Never Say Never and Never Give Up!

Finishing my first marathon, getting my first Boston Qualifier, and finishing my first Boston Marathon.

The Boston Marathon registration closes today and tensions are running high for those in the "squeaker' category (that means you ran your qualifying time to -4:59:59 under it). Working so hard to qualify and not getting to run is heartbreaking, but you can hold your head high as you can still call yourself a Boston Qualifier.

Boston is a bucket list race for a lot of runners, but when you run towards the back of the pack you hear things like: "I will never qualify for Boston" or "I am to slow". I am here as witness that if you put your mind to it, and do the work required YOU CAN DO IT!!

My first marathon was in April of 2009. I ran 5:30. I did a lot more marathons always sticking around the 5:00 mark. Then one day in 2014 I set my mind to wanting to qualify. Those negative thoughts would sneak in and tell me that I couldn't do it, but I did my best to brush those thoughts away. When my mind was set on the goal, my body followed and I worked REALLY hard in for 8 months.

In May of 2015, I ran my first Boston Qualifier and I ran the Boston Marathon for the first time in 2016 and again in 2017! In 2017, a debilitating depression kept me out of even qualifying for 2018. I started to hate running as much as I hated myself. I had to heal and when I emerged from that dark place, I had to start from square one.

Again, I worked hard and in December, I ran another BQ. I only had 13 seconds under, not anywhere near what I needed to actually run, but I cried tears of joy! I continued to work through the winter and in April, I qualified with a -9:27 cushion. I am blessed to be going back for my 3rd Boston in 2019.

If you want to qualify for Boston,  don't let it be a pipe dream. Work hard and DO IT! It may not come fast (it took me 95 MARATHONS to qualify), but you can make that dream a reality if you stick with it. I know it!

Actually getting to run Boston is getting harder and harder,  but there is nothing like getting that first BQ, especially if it didn't come easy. If you are a squeaker, BE PROUD! Buy all the gear you freaking earned it! Running Boston is great,  but the REAL race is qualifying to get there. 

#141- Revel Big Cottonwood Marathon!

Oh Boy!! There are two things in September that I get excited about (one more than the other). My Birthday and The Revel Big Cottonwood Marathon and Half! This year was particularly special as not only was this my 7th time running the marathon (which makes me a legacy at this race), I was pacing (I usually race this one), and it was the first race of the Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics Club Exclusive Events! This was something I had been working with Revel and the Maniac/ Fanatic leadership for months and it was going to be amazing! 

Revel rolled out the red carpet for us, giving our members a VIP experience! On top of all the other great stuff Revel gives out (nice t-shirt, beautiful medal, free photos,etc.), they made us EXTRA custom medals, t-shirts, luggage tags, personalized bibs with our club numbers on them, branded results cards and a large VIP tent at the finish with lots of treats in it!! 

To make it easier to get our members all the swag at once, I spent hours putting together bags for each member.

Revel said they would supply the food for our VIP tent, but didn't have anyone to go buy it all, so Thursday night, I went to Costco and loaded up with cookies, chips, granola bars, fruit chews, and real fruit.

I took Friday off work so I could help at the expo handing out wristbands (for the VIP tent) and the novelty bibs (so members could wear them on their backs on race day). I also needed to drop off all the food at the tent and make it to the dinner I set up at Terra Mia at 5:30PM. The day was packed!

Then at 7:30PM, I found out that there would be nobody there to set up our expo booth. I wanted to cry. I didn't plan on being at the expo all day. There is no way I could be there until 8:00PM and I certainly didn't want to be there alone, but there was nothing I could do so I rushed over to the party store, bought some wristbands and a tablecloth and made the best of it. I got a hold of two other Maniac/Fanatic Ambassadors who were coming to the race and they offered to help me at the expo. They were lifesavers!

When I got to the expo, I had a box of club info cards and enticed people over to the booth with candy! LOL! Since I was pacing, I was supposed to take a shift at the Run Your Race Pacer's booth, but I couldn't since I had to run my booth, so my friend and founder of RYR Pacers, Jorge Garcia moved his booth next to ours so I could do both! 

