After a couple of weeks of solid training it was time for the annual Salt Lake Marathon. This is one of the best weeks of the year. It's usually held in mid-April, so it's a sign that spring is here, it's in my home area, and I've done every Salt Lake Marathon since it started in 2004. It's an 8 year streak that I'm really proud of, and hope to build upon. The course has a pretty good drop in elevation, but I wouldn't call it an easy marathon. There are sections of concrete that beat you up pretty good, and then the final stretch is a subtle yet nasty hill that stings the legs at mile 25. All in all though, it's one of mine and Michelle's favorite weeks of the season. She typically does the half marathon and I do the full.
This year has just been an odd one...the weather as referenced above has been unusually brutal and I've tried to do most of my running outside. So the week before the race I've got a 2 hr 40 min run on the IRONMAN schedule. I generally try to get these in Friday or Sunday, but had scheduled it for Thursday that week to give a couple extra days to get ready for the marathon.
As I woke up on Thursday, I heard the wind howling and said forget it and went back to bed...big mistake. When I finally woke up at 7:00 I looked outside and it was pretty calm. CRAP...I'm a big believer in karma, and I blew this run off thinking Friday would be less windy only to find the weather was just fine. Oops...hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite me. As we headed off to bed that night my worst nightmares were realized...BLIZZARD conditions outside. I couldn't fathom the ideao of doing a 2 hr 40 minute run on the treadmill, so I prepared myself for winter conditions...this was going to suck. Needless to say, I drug myself out of bed the next morning and trudged my way out into the snow. Note to self...have a back-up pair of traditional running shoes that DO NOT have holes in the bottom. All of my running shoes right now are made for triathlon and have drainage holes in them. As you can imagine the second I stepped outside my feet were completely soaked. YUCK!
I've been training on a 6.5 mile hilly loop this year and I figured I'd do this once and then hit the treadmill for the rest of the run. As I finished the first loop I thought to myself..."don't quit on yourself...you can't be an IRONMAN if you quit when the going gets tough", so I headed out for a second 6.5 mile loop. Then it would be inside to the warmth of the treadmill. After battling headwinds and snow I finished the second loop...the thought of quitting came to my mind again. I couldn't quit, so it was on to the third loop. By this time my feet were frozen solid, and I was completely drenched. Yet I was determined to get it done! I battled through the worst possible elements and some mental weakness, but came through in the end. It was a real confidence builder and I was home! The problem was I hadn't taken my shoes off yet. Just as soon as I did my feet started to thaw out and I noticed my pinkie toe on my left foot was quite sore. I pulled the sock off, and saw a quarter sized black blood blister on the pinkie toe...CRAP! What good timing this was...and it hurt like a bit*%. I found 3 more blisters on my left foot, and one on my right foot. A marathon in a week and my toes are all wrecked. Not good. I'll spare the gory details, but I strategically popped the blood blisters, and within a day they were feeling totally fine. Thankfully!
When I woke up the following Tuesday morning I felt horrible. My daughter had a minor cold, and it seemed that I was getting it too! Great! I ended up having a couple of days where the head congestion was really bad, but not bad enough to put me out. Although I did sound like Barry White for a couple of days, and for anyone whose heard my voice, that's quite a feat! I didn't let it get me down, and went on with my training and preparation for the marathon and IRONMAN.
As Friday rolled around we took the kiddos up to grandma's house where their cousins from Maryland were staying. Our kids are so close with these kids that we thought it would work out perfectly for them to have a big sleep over while we did our annual marathon. It was also Michelle's grandma's birthday, so we decided to drop the kids off, go grab our race packets, and then come back up for a small dinner celebration. What could go wrong?
We headed off to the to the expo and the excitement was in the air. I love poking around the expo looking at stuff and taking advantage of the prerace deals on gels and stuff. As we went to get checked in I was informed that all the marathon race shirts were gone! What? That sucks! Apparently they had 400 late registrations and had run out of shirts. I have to admit I was a little peeved. I signed up in April of 2010 for the race, and they're telling me someone that signed up that day got a shirt and I didn't! Oh well, guess they'll mail me a shirt later...riiight! Believe it when I see it!
We head back to grandmas to enjoy a nice dinner. Kissed the kiddos goodbye and headed home at about 10. I never sleep well before a race, so I wasn't expecting to sleep well that night either. Not wanting to keep Michelle up, I ended up in Abbi's room as I dealt with my restless legs (which I usually get race night). I finally fall asleep, but was awakened suddenly when the phone rang. Was I dreaming? Yes...thankfully! Oh wait, I hear Michelle talking to someone...what is going on? A quick glance at the clock and see that it's 12:40. In my sleep deprived state I hear her say “We’ll come get him!” At that point, my heart sank. Ty is sick…race day is over!
Long story short, whenever Ty catches a cold he always ends up having difficulty breathing at night. He’s got a restrictive airway disorder that pops up whenever he is congested. From what we’ve been told it sounds much worse than it actually is, but admittedly, it can be scary at times. Michelle was an amazing mother (as usual) and volunteered to skip her half marathon to take care of Ty and let me run the marathon and keep the streak alive. Needless to say this crushed us both. She missed her favorite race of the year and I ran with a tremendous amount of guilt.
The Race Itself
I’ve always heard the sleep you get the night before a race isn’t that important. Going on about 3 hours myself I was going to put this theory to the test. I left the house later than I wanted and rode up to the start line by myself in a less than happy state of mind. My heart was not into this race…not one bit. With IRONMAN only 3 weeks away I had planned to take it very easy in this race, but now I needed to just get this race over with and get home.
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| Mile 24....home stretch |
We maintained the 7 min mile pace for the next 7 miles and then out of nowhere my stomach decided to rebel. In my rush to leave the house that morning I hadn’t even thought about trying to use the bathroom, and my stomach was not happy. I needed to go…NOW! I told Andy I had to stop and that I’d try to catch him, but knew in the back of my mind that would be near impossible. Oh well, it was nice to run with him while it lasted. I caught the potty at the next aid station and it was life changing…I felt great afterward. I pushed my pace and amazingly was able to catch up with Andy after about 2 miles. I’m sure he slowed to wait for me, but it was great to run with him again. We got to Liberty Park and I knew we only had a 5K left. A quick glance at the watch and I was on pace to set a PR…oops. Definitely not intentional, but I felt amazing. At this point Andy needed a potty break, we parted ways and I ran strong through the finish setting a new PR of 3:07. As Ice Cube sings in one of his songs “Messed around and got a triple double…today was a good day.” I felt like I’d messed around and set a marathon PR.
I honestly think I could have gone sub-3 hours had I really wanted to push, but knowing IRONMAN was on the horizon I needed to stay in check. I crossed the finish line and rushed straight to the car and headed home. A huge thanks to Michelle for “taking one for the team,” I’m up next! Also, thanks to Andy for sticking with me as I started to struggle with my tummy in the middle of the race! Ty ended up being fine (as expected), but we do have a nice new nebulizer so this won’t happen again. Guess that’s what you get when you have kids. Expect the unexpected.
IRONMAN race report on the way!
Tri Hard!
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