Reeder Inc.: Ogden Marathon-2013

I wish I could say I was ready to run this marathon-but I wasn't. I didn't train like I should have. I have never trained in the winter time, and I talked myself out of many runs. But I was set to run it and hope for the best. What I was NOT set on was the rain that was forecasted for race day. Hello...I have run a marathon in the rain before, I volunteered at the SLC marathon in the rain to appease the rain gods...why does it have to rain? Its been 80+ just a few days before. Needless to say I had MAJOR anxiety about running another marathon in the rain. I was so miserable during my last marathon, I didn't want to repeat the torture. But I awoke 3:15AM to get ready and head up to Ogden.

My brother Coleman was running with me and after we picked up his friend in Bountiful we started up North to catch the 5 AM bus to the starting line. Thankfully it was not raining as we boarded the bus and it did rain at the starting line, but I came prepared this time. I had on sweats and a poncho for this go around.

Coleman and I on the bus

The starting line was fine, not as much of a party as St. George, but there were fires and porta potties so all was well.

Starting line. I am ready for the apocalypse!

I had an old co-worker of mine that was running so I wanted to go to the section he was going to run and say Hi. I left Coleman and about 10 min later the run started. The rain started.. I couldn't tell you when. It rained the whole time. It stopped here and there so combined it stopped for about 2 miles worth. 2 miles out of 26 isn't much relief. The only thing that did help was the wind was not to bad, we were running in the rain, but the wind was only 3-5 MPH so it was doable.

The scenery was great I think. Most of the time my sight was to the ground as I watched for puddles of water. I didn't really matter if I landed in any, its not like my shoes were dry. I had a mantra for myself-"You have control over your breathe". For me that was the ONLY thing I had control over. I had to tell myself that over and over again. I would occasionally shot in "your great, your strong, you can do this". I had one thought that would go through my head-"you need to show your daughter that when you say you are going to do something, you do it! No matter how hard it is, you follow through". I knew at her age she wouldn't know what I meant, but in my mind, I wanted to be strong for her and show her that no matter the heartache, you can accomplish anything.

Back to the race. I ran pretty much the whole time. I was feeling good, except for my tummy. Not a happy camper. In the end I wasted probably 35-40 min hitting up porta potties. When I hit the half way mark I was thinking I was around 2 hours maybe a little over..nothing prepared me for 2:20. I had wasted so much time! I was feeling deflated. I had 13 more to go. I kept going trying to gain some ground. At mile 19 I decided to ditch my sweats (they were soaked and heavy) and my poncho (bad mistake) and run in my running clothes. Wouldn't you know it, "the clouds opened up and God said I hate you Alfalfa" -Little Rascals. But the rains did start to pour down. I was freezing because I left the comforts of my sweats and poncho back a few miles. I saw people picking up ponchos off the side of the road so they could have some relief from the penetrating rain. It was rough. I was worried about Stu and Hannah and if they were in the rain waiting for me. My goal was shot out of the water and I knew I would be off by a long shot, I just didn't want them to suffer in the rain like me. I called Stu-- he text me later and said they were in the car watching my progress on the phone app and would go to the end when I got closer. My brother Coleman called me at mile 24 asking where I was. "Hell" is what I wanted to say to him. As I closed the gap to the end I realized that I was almost done. My time was shot and I was cold and wet, but I did it! Once again I did a marathon and I did it in the rain. As I ran in the shoot to the finish line I saw my brother off to my right screaming my name and cheering me on. Stu was up a little bit with Hannah on my left, both were waving to me. I finished! The rain has stopped by this point and when I finally met up with Stu and Hannah, they both hugged me and put a warm blanket around me, and I realized, I didn't give up. The though entered my head but I pushed it aside. I was strong and I accomplished this goal. I can tell Hannah one day that momma didn't give up!

My official time was 4:54:24. My goal was 4:30. Good thing I got into St. George and can shoot for that goal!