Well, my second ill-advised marathon of the year. I really am not in the shape I need to be to push my body in a marathon, but this time I lucked out (unlike Salt lake where I crapped/cramped out with about 4-5 miles left and had cramps in every leg muscle the last two miles . . . 3:36:00 for that one). I wasn't very optimistic as I did not sleep well at all. I tried to go to bed at 9:30 and then I think I fell asleep at 2:30!! I was running on 2.5 hours of sleep! Any suggestions on getting a good night's sleep the night before? Despite that, I felt really good in Ogden. I think mostly because I took the first half very easy due to the garmin going haywire. I really have no idea what my splits were, but know that I definitely had a negative split race with the last 5 or so miles at about 7:00 pace. Not one person passed me since mile 3. I sweat a lot and was very suprised and relieved that I avoided any kind of cramping the whole race given that I haven't really put in more than 35 miles per week since SLC and the warmth the second half of the race. Being in the Grand Slam, I now have at least a couple months until Deseret News (I might do that instead of Logan). I hope to put in some good training before then, drop some more weight and go for sub 3:11 (my boston qualifying). This race has given me some confidence that with some smart training this year, I can make some great strides to get there (and eventually sub 3, then ???). | 