Ogden Marathon was great.  Incredible organization and support from the staff.  The finish line was awesome, especially the runners area, which had all sorts of great goodies and good support.  The course was more difficult than what I expected but the experience overall was top notch.  I will be back.  Congrats to all my fellow runners.  To me Scott and Emily were the heroes of the day.  Emily’s back went into really bad spasms at mile eight but she still suffered through it and finished.  Scott was on his way to shattering a BQ when just after mile 20 his entire body went into cramps.  Miraculously (no joke) he still finished.  I am inspired by their performances.

Another TOU under my belt.  I love this race. The organization , the course, the spectators, and the volunteers are top notch.  The medal this year was also the best medal I have received at a race.  Very nice!!!  As always the expo could have been bigger but it was better than last year.  As to how I did, my goal was under 3:45, my challenge goal was under 3:40.  I achieved 3:42:52.  So I am happy but wish I could have pushed a bit harder.  I decided to go all out this marathon and see what would happen.  The splits say it all:

Mile 1 - 7:51 Lots of people to make my way around.  Just barely made it to start time.

Mile 2 - 7:28 Feeling great

Mile 3 - 7:28 Feeling great

Mile 4 - 7:28 Steady Eddy

Mile 5 - 7:31 Still doing good

Mile 6 - 7:38 Starting to feel the effort

Mile 7 - 7:26 Feeling better

Mile 8 - 7:20 Loving life, enjoying the scenery

Mile 9 - 7:31 Starting to feel a bit of discomfort on my left hamstring (like last year)

Mile 10 - 7:36 Excited to have the first 10 done with

Mile 11 - 7:45 Feeling the effort and starting to feel some stomach distress.  Not a good sign.

Mile 12 - 7:35 Trying to run through stomach pains and discomfort.  Doesn't help that there is a dude in front of me who is farting all the way.  He actually farted out lod with every step.  he was killing me!!

Mile 13 - 7:45  Feeling ill but impressed that I finished my first half in 1:39 (mind you my half marathon PR is 1:36)

Mile 14 - 7:36  Running to the porta pottie as soon as I come out of the canyon

Mile 15 - 10:07 Spend 2:30 minutes in the porta pottie (1st time this has hapenned to me in a race) and speed off to mile 16

Mile 16 - 7:56 Definitely feeling the effects of my early pace.  Hard to keep pace under 8.

Mile 17 - 8:18 I am feeling TIRED.  Can't keep pace below 7 anymore.

Mile 18 - 9:01 The spectators help but I have totally lost it.  I start taking walk breaks

Mile 19 - 926 I continue with the walk breaks and start the turns leading to Logan.

Mile 20 - 9:29 I get a second wind wind and feel better but don't go any faster.

Mile 21 - 9:16 I see Jolynne for third time and she gives me a boost.  Feel better.

Mile 22 - 9:14 I am feeling better and excited to be getting closer.  Dedicated to getting under 3:45

Mile 23 - 10:19 I am dying.  Start taking lots of walk breaks.

Mile 24 - 10:23 Ditto from above until I get to the main street hill and I decide to run up it.  The hill will not defeat me!!!  I get a pat on the back from a fellow runner that tells me "c'mon lets make it under 3:44".  I respond "absolutely!".

Mile 25 - 9:45  That pat on the back helped and I am back in the 9's.

Mile 26.2 - 9:25 I do all my best to run to the finish.  The marathon will not defeat me!!!  It doesn't.  I raise my arms in victory as I see the run says 3:44 as I run through the finish chute.  My chip time was 3:42:52.

Definitely not smart to go out so fast but hey, I wanted to see what it felt like.  I feel I probably would have been in the mid to low 3:30's if I would have put in an even effort and if I wouldn't have had GI issue.  Oh well, we will see those times next time.

Overall very happy with my experience and my progress.  My first marathon was TOU last year and I achieved a 4:34 in that race.  So I have improved a lot and I am grateful to be healthy enough to see the progress.  My goal now is to qualify for Boston at a race during 2010.  Congrats to all who finished TOU.  Especially Paul and Nan who put up incredible performances.  I'll be back next year!

Well truth be told I thought I had a slight chance of qualifying for Boston at this race.  I was probably not as trained as I should have for the attempt but the course elevation profile looked promising so I decided to make it an honest effort.  Well, I definitely was not in BQ shape and the course (as many have said before) was brutal.  The elevation profile does not do it justice in the least.

