Big Cottonwood Canyon Marathon

Me and Jason at the finish line

I never thought I would have the desire to run a marathon. I have never been a runner and have recently gotten into running because of Kate. She is more of a runner and gets me to go running with her. I enjoy running with her and so the past two years we have done half marathons together. This year, after completing the Timpanogos half marathon, I had the thought that maybe I should give a marathon a try sometime in the next two or three years. When I told this to Kate, she said that this year would probably be the best time to do it since I was already half-way trained. I still wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do it yet. I brought this up to the Scoutmaster in our ward, who I worked with closely as the assistant scoutmaster and is an avid runner, and he said that he would run it with me. Having someone to run it with made the decision a lot easier and I decided to give it a go.

Me and Steve

I started training with Steve (scoutmaster) shortly after the half marathon in July. It was great to have Steve to train with. He had already run a couple of marathons and had great advice on training programs and how to get ready for running a marathon. Each week I would do the weekly long run with Steve on Saturday or Friday and run on my own for the "shorter" runs.

Things went pretty well throughout the training. I had to get new shoes shortly after the half marathon. I was worried about switching shoes in the middle of training, but I had been using my previous pair for over 7 years and needed a new pair. I was originally very happy with my choice of shoes, but I started having some problems during the longer runs. I'm still not sure if it is because of the shoes or if it is because I had never run such long distances before. None of the problems were serious enough to stop running, so I pressed on.

The Saturday before the marathon I hurt my right calf. I'm not sure how I hurt it, but it felt as though I had pulled a muscle. I was disappointed to get hurt so close to the marathon. To not make anything worse, I stopped training. On Thursday night I taped my leg and did a test run around my neighborhood. It still did not feel 100%, but I ran for about a mile. I decided that I would continue to rest and give it a try on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, I met up with Steve bright and early to drive to the marathon shuttle. I hadn't run yet, but my leg was feeling pretty good. Steve was hoping to improve his qualifying time for the Boston marathon, so he went to the front of the pack at the starting line. I wasn't sure how I would do, so I stayed back a ways to test out my leg. After the race started, my leg felt 100%. I was very excited and was able to get going at a pace I had been training for. My hope was to get a time around 3:30, but I still didn't really know what to expect. I caught up to the 3:15 pacer and was able to keep up with that pace for quite a while. The race started about 15 miles up the Big Cottonwood Canyon and I kept that pace throughout the canyon run (I made it to the half way point in just over an hour and a half)!

I was feeling great! Then I reached mile 17 and I started feeling a strong pain in my left knee. Unfortunately, I had recently passed a medical station so I started walking until I reached the next station at about mile 20 to 22. The station offered ibuprofen and Bengay. I had already taken some ibuprofen just before my knee went out, so I elected for some Bengay. It didn't relieve any of the pain and I ended up walking the rest of the way. Kate was nice enough to walk the last 3 miles with me. She was a great support and when we reached a steep downhill incline I was able to lean on her while I walked backwards.

The boys, Kate's parents, and my mom were waiting at the finish line for me. It was great to have them all there for the support. Jason was even nice enough to jog through the finish line with me! I was able to finish the marathon in about 4:46. Not quite what I was hoping for, but not bad considering the circumstances.