Sojourners Racing Team

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Big Cottonwood Marathon

I have been training for this marathon since the beginning of June, my goal was to run a sub 2:50. My last marathon PR was 2:55 so I felt like 2:50 was a reasonable and doable  goal to set for myself. My training started at about 55 miles per week as I was coming back from some minor injuries, it didn’t take long to be comfortably at 95 miles per week which is where I stayed. My build up for this marathon went really well, I only had 1 minor set back where a blister on my big toe popped my toenail right off. I know....YUCK!. I had 2 days that I spent about 3 hours each day on the stepper, the people at the gym thought I was crazy I’m sure. On the third day I could fit into my running shoes so I was back to running again.  I spent the summer on Vancouver Island, CANADA so I did most of my training at sea level. I was a little nervous about coming back up to elevation and racing. I timed it so I had not quite 3 weeks to get used to the elevation gain before racing. The first 2 weeks back were noticeably harder but the week of the race I could feel things were coming together as I hoped they would. 

On race morning a good friend drove me to the start of the marathon and I was able to wait in the car. I was very grateful for that because the race started about 40 min late. The only warm up I did was jogging back and forth to the portapotty, no strides or anything. I figured there really wasn’t much room and we were starting downhill so I’d be ok.  I met some really great people at the start of the race, one of which was Matthew Heaps who was gracious enough to let me talk his ear off for the first 7 miles or so.  After that I put my headphones in and just enjoyed the views and a really fun run down the canyon. I looked at my watch at the half way mark and I was in good shape to meet my goal. At that point the goal was to stay on top of my nutrition (a hammer gel every 50 min) and maintain a smart pace that would carry me through to the end.  I definitely struggle with the mental aspects of the marathon so I was focused on staying positive and  thought about all the reasons why I could accomplish my goal and not the other way around. I stayed well under 6:30 pace until mile 21, at that point I started to struggle. I was running by myself with no spectators or fellow runners and in my head  at least it was all up hill! I turned the corner on what I think was Highland drive and a lady didn’t realize that she was supposed to drive outside the cones instead of inside. I had a nice little bounce on the hood of her car and continued on. I stopped a handful of times in that last 5 miles, shook out my legs and talked myself into finishing the marathon. Overall it was a great race, I had a ton of fun, met some great people, accomplished my goal (I ran a 2:46:29 with an average pace of 6:21 min/mile) and was the overall winner for men and women, which was a really nice surprise. 

Danya Crawford