"PRIOR PREPARATION PREVENTS PISS POOR PERFORMANCE"

The Lost Dutchman Marathon

Yesterday , Sunday the 19th, I ran the Dutchman in what I thought was almost perfect weather conditions. At the starting line it was about 49 degrees with a cloud covered sunrise. The sun lit up the Superstition Mountains like only a sunrise or sunset in Arizona can happen.

The organization of the Dutchman, which was voted one of the best 12 small marathons in the country, was really second to none. It may have been a small marathon but it went off without a hitch. All the way from the smallish expo to parking at the Rodeo Grounds to the shuttle bus ride to the starting and back to the Rodeo Grounds parking. The course was well marked and the aid station volunteers were all there and in super spirits exhorting the runners on to the finish.

The race started right at 7:am and we were all headed down a very well maintained dirt road through some of the most scenic desert landscape you can imagine for the first 7 miles. Then the rest of the race was pretty much black top paved highways and residential running on rolly polly washboard roads.

So right from the get go at the starting line I made the fatal mistake of thinking that I was feeling as good physically as I was mentally just coming off the Surf City USA Marathon just two weeks ago and started out too quickly. I shouldn't have tossed my real race plan to the wind. Oh well......

Out about mile 16.5 to mile 20 the course reminded me of Heart Break Hill at Boston. These hills weren't terribly tall but their placement on the course wore at you just like Heart Break does. This seems to be where I got a bit tired and my past marathons of the last 12 months caught up with me....I pretty much ran out of high test gas and coasted to the finish on fumes.

At the end of the race as I was stumbling into the finish chute out of nowhere there appeared Ms. Julie Ann "BeMo" who jumped on the course and immediately began to encourage me to speed it up as she encouraged me by running by my side to the finish line. That was a beautiful gesture but I really could have used your super enthusiasm out at the 20 mile mark when I really started slowing down. After the finish I got to meet and greet with Julie Ann and her man Darrell for a little while. Hey Julie Ann, thanks for being there, It was great to see a friendly face at the end of a tough marathon. I'll return the favor at your upcoming Ogden Marathon....see you at the finish

I managed to finish this super marathon in 4 hours and 5 seconds......That was good for an overall finish at 175th out of 530 marathon finishers and a 7th place finish in my male 60-64 AG. And just for fun I got a 3:13:52 Age Graded time. Now its time to focus in on getting ready for the "Boston Marathon" in 8 big wonderful weeks.

Sometime in the near future I will run this marathon again..................It's worth it!

MY 60th Happy Birthday CHALLENGE PRESENT TO ME. Do 12 MARATHONS IN 12 MONTHS, from Feb 27, 2011 thru Feb 19. 2012. That's 12 marathons in 357 days . Did it, done it, won it !!!!!!

12 in 12

1. (Feb 27) COWTOWN MARATHON (3:44:19) 1st. Plc AG 60 - 64 (BQ)

2. (Apr 18) BOSTON MARATHON,(3:45:01) RUN BOSTON FOR MY 9TH TIME.)(BQ)

3. (May 21) OGDEN MARATHON (3:52:00) - (3rd Plc. AG 60-64) (BQ)

4. (Jun 11) UTAH VALLEY MARATHON,(4:01:21), 9th place in AG. No BQ, I just finished......

5. (Jul 25) DESERET NEWS MARATHON,(4:26:22), 5th place in Age Division..5th marathon in 7 months. 100th total race since 1998.

6. (Aug 20) PARK CITY MARATHON, UTAH , (4:36:14), 5th place Age Division. 7. (Sep 17) TOP OF UTAH MARATHON UTAH. (3:57:16) 594th overall/4th in AG. BQ.

8. (Oct 1) ST GEORGE MARATHON, (4:00:01) 13TH SGM., 33rd in AG, 2052 Overall, BQ/yes.

9. (Oct 29) HOOVER DAM MARATHON, Boulder City, Nevada. (4:14:34). 30th place overall, 2nd place AG. No BQ.

10. (Dec 4) DALLAS WHITE ROCK MARATHON,.(4:17:20), Dallas Texas, 18TH IN DIV. NO BQ.

11. (Feb 5, 2012) THE SURF CITY USA MARATHON,(3:56:24) Huntington Beach, California. , 677th overall, 9th in Age Division. No BQ.

12. (Feb 19, 2012) THE LOST DUTCHMAN MARATHON,(4:00:05) APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA. , 175 overall, 7th Age Division, No BQ.

12 marathons in 12 months:

1. The Cowtown

2. The Boston

3. The Ogden

4. The Utah Valley

5. The Desert News

6. The Park City

7. The Top Of Utah

8. The St George

9. The Hoover Dam

10. The Dallas White Rock

11. The Surf City USA

12. The Lost Dutchman

Done in 6 different states:

2 in Texas

1 in California

1 in Nevada

6 in Utah

1 in MA

1 in Arizona

9 Top 10 AG finishes

An average of 1 marathon every 30 days

Did it, done it, won it !

Now it’s time to get back to a normal life.