#37- The Sogonapmit Marathon

On July 28th the plan was to run the Morgan Marathon, a nice little race that I had a blast running last year. Then during the Ogden Marathon expo, I got a look at the finisher's medal for the Sogonapmit  (that's Timpanogos spelled backwards) Marathon and the plans changed. Yes, Morgan is nice with rolling hills and beautiful scenery, and Sogonapmit starts at 3:20am and runs up American Fork Canyon for 13.1 miles with an elevation gain of close to 1800 feet, then sends you screaming down the same hill for the second 13.1 (providing you made it to the top), but the bling was too good to pass up!

I was glad I was able to talk my friend Teota into running the full with me as most of my other friends opted to run the half marathon because the half is all downhill (and they call themselves Maniacs!). The 3:20am start may sound like torture to some, but it was a big selling point of the race for us. Temperatures reach to the high 90's in July here so the thought of beating the heat was better than the extra sleep.

Hardcore Maniacs at the start!

I was really fun to start running in the dark! There were a few cool Maniac friends out there like Galen Garrison (FL) and Dave Bell (CO) out there.

Dave Bell and I doing our "what was I thinking" pose!



Teota and Galen!

Me at mile 10.1!

Teota and I were so glad it was dark running up that hill, because if we would have seen how steep it was, we probably would have backed out!

We made it to the top of the hill just as the half marathon got started. It was fun as all the half marathoners were cheering for us which gave us a little more energy to make it to the top. Once we turned around the running felt easier, but just as painful. My legs couldn't figure out what hurt. My legs were fried, but we plugged away passing up tons of half marathoners (which made us feel bad ass).

Finally going down the hill.

During the last 6 miles we hooked up with a nice lady who's son was one of the Race Directors. She was running the half and was struggling, so we told her to run intervals with us. She was so cute as every time we got to a mile marker, she would yell to everyone on the course how awesome Teota and I were for running the full. The intervals really helped her, so while we could have gone a little faster, we stayed with her to the finish! 5:12:41- not great, but pretty good for running uphill for 13.1 miles!

Front of the glow in the dark medal!

 

Back of the medal represents the second half of the race. It's a spinner too!

Zoe liked the bling!

Fun, but really hard race! I totally recommend it. The Race Director, Scott Hardy is a fellow Maniac and cool guy too. My only complaint was no age group awards for the marathon (only for the half), but other than that, it was an awesome race!