Ogden Marathon 2010

So May 15th was the Ogden Marathon--the first of the Grand Slam marathons. For whatever reason (maybe the idea of running 26.2 miles), I was feeling pretty nervous before the race. Dan and I drove up to Ogden Friday after work to pick up the race packet and have dinner. We tried to go to Olive Garden, but it was too crowded. We had to settle for TGIFridays instead. I had only slept for about 4 hours the night before, and Friday night ended up being about the same. Even though I tried to go to bed early, I just couldn't fall asleep--too tense and nervous I guess. The following morning, Dan drove me to the buses at 4:30 a.m., and I shuttled up the canyon with the other marathoners. We got to the start around 5:20 which meant we had to wait an hour and a half before the race started. Luckily, runners are amazingly nice people so I was able to share a blanket with a lady (a first-timer) by one of the fires. It's always fun to hang out and hear about other people's racing experiences so that put my nerves at ease a little bit. Just after 6:30 I headed over to the bathroom line, and barely made it through the line, used the bathroom, ran to the start, and then the gun went off. I could definitely feel that my body was more tired than it should be, and again, my stomach really didn't feel too great. I had to stop at mile 5 to take a short break, and I stopped at some of the poweraid/water stations throughout the rest of the race. Halfway through was an uphill portion that didn't feel too great, but it was nice to have it over with. I had decided early on not to worry about my time (my watch that I wear to keep track of my pace wasn't working at all) and that I should just focus on finishing. I texted Dan when I was at the 23 mile mark and I was a little surprised by the time. I ended up barely running/jogging across the finish at 3:47 (my actual chip time was 3 hrs 46 minutes). I have no idea how I beat my old time, but I did. I chugged water, waddled over to Wasatch Running's tent to get my free stuff, met up with Dan, and then got my free 15 minute massage (one of the best parts of the race). Dan and I walked around for a little bit, and then decided to head back home. Before we left, we found a trusting person to snap a quick pic of us.