"PRIOR PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE"

The Hoover Dam Marathon

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Location:

UT,United States

Member Since:

Apr 05, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Boston Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

"PRIOR PREPRATION PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE"

Best running times:

5K - 17:45, Nestle, 2008

10K - 43:34, Des News, 2008

1/2 Marathon - 1:32:50, Provo 1/2, 1999

Full Marathon - 3:21:26, St. George, 1999

Best Boston Marathon: 3:29:57, 2006

I  RAN AND COMPLETED MY 12/12/60th BIRTHDAY CHALLENGE. 12 MARATHONS IN 12 MONTHS  (FEB 5,2011 - FEB 19, 2012)

ST GEORGE MARATHON(14)    1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019 (14)

THE BOSTON MARATHON(14)  2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, (14)

DESERET NEWS MARATHON,(4)  2004, 2005, 2006, 2011 (4)

OGDEN MARATHON(3)  2004, 2005, 2011, 2022 (4)

PARK CITY MARATHON(6)  2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011

TOP OF UTAH MARATHON(4)  2004, 2005, 2007, 2011.

UTAH VALLEY MARATHON(3)  2010, 2011, 2021.

THE COWTOWN MARATHON(1)  2011

THE HOOVER DAM MARATHON (1)    2011

THE DALLAS WHITE ROCK MARATHON(1)   2011

THE SURF CITY USA MARATHON(2)    2012, 2013

THE LOST DUTCHMAN MARATHON(1)   2012

THE LAYTON MARATHON,(1)  2013

THE MT NEBO MARATHON,(1)  2014

THE ATHENS GREECE AUTHENTIC MARATHON (1), NOV 8, 2015

THE GREEN BAY MARATHON (1), JUNE 22 2016

THE CIM (1), DEC 4, 2016

THE HUNTSVILLE "FULL MONTE" MARATHON (2), 2017 & 2019

 

 

64 MARATHONS, From 1998 until 2022  W/ ZERO DNFS

1st Marathon, St. George Marathon, OCTOBER 3, 1998. 

64 total Marathons, The Ogden Marathon, May  2022.

169 OVERALL RACES (5Ks, 10Ks, 1/2s, Full Marathons & Tris) SINCE JUNE 4, 1998 UNTIL TODAY. (ZERO-DNF'S)

 

"PAY ME NOW OR PAY ME LATER"

Short-Term Running Goals:

RUN A 17:00 5K

RUN A 38:00 10K

RUN A 90:00 1/2 MARY

RUN A SUB 3 HR FULL MARY (I know I will never hit this one, but I will keep on trying)

RUN THE BOSTON MARATHON, AT LEAST ONE MORE TIME IN 2022! 

"THERE WILL BE DAYS THAT I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN RUN A MARATHON, BUT THERE WILL ALSO BE A LIFE TIME KNOWING THAT I HAVE!"

Long-Term Running Goals:

 

2021 RUNNING RACE SCHEDULE: (STILL SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

1. UTAH VALLEY MARATHON, (3rd plc AD) 5 JUNE '21

2. UTAH VALLEY 5k, (1st plc AD), JUNE 2021

3. SANDY CITY 4th of JULY CLASSIC 5K, (3rd plcAD), 3 JULY '21

4. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HOMECOMING 5K, U5K, (1st plc AD) 9/18/'21

5. SANDY CITY TURKEY TROT & VETERANS DAY 5K, (1st plc AD), 11/13/'21

6. Midnight Madness 5K, 12/31/2021, (1st plc AD)

 

                                
2022 race schedule:

1. The Ogden Marathon, May 21,'22, 5th in Age Division 

2.  Sandy City 4th of July 5k, (29:37) (Age Div 1st plc)

3.  Sandy City Balloon Fest 5k, (30:51) ( 1st plc Age Div)

 

GOALS.....My goal is to be an Age Division Winner and a Boston Marathon Qualifer & Participant as long as I can run this short, fat, tired old man body down the road!!!  This gettin' old crap isn't for the weak of heart, mind, body or spirit!

