Clyde's Comeback!

Well here we are the very week of the Ogden Marathon. In a weeks time it will all be over other than the long painful recovery process. I'm really excited about the race this week. I've never ran the whole course but I did do the first half for the most part during the Striders Half and then drove the second part up and back and got a pretty good feel for it. My training has been very good since the last part of January. I feel like I'm in a position to run a very good race and it feels very exciting. The only things that worry me are the elements that are out of my hands- wind, freezing start, and something just going wrong during the race. But I'll hope and pray for the best and we all should have a great day.

It will be fun to see all the bloggers and see how good they all do as well. A few of the guys have a good chance to run record times and really break into the next level and that will be fun to be a part of it.

The only bummer is that I have to do this one semi-SOLO. I've never ran a big race without my cute little wife right there supporting me. This year she will be out of town and I have to go through the whole process without her and it scares me. So if you see me in Ogden and I just look "lost" I may need some assistance as I try to pull this one off with out Mik'L.
 

6.5 mile morning run. Good ol' GS loop. Had to hit a construction porta-potty because of the taco's and stuff last night. I really need to clean up the diet this week... Felt pretty good overall other than these blasted hamstrings that are still tight/sore. At this point I guess the only thing I can do is just try to ignore it and hopefully it won't bother me too much in Ogden.

(Blue Stratus 326.1)

6.5 miles this evening. Same GS loop. Felt good, almost too good. I hit about 2 miles at 5:50 pace and was what felt nice and easy. You gotta love it when 6 min pace feels easy on a training run. By the way that really has never happened to me before. The weather was great today. Overcast all day and a small breeze- just enough to cool you down.

(White Cumulus 308.1)

7.8 mile morning run. GS/PL loop with GS at the start. It was amazing out in the desert this morning as the sun was coming up. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else other than southern Utah. Nice and easy this morning as I get ready for a big day of work... the last one before the weekend.

Hamstring feels o.k. Maybe a 7.4 out of 10. It's not like it's this big injury other than I'm a little scared of what it will feel like after 23 miles of race with 3 something to go... I'll continue to stretch it every night and hope theres no issues.

(Landreth 200.8)

3.4 mile run this afternoon. The wind is something else this spring. I ran up to the golf course and then did .6 barefoot up the fairway and back- on the way back down I hit the last 400 @ 4:40 pace.  Feeling pretty good. Now it's off to watch the state baseball playoffs.

(Speedstar 89.9)

6.3 miles this morning up around GS and long through Middleton. The massive chunk of Halibut that I grilled up last night only caused minor stomach drama this morning. Work again today... bummer. I guess it keeps my mind occupied and free from stressing out.

(Blue Stratus 332.4 )

4 mile run this morning. Up the trail above my house out and back 2 miles. The weather is perfect right now and it sure is nice out in the morning. I just tried to relax and just run. I'll be driving up to Orem at around 1 p.m or so today and may do a little up there if needed to shake the legs out.

(Landreth 204.8)

3 easy miles this monning in Orem. Just trying to calm the system down with a little shake out. Feeling pretty good and looking forward to seeing everyone at the pasta party tonight.

(SS#2- 3)

Congrats to Ruth for taking first place this morning in the mile at the state track meet!

Bummer!

I ran with the group until around 8 miles then Logan and Seth pulled ahead. Sasha and I worked together until 12 when my stomach started cramping up and I just should have dropped out.

I got this mean cramp and I just thought it would work it's way out. I rememembered getting one in STG this year and it worked it's self out within 4-5 miles. But this one was more intense and within two miles it had me road-side doing a Sasha style #2 bathroom stop (I've never had to do that in a race). Then the pain just never went away. Anytime I'd try to push the pace I'd almost double over with a cramp. I tried holding my side but that didn't work either. Honestly I don't have a clue what it was from. I followed a simmilar pre-race schedule with food and stuff.... anyways it sucked and now it's over.

I thought coming into this race that a sub 2:30 was well within reach. I feel like if I'd have not had the stomach issues that would have been totally doable. Basically from mile 12 on I never got back in ANY kind of groove. I'm soo suprised someone didn't catch me because I just stopped caring about time- In fact at the aid station at around 18 I almost pulled out of the race but decided to just limp in so my mother-in-law wouldn't be waiting and worring the whole time.

Bottom line is we all have bad races. I've never had a bad marathon before and now it's over and I can move on.

Here are the lame splits-

1. 5:41

2. 5:42

3. 5:24

4. 5:24

5. 5:23

6. 5:25

7. 5:34- Rolling along with Seth, Logan, and Sasha

8. 5:40- Seth and Logan gap Sasha

9. 5:51- Sasha and I trade lead until 12 when I fall off the planet

10. 5:49- Interesting here Sasha starts doing these loud moan's and grunts for like 2 miles. It actually started to kind of be bothersome (No offense Sasha) But they were loud and frequent.

11. 5:56

12. 6:00- Cramp starts almost right at the mile marker

13. 6:08- trying to breath and work through it

14. 6:05- by the time we get to the bottom of the "major hill" am going slow and scouting out a potty spot.

15. 6:48- This must be my potty mile. I stop here and this is were I totally lose track of Sasha.

16. 5:53

17. 6:00

18. 5:50- Almost stop here but push on. I couldn't muster anything on the good downhill because when I'd speed up it would really start to hurt.

19. 6:01

20. 6:06

21. 6:05

22. 6:00- blah!

23. 5:48- Some good downhill here and I try to push just to see what happens.

24. 6:16- Now the tummy is really sore.

25. 6:29- Dodging halfers on in to my glorious finish!

26. 6:23

last portion was at 6:05 (what a kick)

I had a great time up there with Logan and company at the pasta party. Thanks Logan. We even got to sleep at Logans grandparents house up by the start. Logan and I spooned all night as we shared a bed. (maybe my problem during the race) J/K.

Did a little over a mile warm-up with the boys and had 3 quality potty stops before the race. (I should have been ready to go!)

Overall I really liked the course. Very pretty and a good running layout. It was great weather too. I'd like to try it again when I was having a good day.

(SS#2- 30.2)