With some apprehension, I ran the Park City marathon yesterday--August 23, 2008. As you may have already deduced, I survived the event as well. It's always good to survive or finish. It's better to have finished and survived.
My original plans had me driving up to the race the morning of. A couple weeks back, however, the boy talked me into booking a room--he even volunteered to pay for it. So, I booked a room at the new Newpark Hotel. Nice place. The room was tiny, but it was very nice. The bed was dreamy. The bathroom... Well, now that I think about it, the bathroom was probably just a hair smaller than the main room. I liked the room so much so that I wish I had booked another night just so I could have laid in that bed yesterday afternoon after the race for a few hours. Anyways, the boy forgot he had offered to chip in on expenses. Oh well, I don't know that I would have held him to it anyways.
The race: My training the last couple of months has been abysmal. Or worse. I don't know that I expected much out of myself yesterday or not--and it's a good thing too, cause I didn't get much. Other than the finish. A better than expected finish. Maybe I did get something.
Anyways...
I met some friends at the start, all of whom commented on my short hair. I told them I was looking for babes!
The course runs in a clock-wise direction beginning and ending at the Fieldhouse at Kimball Junction. The run started cold but it got comfortable pretty quick. I tried running 9 minute miles, and did a pretty good job of it through mile 10. From there on in to the finish I did a bit of walking here and there. Still, I finished with an average pace of 9:49. I made one potty stop of significance at mile 13.33 (which is pretty good for me). I trudged along finishing, finally, in 4:17:06--more than 3 minutes faster than I did last year! Pleasant surprise!
At the finish I hung around visiting with others and mostly having fun reviewing the race. About 20 minutes after I finished, Smooth (Susanna) came through the chute. She's been struggling with cramps in her legs and she looked to be in quite a bit of pain. As she made the turn towards the finish line she had a difficult time and crashed right into the barrier. Her husband jumped right over it and helped her across the finish where she was treated to 5 star treatment.
Overall, it was a good weekend. My anxieties and perceived health issues, I'm thinking, were all psychological. I went to bed last night with a killer headache--standard for me post marathon when I don't hydrate afterwards like I should--but I got up this morning feeling pretty good.
Next up: Top of Utah Marathon on the 20th of September. Makes a nice excuse to drive up to Logan to visit my Hay!
My original plans had me driving up to the race the morning of. A couple weeks back, however, the boy talked me into booking a room--he even volunteered to pay for it. So, I booked a room at the new Newpark Hotel. Nice place. The room was tiny, but it was very nice. The bed was dreamy. The bathroom... Well, now that I think about it, the bathroom was probably just a hair smaller than the main room. I liked the room so much so that I wish I had booked another night just so I could have laid in that bed yesterday afternoon after the race for a few hours. Anyways, the boy forgot he had offered to chip in on expenses. Oh well, I don't know that I would have held him to it anyways.
The race: My training the last couple of months has been abysmal. Or worse. I don't know that I expected much out of myself yesterday or not--and it's a good thing too, cause I didn't get much. Other than the finish. A better than expected finish. Maybe I did get something.
Anyways...
I met some friends at the start, all of whom commented on my short hair. I told them I was looking for babes!
The course runs in a clock-wise direction beginning and ending at the Fieldhouse at Kimball Junction. The run started cold but it got comfortable pretty quick. I tried running 9 minute miles, and did a pretty good job of it through mile 10. From there on in to the finish I did a bit of walking here and there. Still, I finished with an average pace of 9:49. I made one potty stop of significance at mile 13.33 (which is pretty good for me). I trudged along finishing, finally, in 4:17:06--more than 3 minutes faster than I did last year! Pleasant surprise!
At the finish I hung around visiting with others and mostly having fun reviewing the race. About 20 minutes after I finished, Smooth (Susanna) came through the chute. She's been struggling with cramps in her legs and she looked to be in quite a bit of pain. As she made the turn towards the finish line she had a difficult time and crashed right into the barrier. Her husband jumped right over it and helped her across the finish where she was treated to 5 star treatment.
Overall, it was a good weekend. My anxieties and perceived health issues, I'm thinking, were all psychological. I went to bed last night with a killer headache--standard for me post marathon when I don't hydrate afterwards like I should--but I got up this morning feeling pretty good.
Next up: Top of Utah Marathon on the 20th of September. Makes a nice excuse to drive up to Logan to visit my Hay!
2 comments:
OK, A. I hope you found some babes :) B. How many marathons have you run this year??? You make me tired :)
good job dad!!! i swear one day i'll run one haah. but i want to go with you when you go to logan and see hay!!
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