Salt Lake City, Utah Marathon- by Alicia

Running in Utah....with snow capped mountains in the background!Having been disappointed not running in Little Rock, AR back on March 2nd due to Pneumonia (especially having gone all that way) I knew I had to come up with plan B. My goal has been since Carlsbad 2006, (my first Marathon!) to do 10 Marathons before I turn Golden (50 Years old to you youngin’s!) on July 31st of this year. To my credit, Little Rock would have been my 9th Marathon and San Diego Rock n’ Roll would be my 10th. However, we crazy runners find a way, some how, somewhere to make it work. After I started feeling better and got cleared to run, I started running back with the group on March 22nd and a light bulb lit up in my brain. “Why don’t I find another State to run in before Rock n’ Roll?” Well, I went on the website and found the Salt Lake City, UT on April 19th. Was I crazy? I hadn’t run in 3 weeks and in less than 5 weeks I was going to run a Marathon? But I remembered something that Natalia mentioned and that was, we have MUSCLE MEMORY IN OUR LEGS! Now, sometimes what our brain thinks and what our body can do are two different things. But I was up for the challenge....that’s what makes a true Infrared!The only concern I had at this time was the Elevation. Having lived and trained at Sea Level for all of my life, I thought this might be the run that would do me in. Salt Lake City’s Elevation is 4200 and the start of the race which is at the University of Utah is at 4800. I had heard that you need to either train in High Elevation and drink lots of water. Well, I didn’t have time to go up to Palomar Mountain or Lake Cuyamaca to do any running. Most of the race was to be going down hill with several little “inclines” along the way. They said it would be hard if you’ve never run down hill before. They said it would be harder on your calves because you tend to extend your legs out further when you run down hill. They said most city folk don’t do well in elevation. Well, they haven’t met an INFRARED!The weather called for a high of 62 and a low of 42 on Saturday, Marathon Day..I think that has something to do with SLC being a very Mormon town. I found Buca di Beppo and had the Cheesy Garlic Bread and the Fruitta Di Mare (Seafood Pasta) along with a glass of Chianti. Yes, I challenged the Elevation God’s with that one! But, I also had a glass of water along with the wine. They said it’s good to walk around and get the feel of the atmosphere and elevation and drink lots of water. So, by the end of the night I was tired and I had an Airborne before going to bed. I slept from 9:00 p.m. Until 3:00 a.m. And stayed up for 10 minutes and went back to bed until 7:45 a.m. There, they said it’s good to get in an 8 hour sleep at least 48 hours before a Marathon because chances are, you are not going to sleep well the night before. Friday I got up had another Airborne, drank more water and lazed around the room. I headed back over to the Expo and got a 35 minute table massage on a Migun? Have you ever had that done? It’s AWESOME! It’s a bed that has these “Jade Balls” that heat up and go up and down the back of your body. Anyway, as I was heading back to the Hotel I noticed the wind was picking up. It was blowing pretty good and I thought well, it’ll be over by tomorrow. I went back to the room (limping like jello) drank lots of water and watched a movie. About 5:00 p.m. I headed out to Dinner and then headed back to the room to get a “good night’s sleep.” I set my cell phone alarm, hotel phone alarm and hotel clock radio alarm to wake me up at 3:30 a.m. I was good and ready and by 9:30 I tucked myself in bed.Well, it was the worse night sleep ever! I never did get more than an hour sleep at a time! I kept getting up, looking at the clock thinking I was late drank more water, then went back to bed. This went on for 6 hours! Finally at 3:30 I got up and got ready to catch the Traxx (shuttle) at 4:45 to get to the start of the race at the University. The Marathon starts at 7:00 a.m. And I thought why couldn’t we get there at 6:00 instead of 5:00 a.m.? Well, with 10,000 Marathoners, Half Marathoners, 5 K’s and Cyclists and they had to get people set up early.The University was cool probably about 55 degrees and very, very windy. Most of us took shelter around a building where the wind wouldn’t find us. That wind found us! We huddled and talked Marathon stories and I had my clear pancho on to keep the warmth in and my cheap $2 pair of gloves on. By 7:04 a.m. I was off and running down hill, down hill fast, it was like a stampede I had to keep looking at my Garmin and it kept saying 10:16, 10:02, 9:36 and I had to keep slowing myself down. This went on for about 3 miles....not a good way to start a Marathon as you are suppose to start slow and do a negative split. Which means start the first 13 miles slower then the last 13.2 miles. The wind started to pick up and you were running into the wind. I tried to run behind someone to have them block the wind but that didn’t help. Then the wind continued for the next 10 miles until finally about mile 13 it tapered off just a little until mile 16. Then from mile 16 through the end the wind got worse. It was whipping hats off and small sand gravel through the air beating upside your legs, in your eyes and everywhere. I finally started to walk, just walk because my battle with the wind the first 13 miles took it’s toll. Then I ran a little and walked a little alternating passing every mile marker telling myself, “keep going” by mile 20 I was at 4 hours and 6 minutes which was pretty good considering. I thought to myself hey, it’s just 6.2 miles left, just pretend it’s a Saturday run. I saw this family along the way that was starting to cheer me up. Then 2 miles down the road I saw them again and they rooted for me again. Then about mile 22 they can tell I was spent. All I wanted to do was finish, get my medal and go back to the room and shower and pack up and get the heck out of dodge! I finally finished with 5:38:23. It was my 4th best time out of 9! Still can’t believe I did good considering. This was a very good course had it not been for the wind. Lot’s of beautiful houses and great people along the way. A young couple had a “buffet” of items on a table along the route which they had oranges, bananas, pretzels, bugles, twizzlers, fig newtons and some other stuff. I should have stayed there a while and indulged a little longer as I think that would have helped me through the end. Would I do it again? Sure, just in another state. I hear St. George Utah is a better course if anyone is interested.Thanks for listening and run well my friends, run well!Infrared Alicia!