 

 

 

 

Personal:

 

"IMPROVISE, ADAPT & OVERCOME"

I'm still alive after all these years, All "71 yrs" of them and I'm continuing to live my dreams and I'm doing it my way! Retired Former State of Utah Police Criminal Investigator & United States ARMY O&I Sergeant! 

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
T-1 Lifetime Miles: 928.65
P2 Lifetime Miles: 233.50
P2a Lifetime Miles: 978.15
Other Lifetime Miles: 806.47
P2.5 Lifetime Miles: 392.45
P2.12 Altra Provision Lifetime Miles: 232.50
T-3 Lifetime Miles: 368.41
IQ Lifetime Miles: 414.75
IQ2 Lifetime Miles: 295.79
IQ 3 Lifetime Miles: 153.55
IQ 4 Lifetime Miles: 93.94
IQ 5 Lifetime Miles: 64.31
IQ 6 Lifetime Miles: 31.13
Race: The Hoover Dam Marathon (26.2 Miles) 04:14:34, Place overall: 30, Place in age division: 2
Total Distance
26.20

Wow, this Hoover Dam Marathon was really a different experience for me. On Friday the 28th I left home in Sandy rather early and headed out to Boulder City Nevada to run the Hoover Dam Marathon. This marathon is my 43rd overall and my 9th marathon in the last 9 months with 2 more to go. (From  Feb. 27, 2011 - To  Feb. 5, 2012) 

I got into Boulder City around 11:am Friday morning and went to check in to the marathons host hotel, but to my surprise they werent ready for me. They told me to come back around 1:pm and my room would be ready.

This gave me some time to drive out to the Lake Mead Boulder Beach Special Events Beach area and check out part of the race course.

Just as advertised the race starts out on a steady gradual incline for the first 1/4 mile and then runs along a paved path till about the third mile where you meet up with a hard dirt packed and gravel railroad tunnel trail and all of this is with in view of the beautiful blue waters of Lake Mead.

The next morning I got up at 5:am got myself ready and returned to the Lake Mead Special Event Beach where the other runners had started to gather. It was pitch black out there. You couldn't see you hand in front of your face. There were about 500 people there to do the three designated races, The Full Marathon, the 1/2 Marathon and the 10K.

As we met by the BBQ area there were lanterns set up in the area so you could find the PoP's, all four of them, and continue to prepare yourself for the race at hand.

It was hard to believe but this was the first marathon that I had attended that I didn't know somebody, either someone running it or even a spectator or family member. Oh well, I just went out and made some new friends and cured that situation.

So just as the sun was coming up and the area became lighted up the race director started hurding us all towards the starting mats in the roadway adjacint to the BBQ area. She had a bull horn and explained that the 10K'ers would start about 2 minutes before the marathoners, on a different course of travel, and the 1/2 marathoners would start at 8:am on the same trail but for only one loop of the course, where as the marathoners would make two loops of the course. The temprature was in the mid 50's at the start and near 80 at the finish.

The 10K race started promptly at 7:am and then just two short minutes later the Race Director started the marathon. I quickly learned that the first 1/4 of a mile was indeed a gentle incline that seemed to be more like 2.5 miles of gentle incline and I knew that this was not going to be an easy day of running. At least it was on a paved pathway that resembled the Porter Rockwell Trail in Draper. It was wide and very smooth with a lot of turns in it until about three miles out where the black top paved trail turned into a hard packed dirt and gravel rail trail (similar to the rail trails at the Park City Marathon) that was used in the 1930's to supply the construction workers of the  Boulder Dam. This portion of the trail then travels thru massive tunnels that are carved thru the mountains which take you through six switchbacks as you decend down to the upper level of the parking structure where you have a killer sweet view of the Hoover Dam and the Bypass Bridge.

Now that I had made my way through 1/4 of the purposed course I knew that todays run was going to be a tough one. Running on the packed dirt and gravel trails was rough and you had to run 14 miles of it in the Marathon, the rest of the way on the paved asphalt trail. This is no piece of cake easy marathon. Matter of fact, I think it is one of the hardest marathon courses I've ever had the pleasure to engage.