The bus ride up there was pleasant and I enjoyed the company of a serial marathoner (I don’t remember his name).  Good guy, good conversation.  We were dropped in the middle of nowhere but luckily I was in the first bus that got there so I had quick dibs to one of the four porta potties at the start.  It was horribly cold at the start.  It was probably colder at the start of the Ogden Marathon but at least there we waited in front of a fire.  Luckily I was able to catch up with Walter, Becky, Tyler and Burt, which made it a bit more bearable.

The race started in short order and we were off and running.  The initial downhill was pretty steep and my legs were getting quite a pounding but overall it was a beautiful start.  The desert sunrise was beautiful and the run eventually felt great.  I eventually warmed up and the run became near perfect.  I definitely caught a glimpse of the runner’s high during those first eight miles or so.  It was also pretty amusing to cross the border into Arizona while running a marathon.

After mile eight I started feeling anxiety because I knew that the beautiful downhill was coming to an end.  My wife Jolynne and my youngest daughter Sofia (9 yrs old) were waiting for me at mile 10 right before I-15.  They surprised me with a big old poster that said “Don’t Let it Defeat You!” (Scott and Kelli should appreciate this reference) on one side and “Leave it All on the Course” on the other.  Sofia also had the cowbells from the Ogden Marathon and she put them to good use throughout the rest of the race.  Sofia and Jolynne are the best race crew one could ask for.  They even took over one of the aid stations for a little while when they saw that it was not manned.  The manning of the aid stations was a definite problem.  Most of the second half aid stations were “self-service”.

By the time I got up the hill at mile 12 I knew the fun was over.  Climbing the hill brought me down to an 8:00 min/mile pace.  However, I was able to recover somewhat and get to the half at my planned time of 1:36.  But nothing could have prepared me for the upcoming hills.  I had not faced anything like these hills in my previous marathons.  My training, which was full of hilly courses, did not come close to prepare me for these type of hills at the second half.  I cursed at myself for trusting the stupid elevation profile.  I should have trusted Superfly’s assessment of the course that he posted in the discussion forum.  I would have at least been mentally ready for the pain and agony accepting the fact that this is definitely NOT a PR course.  My only consolation was thinking of all the rants and raves that I would enjoy hearing from the other bloggers once the race was over.  For the best example of this I refer you to Burt’s race report, which constitutes the ultimate guide to this race experience.  It’s a must-read.

I caught up to Becky around mile 17 and we leapfrogged each other until about mile 20 or 21 when she finally smoked me and dropped me for good.  That woman can definitely run.  Finally at mile 22 things started to level off but miles 24 and 25 are what I call Crash and Burn.  My body started giving up completely and I ended up walking quite a bit.  My legs were on fire and I was locking up.  I don’t know how but I was able to somehow muster up enough strength at mile 26 to pick up the pace a bit and I finished, finally, at 3:36:45; 35^th overall and fifth out of 20 in my age division.  I was very disappointed to not come close to a BQ but I was happy to at least PR from my previous 3:42:52 PR at TOU two months before.  By the way, one point of feedback for the race organizers: PLEASE put the post race drinks and food close to the finish line!!!  I hated walking all the way across the white tent to get drink and food.  Another thing, I liked the shirt, the medal sucked, however an overall pretty good job for a first marathon.  I will remember it fondly.

Will I come back?  Definitely, now that I know what to expect.  However it will not be next year since I will be closing the running year with St. George.  So maybe I will get my revenge on this course in 2011, who knows…  Congrats to all my fellow Mesquite survivors out there and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Mile 1 – 6:56

Mile 2 – 7:22

Mile 3 – 7:16

Mile 4 – 7:17

Mile 5 – 7:14

Mile 6 – 7:20

Mile 7 – 7:09

Mile 8 – 7:18

Mile 9 – 7:25

Mile 10 – 7:21

Mile 11 – 7:21

Mile 12 – 8:00

Mile 13 – 7:58

Mile 14 – 7:36

Mile 15 – 7:41

Mile 16 – 7:41

Mile 17 – 8:33

Mile 18 – 8:58

Mile 19 – 8:39

Mile 20 – 9:11

Mile 21 – 9:11

Mile 22 – 8:43

Mile 23 – 9:41

Mile 24 – 10:14 (crash)

Mile 25 – 10:46 (burn)

Mile 26 – 9:53 (last feeble attempt)

Mile .2 – 9:51 (finish!)

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