Ogden Marathon - 3:50:25

No, I didn't run this. Wish I had the stamina. Cathi did this marathon early this morning. I stayed up late last night and made Cathi this poster. I finished it around 2:00 in the morning and then went to bed. Cathi got up two hours later (0400) and left for her Marathon while I slept for a few more hours.

At 7:30 I got up, got the kids all ready and hustled them into the car while we drove up to the Pineview Dam to meet Cathi at the 17.5 mile mark of the marathon. We were there about 30 minutes early. I setup the chairs for the kids and gave them each a donut and some juice. Then we saw Cathi running across the Dam. I ran back and got Oliver and Sam out of their portacrib and we all gave her a high five as she passed by. She was there earlier than we thought. This was a good time for her.

I told Bill and Roceil that they should hurry down the canyon to the finish to try and catch Cathi without waiting for me. They took Lucy, Jonas and Isaac. I hurried with the other kids to the van and we rushed back over through Mountain Green to get back to the the Ogden Memorial Garden's where the finish line was. When we got there it was 3:30 so we made it!
I put Jacob up in a tree to look ahead and look for Cathi. I didn't see Bill and the kids, or any other relatives for that matter.

Then I saw Cathi about 50 yards from me running towards me. It was only 3:49! She was going to slaughter her old personal record! We were about 200 yards from the finish. When she crossed she stopped her personal watch which she started when she crossed the start line. It read 3:50:25. Great new record!

We met Cathi back at the park where all the runners were waiting to meet up with their loved ones. We looked all over for Bill and Roceil and the kids but nothing. We had the guy at the stage page them. Waited. No show. Then paged "Lucy Gridley". Nothing. Figured I must have misled Bill with directions in how to get here and that he was pretty frosted at me for telling him 2550 S and 2 blocks "west" of Wall, rather than "East" which is where the finish line was. We waited for probably 45 minutes after she met us in the park. We went home and were worried when they weren't at our house, and no message on the machine.

Found out later they were in the bleachers and didn't see Cathi at all and figured she must have hit a brick wall on the way down the canyon. Aunt Kathy and Diane were there too. They were in the bleachers under the HOT sun. I felt bad that it turned out the way it did. They totally missed the finish. She just flew right by.

I'm so proud of Cathi! She finished strong and killed her old time of 4:05 which she set just 2 months ago in the Salt Lake Marathon. We checked the Boston Marathon qualifying time and to qualify for W 35-39 she needs to get 3:45. So she would only need to improve her time by 5 minutes. She cut her time this marathon by 14. So 5 more shouldn't be too much of a stretch, especially considering she didn't take my advice of taking a caffeine pill at the starting line.

I had a great experience with the 5K yesterday and attribute a certain degree of that success to the caffeine supplement I took. She planned on taking it, but left it home accidentally she claims.

Great job Cathi! When Cathi qualifies for the Boston Marathon, we will definitely plan on doing it.