Ogden Marathon

DNF- this about sums up my experience running the Ogden Marathon.  I had planned on running the 2014 version since I completed the 2013 running of the Ogden marathon. I had vein surgery in December to help with recovery after long runs. I had a two week building of mileage since I did not run for three weeks after surgery. I had formulated a training plan using an 18 week plan. My plan came from the book Advanced Marathoning. I was using the 55 miles a week plan. My training was good and I hit the majority of the training runs.
I feel I hydrated well and fuels correctly. For the first time I felt as though I had a plan and stuck to it. The thing with running though is even when all the ducks are in a row you never know what will come or happen on race day.
I awoke at 3:30 to get ready so I could catch the bus. The way I felt when I awoke I should have reevaluated my plan. I had stomach issues. I chalked up to being up earlier than I was used to. I was on the first bus to the start line. It  was nice to see road base at the starting area. In years past it was a wet field and grocery sacks were necessary to keep feet dry. I was able to see some friends. Many friends From Facebook I saw from standing in the potty line. I wanted to go say hi and introduce myself but I was not about to lose my spot. I had already been in line for 15 minutes. I also was able to meet and talk to two older ladies who traveled to Utah from Hawaii. The only reason they were in Utah was to run this race. Just before the start the stomach issues went away. This was only to be temporary.
I found my way to the start. I was only there for 30 seconds before the count down. Odd thing no gun blast to start. It was 3,2,1 go. That was odd. I had trained to for a Boston qualifying time of 3:10. I was able to use a coarse specific pace band. The band came from racesmartpacebands.com. Great way to know exactly what pace to run per mile. The band has you go slightly faster going down hill and slightly slower going uphill. Check them out. They have many pace bands for full and half marathons throughout Utah.
The race starts and off I go. The first several miles were great. I feel into my paces. Everything seemed to be going great. My breathing was good, and no pains. The mile 7 aid station I stopped to use the port a potty. In an effort to keep pace I pushed it a little to hard. Over the next several miles things still were falling into place. I started feeling not well about mile 13. I walked through the half way mark. The clock read 1:37 something. I was two minutes off my goal pace. Things were still looking good. I thought I would take it easy over the next seven miles and use the canyon to push things on the way down. Then came the hill at mile 14. I made the decision to power walk this hill. Things were not well and my health was getting worse. I was able to maintain about a 12 minute mile up the hill. By mile 15.5 I was vomiting and dry heaving. Walk breaks came every aid station. The walk breaks were longer than I had ever taken. After vomiting I felt better. I thought I was still going to be able to finish. At mile 17 I took two cups of water. I knew I needed to hydrate. This made things worse again. I was once again dry heaving every 1/4 mile. I came to the canyon and welcomed the down hill. I was now getting dizzy and light headed. I was unable to take water and powerade as these only made my condition worse. I also noticed my heart rate was 168 and I was doing a 9:42 mile pace. Usually at this heart rate I am in the low 8 minute miles. This made me worry. I was not sure of my ability to finish. The aid station at mile 18.5 is where I called it quits. I was having a hard time lowering my heart rate. Ever time I tried to stand I got dizzy and felt like falling over.
This was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. I spent a year waiting for this day I also had spent 20 weeks in the most intense training I had ever done. I was conflicted. I have a full summer of half marathons, 10k, and 5ks. I wanted to be able to recover. Training for the St George marathon starts in two weeks.
I spent the rest of the day in a dilemma. I felt like a failure. I spent much time and energy talking about my goals. I now had to tell everyone I failed. If I had not had already paid for races I would have given up running all together. This feeling has now changed.
I am now trying to put together a hydration plan for future races.
Things did not go as planned. I feel that is ok. I still made it to mile 18.5 at an average pace of 8:19. Life is good and now I know what to work on