Well this was an interesting race.I enjoyed a good ride and the company of my friends Troy, Rick and Terry on the way to Ogden, on the bus ride to the start and by the pre-race fireside. I ran into other friends in the pre-race area and it was fun.
I never know quite how to race the Ogden Marathon because I don't trust the concept of negative or even splits. For anyone not familiar with the race, it starts with about a 400' descent over the first 8 miles. Then you have rollers for the next 10 miles, then down a canyon for 4.5 miles and mostly flat for the last 5k. I can't stand not to take advantage of the downhill in the beginning section and bank some time against the rollers. However, by mile 10 I was surprised at how tired I already was. I averaged 7:08 through the first 7 miles and was at 7:15 over the next 6. The first 1/2 I ran at 1:34:55. I was tired and made a comment to a passing runner that I probably should have calculated my splits differently. The next section is always tough for me with about 5 miles with a two long uphill climbs and a few rollers. I ran this section averaging 7:42 and finally arrived at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. This is my fourth time running this marathon and the first time was a disaster with calf cramps that forced me to walk the last 7 miles. Today I felt a little popping in the calves about mile 21 and knew that if I forced them to go faster, I was in for trouble. So I maintained a comfortable pace and tried to relax my body, thinking that releasing tension would help the calves to relax and do what they've been trained to do...endure. As I ran down the canyon I recalled another memory from that first marathon. I remembered hearing one runner say to his friend that this was the section where the carnage happens. It's true. Runners are stopping to stretch out problems or walking because they've already given it all they had. Remembering that, I motivated myself by repeating in my mind, "run through the carnage." It was a great theme, and while I don't like to see anyone suffer, passing struggling runners made it a reality to me that I was running through the carnage. I ran down the canyon averaging 7:37 and made it to the parkway where there's just 5k left. By this time I was truly tired and the calves were threatening even more, but I told them, not today. I weaved along the path and knew that if I just ran to the finish, no matter the speed, just run as best as possible, it would be a PR at the least. I exited the path and ran across Washington Avenue because the river is running too high for the runners to continue on the path. I ran down a short length of road and turned left onto Grant and the finish line was in sight, although it looked like it was 5 miles away. I knew my family was about 1/2 way between this point and the finish and I kept running. Finally I saw Lisa and they cheered and Nathan (who ran a 24:33 in the 5k!) joined me on the course. It was wonderful to have Nathan by my side. He was so encouraging and kept telling me to just keep going. That I could do it. He was awesome. He dropped me off at the chute and I ran to the finish with a 3:24 on the clock. It was a PR by only 49 seconds, but given the way I felt early on in the race and the cramp threats I'll take it. After the race, I was spent. I got a massage which was wonderful. Then I sat in the shade of my wife's umbrella and tried to recover. When I went to watch my son Peter run the kids K I had to lay down again as I neared the exit to the corral. After another 10 minutes of laying in the shade, I was able to get up and see the kids K and felt pretty good from then on. Peter did great. I came home and took Peter to the pool to relax and had to fight numerous charlie horses the rest of the day.
My goal was 3:15 which is about 7:25 average. My question is, would I have had a more successful race if my goal had been to run 7:25 from the beginning? I can understand even splits on a course that is flat or a loop (net 0 elevation change), but does the negative or even split concept apply to a race that has both downhill and flat or rolling sections? I'd really like to know.
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