At this point in the race you turn around and head back to the starting area only to retrace your steps back along the same trail as the marathoners make this journey in two loops to finish back at Boulder Beach.

It was an amazing thing to see the leaders of the marathon pass by you as they doubled back to re run the course in the two loop configuration. It was also just as fun to see the runners who were behind you as it was to see the front runners. And some where during the first return to the finish area you run past the 1/2 marthoners as they make their first leg of the first and only loop.   

The Hoover Dam Marathon is really a beautiful  high desert trail marathon with some of the most picturesque vistas  and it's brutal and tough on the under prepared and faint of heart. The aid and hydration stations were well stocked and right where they said they would be.

I finished the race in 4:14:34. That was good enough to be 30th place overall in the Marathon and 2nd place in my Age Division. There were 97 total runners in the marathon and 7 runners in my Age Division.

An amazing marathon!!!! 

 

 

Comments
From Russ on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 15:51:36 from 74.114.3.253

Great job Tom! Sounds like a beautiful and tough course.

From Smooth on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 16:24:05 from 174.27.193.64

WaHOOO!!! Good job on the marathon! I know exactly what you're describing. When I ran it two years ago, we ran the first half, that loop to the top of the parking at Hoover Dam, then the second half we had to run another loop which takes us further south along the high plateau of Lake Mead. It was on paved pathway but lots of switch back and higher elevation...very remote, warm and windy but the stations were well stocked. I had a blast, made some friends. They changed the course because they liked the first loop with the shady tunnels and beautiful view of Lake Mead. I think it's the RD's choice to make the change so that they don't have to staff that many aid stations. I think she does a fine job. Did she dress up in black/white checker road race garb? Did you dress up? Did you win any money at the casino?

Larry loved that race because of the buffet at the hotel and we got to tour the Dam and hike the surrounding areas. Hope you enjoyed it as a vacation aside from running.

CONGRATZ on #9 of 9 months.

From Tom Slick on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 17:08:58 from 69.171.160.129

Russ - Thanks. Your right it is a brutally beautiful tough course.

Smooth - Why didn't you tell me you ran this particular marathon? Had you told me I might have opted to run another one that was easier! The RD was dressed in her checkered outfit, I was in my "Tom Slick", Capt. America outfit as usual!!!! I thought my costume was the best, but I think they gave the best costume to "Little Bo Peep"! The Hacienda Hotel and Casino was the host hotel and it was great! The buffet was great!Just before I went to eat saturday evening I played a 25 cent progressive one armed bandit and hit a $1700.00 jack pot!Some days are just better than others. It was nice to walk into dinner with a lot of their money in my pocket!!!!

I didn't really like the double loop course at the time of the race but after thinking about it, it wasn't so bad! You sure got to "High Five" a lot of runners along the way, and you knew right where you were in the race stats as you ran. I too took the Dam Tour, which I did for my second time, I did it way back in the early sixties when I was a young boy!

Overall, I really did like this race. It was a real challenge! I couldn't believe how long it took to wash all the dirt and dust off me in the shower after the race!!!!

From Smooth on Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 17:56:34 from 174.27.193.64

I did tell you! I didn't think you wanted an easy marathon! You are Cap'n America Coach Slickster...the easy marathons are for the pansies! NICE jack pot win!!! :)

From DaleG on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 at 14:45:42 from 71.199.57.238

You conquered another tough marathon and walked away with some loot, to boot. It doesn't get any better than that. Did you get a trophy for 2nd in your age group?

From Tom Slick on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 at 17:10:35 from 69.171.160.94

DaleG - All in all it was a very good day that Saturday at the Dam Marathon. The trpohies in the age groups only went one deep. That sucked! Guess I'll just have to stack up some money and make my own rememberance to the #2 finish.

From timp on Tue, Nov 01, 2011 at 20:58:10 from 99.110.188.230

sounds like a great race, Slick. Great job out there!

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