Jorge and I ready to go!

My Angels! Randy Brinkley and Robert Manon helping me at the booth.

Fellow Revel Ambassador and Maniac Othman stopped by!


It's not a Revel party until Clark shows up with his cape.


Cute Fanatic Patti Brown stopped by.

At 5:00PM. I had to get over to the dinner and then get to the finish line to get the food to the tent! Robert (after driving 10 hours from L.A.) offered to stay until 8:00PM to hand out wristbands to those getting to the expo later.

We went to a small Italian place called Terra Mia. The owner is from Tuscany and makes some really great food. It was all delicious and the best part was, everything came out fast!

Maniacs and Fanatics at dinner.

After dinner, two other Maniacs helped me get all the swag bags and all the food to the finish tent. That was a huge help! I then went back to the expo, thanked Robert and took the banners back to the finish line to hang them in the tent. By 9:00PM I was exhausted but done. The only thing left to do was to get home, prepare for my race and get a little sleep. I was in bed at 10:30PM.

We had to be on the bus to the start between 4:00-5:00AM so I had to be up at 3:00AM! I was still tired, but I rolled out of bed and got ready. Revel has all the logistics down so getting parking right where the buses pick you up, was super easy.

We got to the start, but it looked a little different. Apparently, Revel was not able to get the big field we usually sit in while we wait for the start, so we were all packed in one side of the road. It wasn't the best, but it was OK.

The race started at 6:45AM so at 6:30AM we gathered the Maniacs and the pacers for photos, I dropped my bag, found my co-pacer Chris and we were off!

Maniacs at the start.

The RYR Marathon Pace Team.


Our company sponsored runners to run Big Cottonwood. Most people opted for the half, but there were a few that went big!

Robert, Galen, Bill and I at the start. (Photo Credit- Robert Manon)


Good friends, John and Galen! (Photo Credit- John Bozung)

The weather when we started was perfect. It is usually cold, which I enjoyed at that time, but couldn't help but think if it was not that cold at 10,000 feet, how warm will it be when we roll out of the canyon?

We had a nice group with us! This was Cameron's first marathon!

4:25 group right on pace!

As we were running down the canyon, we caught sight of this beautiful rainbow!

We had a nice group of runners with us almost the whole time. There was a mix between 1st timers and seasoned marathoners (two of them were in the 100 marathon club)! We were keeping on pace and having fun!

I am now going to make a PSA. If you use the port-a-potty and crap on the seat, CLEAN IT UP!!  I am talking to YOU old man that came out of the port-a-potty before me! That is all I am saying.

via GIPHY

Now back to our scheduled race report! We had a nice rain shower up in the canyon which really cooled us off, but it was short-lived. As we made our way out of the canyon we could feel the heat the second the sun came from behind the clouds.

Almost out of the canyon.

When we dumped out of the canyon about mile 18, we started our approach to Wasatch Boulevard (aka The Boulevard of Broken Dreams). This is that hardest part of the marathon course and where you find out toot sweet if you ran smart down the canyon.

The first part is still downhill, but then you start the 2-mile climb out. If you looked at it on an elevation chart, you would think it was nothing, but with so much downhill, your legs are trashed and the slightest uphill feels like Mount Everest. Pair that with the hot sun beating on you, and it is miserable. This 4 miles is where your BQ and PR is in danger if you didn't save your legs enough to get through it.

Even as a pacer Wasatch Boulevard takes its toll. Right before mile 21 is the turnaround and we start heading back. We get a little more downhill here, but your legs are too trashed to enjoy it. Just after mile 21, I looked back for my co-pacer Chris and he had a look in his eyes that said: "SAVE YOURSELF!" and he waved for me to continue without him.

That last climb out of Wasatch Boulevard was killing me! It was so hot and my legs were trashed and I had to walk for 30 seconds until I came out. I had lost everyone on Wasatch Boulevard and was now pacing myself.

