Ogden Marathon
May 19, 2012
I signed up for this marathon because I heard it was "beautiful" and a "fast" marathon. My friend, Shannon and I flew into SLC on Thursday night. Spent Thursday night & Friday morning with my parents...my mom helped me find pioneer clothes for the upcoming trek (post coming soon).
Friday afternoon, Brooke and Laurel picked me up and we headed to the Expo in Ogden. I love the expos and I am a bit of a sucker when it comes to running gear. I ended up getting dietary suppliments (BOOM & and meal replacement thing - which I have loved), a new pair of workout shorts (50% off), a kangaroo pouch (courtesy of Brooke), and my knees taped up with KT Tape for free (which totally worked).
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant and laughed our heads off. Then we spent the night at a local Best Western (I think). Early the next morning...I think around 3 or maybe 4...it was time to head out to the buses. The buses took us up Ogden Canyon to the starting line.
Me, Brooke, and Laurel before getting on the bus. This was my only "pre-race" picture and I wasn't able to get any during the race. My photographer (Jim) was not able to come for the race. He stayed home and took care of everything on the homefront...let's just say that May is a very busy month.
Fortunately, my biggest fan was there - MY DAD!!! He is amazing! He missed me on the course but he took a ton of pictures after the race.
My goal for the Ogden Marathon was to run a 3:30:00 marathon, which equates to an 8:00 minute mile pace for 26.2 miles. I felt pretty good until about mile 18 to mile 22. At that point my calves and quads started cramping up a little. I felt I had to slow down a little as to finish without causing a more serious cramping or injury. I probably started off a little too fast and I just wasn't able to maintain the pace.
Here's my results:
| Runner Details | Race Results |
| Bib: | 2686 |
| Name: | Jenny Roberts |
| Gender: | F |
| Age: | 34 |
| Hometown: | Litchfield Park, AZ |
|
| Overall: | 454 out of 2402 |
| Women: | 134 out of 1187 |
| F 30-34: | 27 out of 232 |
| Age/Grade: | 61.54% Place: 477 |
| Finish: | 3:42:23 Pace: 8:29 |
| Tag Time: | 3:42:23 |
| Gun Time: | 3:45:19 |
|
| Split Times |
| 7 Mi: | 55:48 Pace: 7:59 |
| Half: | 1:45:53 Pace: 8:05 |
| 18 Mi: | 2:31:57 Pace: 8:27 |
| 23.1 Mi: | 3:10:39 Pace: 8:16 |
|
My favorite things about the race....It was beautiful! Running down the Ogden Canyon was breathtaking. Also there were some great supporters out there cheering us on and blasting upbeat music. My favorite was the aid station at mile 16, they were handing out sponges. It was heaven squeezing all the water onto my head. At that point I was still thinking I was going to be able accomplish my goal. Around mile 18, the down hill seemed to get a little steeper and it just took its toll on my quads and my knees. The crazy thing about it was that I got KT Tape put on at the Expo and I had no problems whatsoever with pain in my knee. Typically on my long run days my IT band starts acting up a little. It was more of just not being able to handle the pounding caused by the downhill. I train in a basically flat area, just not too many hills in Phoenix.
I thought the race was very well organized. Plenty of Port-A-Potties. Lots of fires going to keep us warm before the race started. There was lots of support throughout and they treated all the finishers like royalty. I would highly recommend this race to anyone who is looking for a fun marathon, just make sure you are prepared for the downhill.
I finished in 3:42:23. My personal best was at St. George with a time of 3:38, so a little slower, but I believe I was in much better shape this time. Magic just happened in St. George and I have had a tough time duplicating it.
I got a very painful massage. Ouch! But it was worth.
After the massage, I laid down...apparently I fell asleep. My dad was awesome though he just let me relax and got me anything I needed. I decided I need to get up...good thing I did because look who was about to finish -
Shannon Coop
Shannon has been my training partner for the past three months. I already loved and had a lot of respect for Shannon, but I have come to love this woman even MORE (hard to believe). She probably knows way too much about me so I better make sure that I am always nice to her. I think I told her all my deepest, darkest secrets during our runs in the wee hours of the morning. But what I say on long runs can never be held against me...you get a little delirious at times. Shannon trained so hard as well - the hills just got the best of us, but we finished and we finished strong.
After about 6 hours, Brooke and Laurel came trotting in. I decided to run in with them. Laurel had a calf injury just a couple of weeks earlier so they planned on taking it easy and having A LOT of fun.
My legs were so stiff when I tried to run again...
Laurel, Brooke, Me
Hooray!!
So three weeks after the marathon, an unexpected package arrived. I was trying to figure out what I had ordered, but to my surprise it was a plaque. Apparently I took 3rd place in the Athena division. Woohoo!!
Also I wanted to mention that I am a believer in the KT Tape. Usually after long runs my knees are sore for a couple of days, but my knees were not sore at all - just my calves and quads from running 26 miles downhill. Also I recovered very quickly. I was only sore for two days, usually I'm sore for like a week. Also I need to give a shout out to Becca for pushing me. She has made me so much faster.
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