MIKE'S ROCK & ROLL MARATHON!

Mike ran his third Marathon on January 18, 2009. Mike hadn't run in a marathon for over 5 years, so he was really excited to get back into it again. We flew down to Phoenix on January 17th, so that we would have a day to adjust, and register for the marathon, which would take place the next morning on Sunday. The marathon Mike competed in was the P.F. Chang's Rock & Roll Marathon. The Rock & Roll marathon has bands playing all along the course. They are usually local bands and then there is a concert the night after the marathon. This year the concert featured Smash Mouth.

Mike's goal was to run this marathon in under 5 hours. HE DID IT! His time was 4 hours, 52 minutes. Mike ran 26.2 miles! I am so proud of him. Mike's goal is to run 5 marathons in UTAH in 2009. He is already out running again. If any of you want to run with him, he would love it! He would love someone to run the marathons with him. He sure gives me a hard time for not running with him. :P

Mike's comments:

I HATE running in the winter!!!! I like to run outside but in the winter I'm forced to run on the treadmill more and I hate it. So .... I didn't train as much as I should have for the marathon and didn't do enough long runs. Although my goal was to beat 5 hours, as the race started I was maintaining a good 41/2 hour pace and started to hope I could finish in 4 1/2 hours. But then mile 20 hit me like a ton of bricks and I slowed waaaaaay down. Those last 6 miles were painful! I walked most of the last mile but I was able to run in the last 100 meters or so with a smile on my face and at least still finish under 5 hours. But boy! was I limping later. Just the same, I had a great time and since I had already planned on running the Utah Grand Slam this year it made me start to think about possibly running the entire series of 8 Rock and Roll Marathons next year!!! (We'll see how this year goes before making any commitments.)

Mike's Triathlon

On November 7, 2008, Mike competed in his first Sprint Triathlon. When we first met, Mike told me he wanted to do one, and I thought he was CRAZY...and I loved it. I am so proud of him for accomplishing his goal of competing in one.

In this Sprint Triathlon, you run 3 miles, bike 10 miles, and then swim 300 meters. The triathlon was local so we went over to the Orem Recreation Center. The running and biking took place around Orem, and the swimming was held in the Orem Rec. Center.

Amie and Scott came to watch Mike compete....thanks guys!

Mike won second place in his age division!!! (Ding) "Great Job Mike!"

Mike's comments:

It's true, I did win 2nd in my age division although I think there were 5 in the division! LOL Anyway, this is something I've wanted to do for a long time and I loved it. Although tough, it was a lot of fun. This is about the shortest triathlon you can do and if I wasn't loaded up on marathons this year I would probably do more.

I was worried that swimming would be my weak point because I hadn't swam laps in probably over 30 years but I started swimming again in a tri class in September and it really helped. Swimming turned out to be my strong event in comparison to where I finished against everyone else. Craig would KILL in the swimming event. I'm trying to convince Craig he should enter a Tri as part of a team and compete in the swim event. Teams are always looking for a strong swimmer to add to the team.