The last 3 miles are downhill again, which is good as you can use gravity to help move you along, but it's not that much of a help at that point. I ran up next to two guys who were clearly fast runners, but one of them got chewed up and spit out on Wastach and was hanging on for dear life. His friend looked better and was staying with his friend. He saw I was alone and said: "Pacers should not be running alone!) He ditched his friend and ran with me for about 2 1/2 miles. About a 1/4 mile from the finish he said "thanks for running with me" and took off to finish strong! I was 30 seconds under pace and slowed down a little in when he took off and finished right where I wanted to be, 4:24:35!

Finishing with a smile on my face!

So happy to be done!

Races that give us VIP treatment have all said the same thing. They will give us a VIP tent, but they cannot pull race volunteers to staff it, which means we have to find volunteers to works the tent. This has always been tough when we are out of town, but I didn't think I would have a problem until I realized everyone I was going to ask to help was actually running! In my desperation, I called my friend Rob and begged him to help me for two hours until some of the Half Fanatics showed up. He and his girlfriend Rebecca came over and helped. I expected them to be long gone by the time I got there, but they were still there! I felt bad that they felt they had to stay longer than what I asked them to do, but I really appreciated it!  

I went to the medical tent and washed my hands and took over until the end of the race. Randy stayed with me and helped me pack up and load all the bags that were not picked up into my car and clean up around the tent so the Revel staff didn't have to do that. I wanted to leave the tent in the same condition they gave it to us in.

Robert and I at the tent!

We got one last photo of us in front of our tent before I took the banners down.

I was exhausted, but so happy that everything went well. I heard nothing but positive things from our members! 

One thing I learn every year when I listen to people after the race is that this is a tough course. Yes, there is a lot of downhill, but if you don't train at higher elevations, it's hard to breathe. If you don't train on long stretches of downhill, your legs are shredded. Most people who have run this marathon will say the same thing, this is not an easy BQ or PR. This course is fast, but only if you run it smart. Pacing forces you to run it smart, but I saw a lot of really fast people saying how they thought their BQ was a given when they saw the elevation chart but had the wheels fall off when they came out of the canyon. 

No matter how you run this race there is no denying that this is one of the most beautiful courses around. Revel does a great job and this race is so worth running! I have run the marathon 7 times and I will be back next year!

HUGE THANK YOU to Revel for all they did for us and a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that gave of their time to help me. I would have been lost without you and a HUGE THANK YOU to Holly and Jorge Garcia for asking me to pace. One of my favorite things to hear as a pacer is when you pass someone and they yell: "Oh no! I didn't want to see you!" and I tell them: "Well you better stay with me then!" 😂

If you are a Marathon Maniac or Half Fanatic and missed out on the VIP treatment at Big Cottonwood, don't worry! Revel has once again partnered with us for another Club Exclusive Event! On June 29th, 2019 at Revel Mt. Hood, you will have your chance! Click the Revel Mt. Hood link to join our team and save some money to boot!

If you would like to join our Big Cottonwood team, click the Big Cottonwood link!

#140- The Pocatello Marathon!

Labor Day weekend always means three things to me:

1. The last real weekend of summer;
2. Put away the white shoes; and
3. The Pocatello Marathon!

I have run the Pocatello Marathon almost every year since 2009 and I love it. The last few years I have been fortunate enough to get to join the pace team. This year (as well as last year), I paced the 5:00 group.

I originally was scheduled to pace the half marathon, but after some back and forth shuffling of pacers, I opted to keep the 5:00 spot. With a 6:00 cut-off, having the last pacer at 4:30, just didn't seem right.

I had a bad car accident in July and had just got another car a few days earlier and didn't want to drive it out of town alone for the first time, so my friend Martin was pacing as well and offered me a ride down with him. 

We left for Pocatello at around 12:00PM on Friday and made the 2 1/2 hour drive there pretty easily. When we got there we went right to the Clarion Inn, which was the host hotel. This was where the packet pick-up and small (really small) expo was.

The swag at the Pocatello Marathon is always great! This year we got these great gym bags, a long sleeve shirt and a bag of Idaho potatoes!

