To give you a little background on my reasons for running I have to go into a little family history. I started running for all of the common reasons, get in shape, feel better about myself, loose weight, and so on. I keep running because my grandmother had type 2 diabetes, my dad had it, and my uncles and aunt on his side of the family either have or had it. We are not your typical over weight diabetics. It is completely genetic. Running gives me the ability to keep in shape and keep my family disease at bay for as long as I can. So while I do enjoy running, there's always that voice in the back of my head motivating me to take that first step out the front door and to keep making that same decision over and over again.
OK! Back to the happy runner blog you tuned in for. I had just run my best marathon to date and needed some motivation for my next endeavor. I decided that a destination marathon might be a good idea. At the time I lived in Phoenix, Arizona, so I decided a summer destination race might be the best thing to get away from the heat. I decided on Park City Utah.
Once again I changed my strategy and backed down to the beginner level of training. I had recently been hired on at Arizona State University, so I didn't have the freedom to train during the morning hours. I had to adjust my training schedule to accommodate my new position. Because it was a summer race I would be training during the spring and summer months. Spring in Phoenix is basically summer in any other state, and summer brings new meaning to the word "HOT". I had to move my training time to the evening hours when the sun was not a factor. Even though it was still hot in the evenings, the sun was not beating down on me and that made all of the difference.
I also knew that if I was going to be able to run in Park City effectively I would need to incorporate hill runs. Not just the freeway overpass that I crossed on my normal long runs, but the biggest hills I could find in Phoenix. Luckily I lived right next to one of those hills. It was called South Mountain, and my neighborhood sat right in it's shadow.
I started with the first week of training and found that the effects of my last training effort had carried over. I was running with ease and flying through the first weeks with little effort. I did however have trouble adjusting to my new schedule. Before I was able to put things off and run later or workout at different intervals. Now I had to create a schedule and be disciplined about keeping it. I eventually got myself into a new groove and was able to get back on track.
For this Marathon I had planned to stay at my brother-in-law's house and drive up the mountain from Salt Lake City. I decided to surprise my oldest daughter with a 4 day trip to Utah to visit her cousins. We arrived on the Thursday before the race (It was a Saturday race) so I could acclimate to the higher altitude (about 4000ft higher). In the two days leading up to the marathon I ran once for about a mile just to stay loose. I rested the day before and was ready on Saturday morning.
I woke up, took my brother-in-law's car and drove to the site of the starting line. It was about 60 degrees that morning which is equivalent to a cold winter day in Phoenix. From what I could see of the course from the starting line, the course was fairly flat. I new this was just a tease because I had done my homework and knew I would be climbing some Olympic size hills as we made our way through the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Village. They also made an announcement at the beginning not to expect to run PR on this route. Average finish times for this race were 15-30 minutes slower than your average race. To top it all off, I was just getting over a cold.
I decided I would start slow and make up time on the downhill to the finish. I started at a 10 minute pace and kept going at that pace for the first 5 miles. At that point I started warming up and picked up the pace to about 8 1/2 minute mile. Then it hit me at mile 11, there they were, the biggest hills I've ever seen. I started up the hills quickening my gate, at their steepest point it felt like I could reach out and touch the asphalt right in front of me. It was slow going, but at the top of the hill I got some motivation from a runner who was there just for the scenery. He stopped for a second took out his camera and took a picture of the Park City Valley that was out before us. It was gorgeous it changed my perspective on the hills, and I decided to run the race enjoying the scenery and forget about my time.
I turned the corner at the top of the hill and headed back down. It may seem like going downhill is the easy part but when it's that steep it will tax you just as much is going up the hill. I let myself run as fast as I could and still stay under control. By time I got to the bottom my legs were on fire. I knew that I wouldn't be running a PR on this route, so I made sure to enjoy the rest of the race at whatever speed felt right for my jelly filled legs.I finished in a respectable 4:35:00 and picked up my coolest race medal to date. It was a stained glass leaf. Made specifically for the Park City Marathon. The most unique medal I have come across in all of my races.
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