Runnin Bubbas

Utah Valley Marathon

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Location:

Draper,Ut,USA

Member Since:

Oct 27, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

I was a decent runner when I was younger, now just loving the second wind in life...

Short-Term Running Goals:

Boston Marathon - 3:04:21 3112th/1978thAG

 

 

 

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Enjoy running with the Kenyans again...

Personal:

Work Hard, Play Harder and Have Fun! Make It Happen...

This is my mantra... 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:07:54, Place overall: 47, Place in age division: 10
Total Distance
26.48

UVM

Had the opportunity to have Ben V. and Jon H. come down from Ogden and stay at my place Friday Night.  Always a blast with these guys.  Good men.  We were able to game plan and then get some sleep.

Got up around 3am and got ready.  I had taped my left groin and hip up the night before but could still feel the IT band.  Really weird that this just came on a few days ago.  I have never really had IT band problems until this inccident.  Hopefully it is nothing...right? Jon drove us down and we hopped on a nice bus(the last bus) and headed out to Wallsberg.  We got off the bus and headed straight for the Portajohn's.  The ride up was quite nice.  After a 3rd bathroom visit this morning, I felt ready to go.  Saw a lot of familiar faces before and during the starting line.  Nate Krah introduced Pete Hendrickson, a friend of his, to me and said I should run with him.  2:55 goal.  I thought that was a good idea.  Pete was on his 4th marathon and so I looked forward to working with him and running a fun race.  I wished a lot of guys/gals good luck before the start and then it was go time.  Temp was really nice but we did have a head wind.  The head wind would not be a fun one during a pivotal point on the course. 

Pete and I set out and immediately people were off.  6:20 pace the first 1/4 mile and I told him hey, lets slow down.  We did and settled in nicely.  I felt really welll.  First 2 miles were 6:41 and 6:43.  Pete and I both felt very comfortable.  Looking back I would not have changed this.  The first 7 miles flew by.  I felt really good going into the turn out of Wallsberg.

Our splits going up the 3 humps were 7:02 to 7:20.  Now during this strecth I could feel my left leg acting up.  I was really concerned that my tape job was not going to do the trick but mentally I stayed focused and worked through the pain and tightness.  There were times it went away and then times it was really bad.  There was nothing I could do thought to subside the pain at this point.  I was just going to have to work through it.  I felt like I had enough strength and mental toughness to accomplish a sub 3 goal.  I mean why not? 

The concrete beat me up pretty fast.  When we reached the half way point, I saw my girlfriend Angela and that was a pleasant surprise to see her.  I did not think I would see her this early on the course.  Nice surprise.  1:30:17 at the half.  A little slow but definitely felt great going through the half.  So much that mile 14 felt aswesome.  Pete and I had worked very well together and 'the feel' felt great. 

Amazing what can happened in the blink of a 1/4 mile during a marathon.  I hit mile 15 in 7:20 I think.  When I saw my watch, I paniced a little and told Pete, "hey, I am falling off.  you go."  He proceeded to go.  For some reason at this point, the pain was very intense in my left leg.  I could understand why my IT band was all of sudden hurting this bad.  I decided to relax.  Then Mile 16 going up the hill.  All of a sudden, we are now hitting 30 mph winds.  I could not get my left leg to relax.  The winds made it impossible to even do just this.  I knew I was in trouble.  My body was failing me and there was nothing I could do about it.  I thought about four times from miles 16-23 that I should drop out.  I was really worrried that I was going to further injure myself and that it was going to be really bad if I continued with how tight I felt.  I have never expereinced a pain like this before during a race.  I saw Angela at 17, and now 19 and 21.  At 21, I needed a gatorade.  I told her to go get me one.  The last two aid stations, the volunteers dropped the cups when I went to grab or I just could not get it right.  Frustrating.  I saw Angela at mile 23.  I grabbed the gatorade and drank about 5 sips.  It felt like a 20 lb weight.  About 100 feet from putting the bottle down, my left calf completely seized up.  I yelled very loudly and a guy that came up on me who eventually I passed again was worried I just lost my leg.  He asked if I was ok?  I was shocked at the pain.  It felt like someone shot me or bit me.  I grabbed my calf flor like 2-3 seconds and then said, "lets go you freaking $%#&^ yeah I swore.  I was pissed.  I knew my race was done at this point.  My left leg was bad.  I almost just dropped off the side of the road but told myself, "Look  you have 3 more miles. This is a joke.  Finish the freaking race."  I limped all the way to the finish and willed myself to that line.  I crossed with disgust because my training was there to go sub 3, but it just was not my day. 

I thourghly enjoyed the experience.  Another knowledege boost.  I really enjoyed seeing everyone at the finish.  Great course,  class act race director with Hyrum.  And the competition was awesome.  I will run another marathon and look forward to more training. 

Splits:  6:41, 6:43, 6:49, 6:51, 6:49, 6:43, 6:42, 7:03, 7:20, 6:49, 6:48, 7:02, 6:49, 1:30:17 1st half.

6:34, 6:58, 7:29, 7:48(wheels are falling off), 7:15, 6:58(maybe I can comback strong), 7:08, 7:15, 7:15(I am done), 7:37(yep, I am really done.), 8:18(my left calf seizes, now I am limping to the finish), 7:42, 7:30, 1:44 .2

Thanks for all who cheered me on and high fived me.  Love the running community.  Great way to start the morning.

 

Comments
From Rachelle on Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 10:01:28 from 159.212.71.77

I love your attitude Spence - always grateful and appreciative of the journey and the experience. Congratulations for holding it together and gutting it out.

That course is very very hard on the IT bands. I hope yours is feeling okay now. If not let me know and I can give you some exercises that have really helped with mine. You can avoid a full blown injury with it in my opinion if you catch it early enough.

Keep on keeping on my friend. That sub-3 will come very soon.

From Josh E on Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 13:43:39 from 205.235.104.4

Way to fight Spencer. Congrats on a gutsy race. You clearly have what it takes to reach your goals and you'll pop out a good one soon enough.

From Trevor Baker on Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 07:30:41 from 216.83.66.20

sub 3 in the bag this fall get rested up and let's move forward.

From Superfly on Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 08:20:36 from 64.255.82.18

I'm a little late but good job! Sorry it wasn't your day. But great attitude. Just learn from it and make the next one better. Keep up the good work man.

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