After the expo, Martin went to his hotel and I went to mine. I was staying at the Best Western which was right next door to the host hotel. One nice thing about pacing in Pocatello is the race director covers hotels for pacers. My room was nice and comfortable.

I had a quick nap and headed to the pasta dinner. The dinner is OK, but you better get there early! I got there about 15 minutes late and there wasn't that much left. I did get some lasagna, salad and a piece of cheesecake, so I was happy.

We had a quick pacer meeting at 8:00PM and I headed back to my hotel to get some rest.

Hanging with Neil, Othman, and Martin! Not only were we all pacers, we are all Revel Ambassadors!

The bus to the start picked us up right in front of the hotel. It is a shorter ride than you expect as we are not picked up at the finish. The start area is an actual farm. There were goats walking among the runners! There was a donkey and a horse as well.

Donkey and goat at the start!

Before the start, we got the Marathon Maniacs together for a group photo!

The marathon is small, but I started with a good group of people with my pace group. This race starts with the first half going downhill (with the exception of a one mile out and back around mile 8). I was running an even effort pace which meant I was going a few seconds per mile faster on the downhill and a few seconds slower per mile on the uphill). My group was doing great, but the course flattens out and there are a few rollers in there too. I lost most of my group around mile 15 and the rest by mile 17.

The 5:00 group looking strong!

The weather this year was great. I have run this race in the past where the heat would be oppressive. It was warm in the second half, but not too bad.

We pace by mile marker and while I felt the markers were a little off, they were a consistent distance apart. My Garmin was going off about a half mile before I hit each mile marker in the second half of the race. This is normal to have some difference, but this was a straight road in a wide open space, I don't think they could be that off, but who knows? 

I was consistent on my pace through miles 20 and 23. I was 55 seconds under, but I knew the last 3 miles has some rollers that I would slow on which would what I hoped would be 15-30 seconds under. I hit the 26-mile marker exactly 30 seconds under. I turned the corner to the finish and saw this big green arch really close! I even asked a spectator if that was the finish and not a vendor's arch. I looked at my watch and it didn't add up. I tried to slow my pace, but it was too late, I came in at 4:58:43. I was 30 seconds under at mile 26. I would have had to sprint to have made up over a minute in .2 miles. I don't know what happened. My thought was that the 26-mile marker was placed .1 away from the finish instead of .2, but I don't know that for sure. I do know I came in too hot and that is not what I wanted.

I finished a little hot!

I had a late checkout from my hotel at 1:00PM, so I grabbed a plate of food and headed towards the bus back to the hotel. The post-race food is great! This year they had Texas Roadhouse out there with pulled pork sandwiches and baked potatoes with butter and sour cream! I also grabbed a slice of pizza and some popcorn! I was starving and we had a long drive home.

I got on the bus and as we pulled up to the hotel, I realized that I left my drop bag at the finish, so I had to go back and get it. By the time I got back, I had 20 minutes to shower and change and get out of the room. I just made it! I sent Martin a text and he drove to my hotel to pick me up and we headed home. I was back in my apartment by 4:00PM! That was a first! I didn't get ot see my cute aunt and uncle this trip, but it was nice to get home early.

Pocatello Marathon Swag!

Pocatello is one of the best races for the price. If you register NOW, the marathon and the half is only $40! You can't beat it for such a nice race! The bag, the shirt, the medal, the post race food all make this race a steal! If you need Idaho, do Pocatello!

#139- The Harriman Trail Run 50K

OK, once again I am a little behind on my race reports, but here we go. I have been pacing a lot of half marathons over the summer, but if I did a report on all of those I would be REALLY behind so I will get caught up with reports on any race over a marathon for a bit.

The next adventure on my list was the Harriman 50K (they also have a 25K) on August 18th. This race was run in Harriman State Park in Island Park, Idaho. This was only the second year of this race so I had not heard much about it, but it was put on by Jim Skaggs, the same race director as the Buffalo Run 50 that I did earlier in the year.

