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The Weekly Accountability Report 5-18-2014 – Ogden Marathon Edition
On April 27th I wrote a post about being so excited by Meb winning the Boston Marathon that I rashly signed up for the Ogden Marathon with only three weeks to put together what little training I could get in before the race. I stated my ambitious goal of trying to run under 4 hours in my post and in the back of my mind dreamed of a time around 3 hours 45 minutes. My furthest run of the year had been 17 miles on April 12th. I fully intended to get at least one 20-22 mile run in before the marathon, but I opted to race a half marathon instead (I don’t always make the best choices).
Due to my lack of training, the forecasted heat, and my uncertain race plan, my pre-race nerves were higher than usual in the days leading up to the event. I posted about the four race plans I was considering on Friday afternoon asking for guidance from all of my running friends on which plan they thought was the wisest. I got support for all four options, so as I got on the bus Saturday morning, I was still undecided on what my plan would be. I was leaning toward running as long as I could with my friend Jonathan Crampton, but as I tried to mentally picture it my nerves didn’t settle, they just increased. As I thought about the option of going out with the 3:45 pacer (around an 8:35 per mile pace) and seeing how I felt after mile 14 or 15, my nerves settled to a manageable level and I finally felt ready. The only thing left to worry about were miles 20 – 26.2.