Deseret News Marathon

On July 24, Pioneer Day here in Utah, Scott ran his first marathon. He actually ran down the mountains and canyon that the pioneers came down into the Salt Lake Valley when they arrived. Cool, huh? Not so cool on his quads. We went to cheer him on at mile 19 and then at the end. We were so excited for him, proud of him and I was crying with pain for him when I saw his face at the end. I am very happy for him that he did it and loved it! Here is his write up on the experience:

Mile 19 water table.
All the kids with their sign at the finish line.

Scott and Greg running in to the finish line.FINISH!! YEAH!
Run a Marathon? Are you Crazy?
It all began in early March. I was sitting at my desk and got a call from Greg Thornton. He said he wanted me to run the Marathon with him. My initial thought was "NO WAY! ARE YOU CRAZY?", but I must have agreed because a couple weeks later Greg Thornton (1 Marathon under his belt), Ryan Koeliker (several Marathons) and I started the training process.

In order to train we basically started at a 6-mile run and raised it by 2 miles every other weekend. That first 6-mile run almost was enough to make me quit. It was freezing cold outside, I didn't have the running gear for cold weather and I couldn't keep up with Greg and Ryan very well.

In April, while in Bakersfield, California I ran in a 10-mile race through Orange Groves. It was hot but running at sea level was AWESOME.

The Marathon itself has a 3200 drop in elevation. In order to prepare for this we spent the night at the Thornton Family cabin near Brighton. We ran a 16 mile course in the morning downhill from Brighton to the base. It was such a pretty run. We saw a couple of Moose, a deer and a porcupine. The elevation drop was around 3,700 feet and although the knees took a serious pounding on the downhill, I felt good about being able to run down hill for an extended time period and not be too tired. This was a hard recovery though and my knees hurt for several days following the run.

Two weeks later on the 18-mile run we decided to go 20 instead. Mile 19 to 20 was very hard for me but I made it to 20 and started finally feeling like I could actually run the Marathon.

In final preparation I did several medium sized runs, another 19-mile run and felt anxious for the Marathon to hurry up and come. In all, I had logged just over 300 miles in running preparing for the big event an average pace of 9:30. Greg and I felt ready but Ryan started having some bad back pain a few weeks back and the Dr. advised him not to run.

I told Alicia my best estimate was we would finish between 3:45 and 4:15 so she could be at the finish line.

Race Day!

Marathon started at Big Mountain in East Canyon at 5:30am. The buses left between 3:15-3:45 am and I woke up at 2:30 am (I went to bed around 9:15 pm). We got to the start line around 4:15 am and spent the next 1:15 waiting in line for a bathroom, laying in the road looking at the stars, stretching and devising our game plan.

I think Greg and I had a perfect strategy for the race. We started off slowly and really just tried to hold back during the first 3-4 miles where the race dropped about 1600 feet. When we got to the 2-mile uphill section we just wanted to pass more people than passed us. Turns out we passed approx. 30 people on the uphill and weren't passed by anyone.

Downhill again, and we picked up our pace a bit. We started trying to pick someone out ahead of us and gradually reel them in eventually passing them. This worked for a while until we picked out someone who was running a fast enough pace that we stayed about 50-100 feet behind her (Pink Shirt Girl) most the way down the Canyon. At one point Greg said we are running an 8:02 pace and she must have been running 8:02:05 because we weren't gaining on her. We really felt we had a good rhythm going and the race felt good. We came out of Parley's Canyon at Mile 16 and it felt good knowing there were only 10 miles to go and we were on pace to finish under 4 hours.

Mile 16.5...OUCH!

In between mile 16-17 I felt a sharp pinch in my right calf. This made me nervous but I tried to run through it trying everything I could to work passed it. It happened again and we stopped so I could stretch it. Over the next 5 miles our pace dropped considerably and I was:

1. nervous that it would pinch again or get worse
   
2. realizing that finishing was going to be much harder now
3. feeling bad that I was holding Greg back
   

Mile 19

Alicia, Brielle, Ava and my mom were sitting just after the water station here. It was very nice to see them but when Alicia asked how I was doing instead of answering "fine, great" I had to say..."I am hurting". I loved seeing them there and it made me want to keep pushing.

We also saw Ryan somewhere along this stretch. It made me feel bad that he couldn't run with us but he probably took one look at me and thought...wow I glad that isn't me.

Mile 21

Ran by the University of Utah Stadium, I felt we had gained some pace back and I was feeling a bit better. Greg and I sang "Utah Man".

21.9 a turn for the worst

Just before mile 22 we turned onto 1300 east. I had just told Greg I was excited for flat to uphill again because my Quads were killing me. Immediately after the turn and right before the mile 22 sign my right leg cramped up completely. I fell to the ground in pain, and Greg stretched out my calf, then my left calf did the same thing. I was so mad. I hadn't ever cramped up on a run before and since that first pinch this is what I feared more than anything.

A few guys who were competing in their 100+ Marathon gave me some electrolytes (pills) and said that would help me finish.

Although the water stands were every other mile and early on in the race it seemed they were too close. Now they couldn't come up fast enough. I just had to push when I could and take it easy when I couldn't. Probably a lot more taking it easy than pushing.

Finish the race

Greg was so good to me. He easily could have finished the race 30-45 minutes faster had he not pushed me and helped me through it. I probably would have quit running and just walked the last 4 miles but instead he pushed me to run and walk through intersections to give me a little break.

The Marathon route dropped down along the parade route and that was nice but made me very emotional. I am sure that they could see how much pain I was in. To say I was exhausted is an understatement and had been for several miles. It was so nice to hear them cheering me on but it made me start to cry. I knew I was less than a mile from finishing. Greg kept telling me were were almost there. He would say...6 blocks to go...5 blocks to go... and I just kept trying to push.

With two blocks/turns to go Greg's nephew Andrew jumped in with us and ran us into the finish line. I was exhausted, crying (okay bawling), and in pain but seeing and crossing that finish line I felt so much pride. I accomplished something that I didn't think I could complete. Let alone after the major cramping. It was an AMAZING feeling!

4:17

I told Alicia between 3:45 and 4:15 for our time and even with all the intersections I walked and the slow pace I had to take the last 9 miles, we still finished at 4:17.

I really couldn't have done this without Greg. I was SO discouraged. He is such a good man and although I know he would have liked to finish faster he signed up to run this with me and stuck by me the whole way. Thanks Greg, you really don't know how much that means to me. This is a day I will always cherish and remember. Let's do it again....