This race was step 3 in my quest for the Yeti Distance Challenge jacket. In the Yeti Distance Challenge, you had to run a 50K, a 50 miler, a 100K and a 100 Miler all in the same year. The Yeti 100 on Sept. 28th is my last race for this challenge. Fingers crossed that that jacket will be mine!

The drive was a pretty easy drive, but a little longer than I like to drive the day before a race. It was about 5 hours from Salt Lake City, so I left work around noon to make it to the packet pick up on time (which went from 3:00PM-8:00PM).  When I got to Harriman State Park, I parked the car and walked about a half mile to the building where the race would start and where the packet pick up was. This is a small low key race so there was no expo at all. Just 2 people handing out race bibs and t-shirts.

The view on my walk to the packet pick up.

The really cool thing about this race is that if you don't want to stay in a motel miles away, you can have a bunk in the dorm for like $15! Most of the runners stayed there so it was pretty fun. All the bunks were not full so I lucked out and got my own room.

My bunk.

To find dinner that night I had to drive about 7 miles to Island Park where there was one good restaurant called The Trout Hunter. It was a bar and grill filled with locals and fishermen. The food was excellent.

After dinner, I headed back, got my stuff ready, watched some Netflix shows I had downloaded and called it a night. Luckily, Jim doesn't start his races too early so it was nice to sleep in until 6:00AM (for a 7:00AM start) as the start was 200 yards away.

I got to the start and met up with a few friends, took some photos, Jim gave the course instructions and we were off!

In one of the pre-race emails, the RD told us that we were in bear country and that is was our choice if we wanted to carry bear spray. I didn't want to do that so I carried my trekking poles on my back instead. People laughed, but if a bear came, I would rather be carrying two pointy sticks than nothing! 😂 

Selfie at the start!

Ran into some friends at the start!

Cutest couple in running! Royce and Ruthie! 

The start of the race was just beautiful! The sun was just coming over the water and it made everything look so peaceful as we headed out on the single track trail.

I had to stop about 1/4 mile into the race to take this photo. It was just so beautiful!

Off on the single track!

The scenery on this race was awesome!

Around 4 1/2 miles in, we reached the first substantial climb. We got to choose which lesser of two evils we wanted to go. I went with Coronary Bypass.

There is only one aid station on the course about 6 miles in that you hit twice in each loop. It came the first time after the first big climb. They had the typical aid station fare (chips, cookies, candy, oranges, Coke, water, and sports drink). 

When we started down the other side of the mountain, we came out onto this big open space with horses, cows, and grass.

This cow was standing on the trail and wouldn't move until I took out my phone to take a photo. She must have been camera shy! 😂

We ran on this long section of grass.

Coming into the first loop I hit the water stop and asked a volunteer to fill my bottle for me while I grabbed some food. I was trying to get out on the second loop quick. I took off and got about a quarter mile down the trail and went to grab my water bottle and it wasn't there! The sweet volunteer filled it and left it on the table for me, but I forgot to grab it so back to the aid station I went!

I was tired and hadn't kept up on my fueling as well as I should have, so my legs were tired and I had no energy. I felt like walking the entire last loop but decided to at least do a run/walk. I started doing one-minute run, one-minute walk intervals and that saved my race. I was able to get my legs back and eventually had the legs to run the last few miles strong!

Cute barn near the start/finish

There used to be a small out and back on this old bridge, but it was so rickety, they condemned it which made the course a little short, so if we wanted to get an official 50K in (like I did), we could run a few laps around the camp to make up the distance (which I did).

This race gives mugs instead of medals which is nice. I like useful awards and the mug is cute.

Me and my finisher's mug!

After the race they had beer and burgers which tasted so good! I sat and chatted with other runners and watched for friends to finish. The plan was to drive home after the race, but I was just too tired, so I booked a room on Airbnb for $30 and drove an hour to Rigby, ID. It was a Harry Potter themed room, so I was all over it! I got some sleep and headed home the next morning.

This race doubled in size from the first year and is sure to get bigger every year. It is small, but the course is so beautiful. It is a must do!