TOU 2010

After having so much "fun" running the Pocatello Marathon, I decided to register for the Top of Utah Marathon, which happened to be only 2 weeks later. Three weeks from race day is when most training schedules have your last long run, and the beginning of your mileage taper. I was feeling good after Pocatello, and hoped that my legs and body could recover in two weeks.

I'm not very fond of the last 9 miles of the TOU course, but I enjoy the atmosphere of the local crowd, seeing people I know running the race, on the sidelines, directing traffic, offering first aid, volunteering on the course, and in the finish area.

My day began with my alarm going off at 4:15, so I could shower and catch one of the buses to the start by 5 am. This allowed time to use the porta-potty, stretch, relax, visualize, and prepare - before I worked a Step 3 at the starting line!

The race started at about 7:05 am to the sound of muzzleloader/black powder rifle shots from people dressed up in traditional Mountain Man garb. The sound of the shots echoed off the canyon walls as the mass of runners gradually gained momentum and rounded the first bend in the road. Starting temperatures were in the low 40's, a bit chilly, but good for running.


The course is closed to (most) traffic the first 14 miles.


The leaves painted the hillsides beautiful hues of orange, red and yellow.


At mile 13, I saw familiar faces at the "Bobcat Bend" aid station - Bryon, Doyle, Lila, Dee and others. I passed the halfway point at about 1:51 - on pace for a 3:40 finish time. I knew my second half would be slower, I just wasn't sure how much slower. By now my legs began to tire a bit, and I knew two weeks was not enough recovery time after Pocatello.

I maintained a positive attitude, and allowed my 8:28 pace to slow to a comfortable 9:00 minutes per mile as I cruised down Hollow Road.

After turning off of Hollow Road onto Hwy 165, the shade ended and the sun hit the runners in full force, by now in the upper 70's. I drank water and gatorade at every station to try to stay hydrated, but the heat started to take its toll, as my head began pounding and my stomach churning. As I approached Ryan's Park in River Heights at about mile 22, my stomach finally revolted, involuntarily evacuating its contents as I bent over between two parked cars. I walked a while to allow my head to stop spinning, but the scene was soon repeated - much to my disgust!

From this point on, I maintained hope that I might still be able to pull out a sub-4:00 finish, but as the course dropped into Logan, I had to stop again to throw up. Yuck. I hate that feeling when you know it's coming, but there is nothing you can do to stop it! By now my stomach was empty and I was concerned about dehydration as the temperatures continued to rise! I continued my "running conversation" (sorry, I couldn't resist) with God by asking him, if it was His will, to please allow me to recover and finish strong.

I couldn't choke down any fluids at the last aid stations, so I was forced to alternate speed-walking with running to prevent any dry heaves the final 3 miles, as my watch ticked past the 4 hour mark. The thought crossed my mind - "just stop, walk off the course, and quit"... but I hung in there - DNF is not in my vocabulary.

So I continued my run-walk strategy, until I found enough strength to run the final three blocks down the finishing chute,

crossing the line at about 4:13.
I then made my way to the recovery area where I just stood bent over with my hands on my knees, trying to regain some composure! I found and talked with Landon, Tanner and Dallen, and also talked with a number of other familiar faces both in and outside of the runner recovery area.

(*Thank's to Dallen for this pic of my forced smile!) I couldn't eat or drink much, so I just sipped some water to try to re-hydrate and get my equilibrium back. I walked over to the short line at the massage area, where I was soon face down on a table as Rachael worked her magic fingers on my sore, tired calves, hamstrings and quads. I was a bit scared of a massage so soon after finishing, but she communicated well, and knew just when to be gentle!


In retrospect, I am very pleased with another successful marathon finish! Maybe I got some bad Gu or just overheated. I am certainly not getting any younger - *note to self: next time allow at least 3 weeks to recover after one marathon before running another! I missed my goal, but apparently I did need some humbling, so I accept that :-) I am just grateful to God for helping me make it to the finish line, and to live another day - One Day at a Time :-)
...Hmmmm...next race...?

Pocatello 26.2 & 13.1

Only one week after the TOU Half Marathon, Keri entered the Pocatello Half, and I entered the 11th annual Pocatello Full Marathon! Tanner & Landon came to cheer their old parents on. Josh stayed home to work on his college social life!


We rolled into town about 5 pm Friday, picked up our race packets, checked in to the Holiday Inn, and then went out to eat. Keri was battling a cough & cold, and I was tired from a long work week, so we went to bed before 10. I awoke at about 4 am before my alarm, and started my race-day rituals. I caught the first bus across the street at the Red Lion Inn at 5 am, which took the runners about 20 minutes to the starting area. This was a relatively small race, with only 350 Marathon entrants, but the organization, aid stations, support and volunteers were all great - better than many races much bigger than this one.

