I love the Ogden Marathon. It's no wonder the race sells out faster and faster every year. It is extremely organized and has one of the fastest and beautiful courses I have ever run.
Since most of my Utah Maniac friends opted to run the half this year, I was hoping not to be running all alone. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind running alone. My fastest times have come from races I ran without by pals by my side and I always pick up a new "race friend" (or two, or three) along the way, but running with friends does make the miles go by faster. Then came Teota!
I thought she was also running the half until a week or so before the race. She had just run the OC marathon a couple of weeks before finishing with a PR of 5:08ish. Here goal this year was to break 5:00 hours. I told her if she wanted to run under 5:00 hours, Ogden was a good course to try and I would help her.
Now, I am not fast, but I have run under 5:00 pretty consistently, so I told her to stick with me and I promised her she would run under 5:00 hours (provided I didn't blow up).
We got on the bus to the start at 5:00am (which I thought was later than years past) with fellow kilted Maniac and comedian, Tim Gill. Once we go to the start the sun had come up, but it was a little cold. We hit the port-a-potty and made our way to one of the campfires where we stayed put until it was time to meet for the Maniac photo.
Maniacs at the start.
Before we knew it, the race had started and we were off! The weather was perfect. Teota and I headed down the course at a nice pace enjoying the beautiful scenery.
My told Teota my plan was to get us to the half by 2:20, that way if we had to wait at a port-a-potty ,we would have banked a little time. Everything went to plan and even with a potty stop, we still hit the half at 2:20.
Cute 80's Water Stop!
Teota at the 80's Water Stop.
As we continued with the rest of the race we just focused on having fun and enjoying the run.
As we got to the last 3 miles, I knew we were in good shape and would finish under 5:00 hours. We pick up another Maniac named Gus from New York. The three of us told stories and the last three miles flew by. As we came in we saw Liz and Marsha cheering us in which was really nice! As we crossed the finish line, Teota looked at the clock and the pride rolled down her face! Not only did she reach her goal of 4:59:59, she smashed it! Official time 4:47:02! It was AWESOME to see her so happy! It was a great day!
Teota and I at the Finish!
Teota, Tim amd I at the Finish!
Maniacs at the Finish!
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