I've been training for another marathon but I had planned to wait until September and run the Big Cottonwood marathon. After doing some long runs this past month I decided I would be ready sooner than September and decided to run the Deseret News marathon on Pioneer Day. I was training for this race when James was a baby but I injured my hip so I couldn't run the race. I'm happy to say I got to run it but I don't know if I would run it again. The course is beautiful. You start at the top of Emigration Canyon and run all the way down to Liberty park. One thing that wasn't as apparent on the course map was the large mountain you climb for miles 5-7, straight, steep, uphill! That through me but thankfully the rest of the canyon was downhill and out of the canyon were small rolling hills.
My biggest problem with this race was the lack of nourishment. I carry my own energy gels but there's no way to carry enough water to get me through. Usually races have water stations every 2 miles and every mile for the last 6 miles. This race had aid stations every 3 miles and that was it. I'm so glad I didn't pass out in the end because I definitely felt like it. At mile 24 I stopped at a drinking fountain in a park. My legs cramped up at mile 20 and that made it difficult as well. I'm not sure what how to treat my leg cramps because everything I've tried hasn't worked and it seems to be getting worse and happening sooner in the race. Ugh!