The 26.2'ers gathered at the starting area in the dark on Antelope Road, at the top of a canyon north of Pocatello, near a pasture and stable. It was a clear, relatively warm morning in the low 50's, as each one was going through last minute stretching, hydrating, meditating and porta-pottying. As a loudspeaker was blaring "inspirational" popular music under the starlit pre-dawn sky, I wondered what nearby farmhouse residents thought of this annual early morning commotion. At ten minutes to start time everyone threw their warm up gear in marked bags into a waiting UPS truck, and anxiously queued up behind the start line. The race began on-time at 6:15, after which the small crowd gradually gained momentum and rounded the first corner onto Buckskin Road. Having my prescription sunglasses on, I couldn't see much of my surroundings the first three miles, so I just focused on settling into a reasonable pace and rhythm, ignoring the excited people passing me by - many of whom I would see walking later in the race as I ran on by.

As I passed mile marker three, a few high clouds in the sky were painted pink in anticipation of the sunrise. Now I could begin to see the scattered small farms and country homes as we made a steady descent, which would last until mile 13, down the nice little canyon. I then realized that my pace wristband had fallen off, and my stopwatch had stopped! My obsessive-compulsive personality would have no time reference the entire race, relying only on experience and feedback from my legs and lungs to determine the best pace to reach my goal finish time between 3:30 and 3:59. This was actually a blessing, as I told myself, "self, just relax and run like you know you should...You've done the training, just run your own race - You can do it!" And so, after doing my part, I turned it over to God, and never looked back!

At mile 6.5, the course took us a half mile up a paved side road, which we then doubled back on to the main canyon road. I suppose this detour to nowhere was to add enough distance to make it a full marathon course. As I returned to the main canyon road, another runner turning the corner yelled my name. I turned and waved to say "hi", but only saw him briefly and did not recognize him. I finally met up with Dave G, a Pocatello resident and high school reunion friend from Keri's class, in the finish line recovery area.

My training paid off as the canyon descent made the miles tick away almost effortlessly. In some cases, I would see the next mile marker after what seemed like only a minute or two after the previous one. It was somewhat surreal, as if I had passed through a wrinkle in time on the big race day...

As I approached the halfway point in Inkom, I returned to reality and saw all of the half marathon runners about a half mile ahead of me as the road made a wide sweeping turn, apparently starting about five minutes before my arrival at their starting line. As I began to pass half marathon runners who had fresh legs, I knew I was keeping a reasonably fast pace. I began looking for Keri in the crowd, although she had been undecided if she would run or not because of her cough and cold. Finally at about mile sixteen (mile 3 for the "halfers") I saw her from behind, and tapped her on her opposite shoulder. She turned and realized it was me and we briefly exchanged greetings. She told me she was doing fine, and that I should keep going and not let her slow me down. So we wished each other well, executed a perfect fist-bump, and I continued on at my race pace.

The course passed under the freeway at Inkom, through the gap in the mountains, and continued toward Pocatello on Old Highway 91. With the temperature approaching the 70s, the sun began to beat down on the runners. Fortunately, there was a slight tailwind and some shade from an occasional high cloud. Now the course was flat with rolling hills, including a significant half mile hill as the road passed under the freeway approaching Pocatello. There was an aid station nearly every mile the last 13, so I alternated drinking water and powerade. I also took an extra cup of water to dump on my head and shirt to prevent overheating. As I passed mile 20 my legs were tired, but doing well. With the heat and rolling hills, I could tell my pace was a little slower than the first half, but I never did hit the wall this race - like I did last year at TOU. My effortless gait down the canyon in the first half had now turned into the battle to the finish. I was uncomfortably aware of every mile and every stride, but there was no pain or doubt. As I passed mile 23 I knew I would make it, so I pushed just a little harder, increasing my pace by about 30 seconds per mile the rest of the way.

As I rounded the 180 degree corner leading to the final half mile straightaway by Ross Park, I knew I had left just enough, as I had to focus on working my arms to compel my legs to follow!


By now my head was pounding and my stomach churning, but I just gave it my all and smiled a forced "YES" and crossed the finish line at 3:49:48 as the announcer called out my name.


I received my finishers medal and walked to the runners recovery area, where I stood bent over with my hands on my knees for what seemed like 5 minutes as my stomach began to settle. I then began to gradually walk around, sip some water and slowly eat a banana and slice of Great Harvest cinnamon drop bread - which had never tasted so good before!


(nice pic's, Landon!) I'm not sure how much time passed, but I heard Keri's name announced as she crossed the finish line with a time of 2:13:46! She finished 5th in her age division!


I found her in the crowd, we got some food and water together and then found Tanner and Landon.


We all relaxed, ate ice cream together and listened to "7 Feet Below" play punked-out versions of the Beatles, Green Day and Lynrd Skynrd.


They were actually not half bad - for a bunch of kids!

About a half hour later we were able to walk again, so we slowly made our way back to the van, as we cheered the later finishers. We felt bad for runners still out on the course, as the temperature was now approaching the 80's, with no cloud cover. Overall it was a very well organized and supported race with great volunteers. The first half down the canyon was awesome, but the second half of the course (the half-marathon portion) Keri described as "boring." We had a great time and are glad we made the short trek to Pocatello.


We went back to the hotel, showered and checked out. We stopped to get the boys lunch, but neither Keri nor I were ready to eat much yet. We made it safely home and gave thanks for successful races and a safe return. We both woke up stiff the next morning, a bit sore, but not much pain. The early Sunday newspaper delivery forced me to get up and work out some of the kinks!...so, the TOU is coming up...hmmm.