This was my second year running the Salt Lake Marathon. It so happened that it fell on April 16th, which is Trisha's birthday. We went out to SLC for the weekend to celebrate lots of great things. Friday was spent getting ready for the race and then we met up with our friends for a carb load at The Olive Garden. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my entire life. After dinner, we stopped by the party store and we purchased a tiara, "Birthday Princess" sash and a huge mylar balloon for Trisha to wear while she was running. It was hilarious just to think of her running with all of that and a balloon tied to her. It was off to bed early, but I can't say that I slept well because I was so nervous for the race in the morning. Morning came way too fast and at 4:30 AM it was time to get ready. We arrived to park my car at the gateway at like 5:30 and we had to take TRAX up to the starting line. That is when the morning got really interesting. We walked to the TRAX stop right in front of The Gateway and stood there for like 15 minutes waiting for a train to come. A train never came and we heard that the trains don't usually come to this stop for the race. So we hurried and walked to the next station outside of Energy Solutions arena. There was a train there so we jumped on it and were set to go. That is until a TRAX worker got on the train, told us that this train was not going to the start line but actually going the other direction, got off the train and shut all the doors. We hurried and ran to the doors and tried to open them but they were alreay locked and the train took us back to the station that we had just been at. We got off the train and waited for another train to come. They were supposed to come every 15 minutes but that was a lie. About 20 minutes later a train came and we were finally on our way to the starting line. That is until too many people crammed their way on to the train and blocked all of the doors from closing properly. We waited at several stops for well over 5 minutes each. It was so frustrating! We arrived at the starting line with about 10 minutes to spare. I hurried over to the gear bag drop off and then in line to use one of the 5000 outhouses that they had lined up there. We knew at that point that there was no way that we were going to make it to the starting line for the actual start (luckily your time doesn't start until you cross the starting line). The gun went off and we were still waiting for the bathroom. The advantage to this was that we started about ten minutes after the huge crowd of people trying to fit in the road. I looked in front of me as we went down the hill at the begining and I could see the entire crowd bottle-necked in front of me and I was somewhat happy that I was behind them.
The run. The race was really good. I started out pretty stong and maintained a good speed for the first half of the race. I think I pushed myself really hard at the begining because I know that I can and I know that if I run the first half at a faster pace then I can slow down on the second half and still get a good time. The only problem that I ran into was that I was overhydrated from the very begining of the race. I really didn't want to stop at the aid station to use the bathroom because each one had a long line and I didn't want to lose time. So, I may have stopped by a tree in SugarHouse Park and emptied my bladder. I hoped that would be enough, but about mile thirteen I had to stop again. This time I used a port-a-potty and I was able to continue the rest of the race without other incident. About mile 16, it started to rain pretty hard. It felt good to get a little water/cooldown but I was worried about the outcome of running ten more miles in rain. Luckily it ended about 5 minutes after it started and the running continued. In the next few miles I realized that I had slowed down enough to not reach my time goals that I was shooting for so I decided that it was really important that I at least stuck to my goal of not walking at all during the race. I kept on going. It got really tough around mile 19 and 20 and I was so glad that I had asked my brother, Shayne, to meet me just before Liberty Park (mile 22) and run to the end with me. I just had to keep pushing myself to run until mile 22. I knew that once I met up with Shayne that I would have more will power to keep running. It worked. He was really supportive and encouraged me not to walk at all. I did have to stretch my legs one time for a few seconds and I walked at some aid stations to drink water/PowerAde. The hardest part was coming up on the end, about mile 25, when I had to hike up a hill on State Street between 200 South and South Temple. But after that it was good (slow) running to the end. When we got to The Gateway, my dad and my nephews were there cheering for me. The boys joined me and we all ran around the bend toward the finish line. My mom was on the side of the road just beyond that and the rest of my family was cheering me on further down from that. It was an amazing rush of energy to see my family, the crowd and the finish line. As I turned the last bend, Shayne said to me, "Run balls out Mike," so I sprinted to the finish line! Just when I thought that I was gonna fall on to the road and die, I sprinted to the end. I was pretty tired after but it turned out to be a really good run for me and I am really proud of another successful marathon finish. My final time: 4 hours 26 minutes and 23 seconds. Which is not my fastest marathon and not my slowest either, so I feel good about it. However, I am most proud that I made it through the whole race without walking. That is officially the longest distance that I have ever run non-stop, and that makes me proudest of all. 26.2 miles of pure brain and leg power!! It took a lot to push my mind to this accomplishment but I am hoping that I have now passed a mind block that will no longer be there when I run marathons and I'm hoping it will help me increase my time.
I am also really proud of Trisha for finishing the half marathon! She has been training so hard for this. It was really great that we got to train together and run our races together. I think it was a very memorable birthday for her Trish too, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
This picture is of our team sponsored by BRADY TRUCKING (minus Chip who had already left). It was great to have a corporate sponsor. You can also see the tiara that Trisha wore during the race. She loved it.
Usually after a marathon I want to take a break from running and relax my legs a bit. However, this time I don't want to lose the momentum and I wanna keep running. So, today I went on my first run post-marathon and all is well. It felt really good. I am trying to plan my summer and some runs that I can do to keep things up. I am thinking that I want to do 2 half marathons and another full marathon before the running season ends. There are some good races coming up and I am really excited to keep training for them.
On a side note: Sam has learned how to crawl, climb on things, and stand up holding on to things. He is getting so big. He only likes to feed himself these days so we got him a highchair and he sits in there for hours just slowing trying to get food from the tray to his fist and into his mouth. This morning we put him in his exersaucer and both left the room. When we heard a little cry Trisha went back into the room and he was crawling on the floor. What a crazy little kid.
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