Ogden Marathon May 2009

I have never been to Odgen until this year...at least not that I can remember other than to get gas or drop Cindy off for a blind date with some jerk. But so far this year I have had 4 memorable trips to Ogden. Once to go to the Ogden Temple, once to attend Taco Tuesday, once to sightsee a marathon race course, and once to run a marathon. Each time I was surprised by how nice Ogden seems to be (I've always heard it was kind of slummy and dull). It has really made it's way up in the world and improved it's image. The only negative thing I have to say is twice I had to wait way too long for my food at two restaurants that should have been more on top of things, and when I say way too long I mean an hour after ordering finally getting the food. But the other two times the food came at a decent speed, both those times I ate at the same place: Roosters (they get my endorsement because they did a fabulous job, although I suspect they have listening devices at every table because once it felt like the waitress appeared a little too quickly to poor my water right after I said something about it really quietly).

This time round to Ogden was for the Ogden Marathon. (Ellen told her story here.) Ellen and I headed down the night before to get our bib numbers and a good night sleep. We are becoming old hats at marathons, this being our 2nd (I am being sarcastic). We stayed with some family friends from Hayward who recently relocated to Ogden and bought an historic house with elephant skin walls. They are in the process of renovating it, I can't wait to see what the final outcome will look like. Surprising to me, but I actually had an excellent nights rest before the marathon...no waking up hundreds of times worrying that I overslept, I slept right up to the 4:15 am alarm.

We ate dinner at one of the slow restaurants downtown. Good thing we didn't have any where to be because when I say slow I mean slow. Then we took a stroll back to the car and passed a barber shop that was closed for the evening. Not a soul in sight except Ellen and I...you can see us in the mirror. Ellen's eagle eye noticed something out of the ordinary which is why we stopped to take this picture. Can you see it?

There is hair still on the floor. Is that regular procedures for barber shops to close shop without cleaning up?

The next morning we woke up bright and early, the buses were leaving at 5 am to take the race participants to the start line (starting time is 7:30am). That's a long time to wait in the cold burning calories that you'll need for the race. This time I came prepared with lots of food and a book. I ate the food but I didn't read the book, the atmosphere is too charged to read books. Next time I might bring a blanket and pillow (I saw someone else with them). We have a little bag with our bib number on it to put any personal affects that aren't needed during the race, this little bag gets put into a truck and transported to the finish line where we can be reunited with it if we finish.

Anyway, the race went well. I had been sick for two weeks before so I had a two week rest period before the race where I didn't run at all. I was worried about the effect this break would have on me since I am a really slow runner and our longest run had been only 19 miles which hurt me and made me bitter. Turns out that it was a very good thing for me. When I finished the 26.1 miles I felt good...tired but good. I wasn't sore beyond belief, in fact I could and did reach down and pick things up off the ground and sitting down and then standing up wasn't a chore that made me apprehensive. But like I said I was tired so I moved slowly everywhere I went. Where two weeks earlier I had sworn off marathons my feelings changed at the end of this one and I actually started planning my next one (this isn't uncommon because running a marathon is actually quiet easy it's the training that is hard).

Anyway, I have forgotten all the stories during the race. It is all a blur. Apparently all the photographs of me during the race look like I got punched in the gut and I hate my life, but I seem to have forgotten the pain. To me now the race was a picnic in a quiet lazy park with servants all around to assist my every need.

Here we are at the end with our medals around our necks. Don't we look like a color coordinated running team?


So, next stop on the running circuit this year is the Sawtooth Relay in Idaho. Then we begin Speed Camp 2009. Later we may hit Pinedale for a half marathon and most certainly St. George for a full marathon. I need to spice things up this summer and add something else to my regime, most likely it will be biking. What kinds of exercise goals do you have this year?