Student marathon runners share their stories

Stairs are a curse. At least that’s what Cam Lee said after running the Top of Utah Marathon in September.

“(After running), you want to live in a flat world,” he said. “It was intense.”

Lee, senior in business entrepreneurship, said running the marathon distance of 26.2 miles was a first for him. But the best part about it, he said, was how he felt afterward.

“I felt alive,” he said. “If there’s anything out there that makes you feel alive, it’s a marathon because it requires a lot, physically and mentally.”

According to the Web site www.marathonmartin.com, six marathons are offered in Utah every year. These marathons take place in Park City, Salt Lake City, Logan, Ogden, Moab and St. George and generally run from March through October. There are also more than 240 marathons offered around the country, according to the Web site.

Marathon runners typically start training a few months before a race begins, Lee said, although training intensity and type differs for everyone.

Jeff Whyte, who ran the Top of Utah Marathon this year, said not all his training was physical. Whyte said he tried meditation.

“I sat in my room a lot and thought about the finish line and envisioned reaching the end,” he said.

Whyte, junior in international business, said he started training three months previous and wants to start training even sooner the next time around. He “trained too fast too hard,” he said, especially since he dealt with physical obstacles early on.

During training, he said he attended physical therapy because his patella is prone to inflammation. So for the race, Whyte said he wore black bands on his knees to help prevent the inflammation. However, the pain he experienced while running the marathon was completely new. By the time Whyte reached mile 21, he said he just collapsed due to the pain in his knees, which was unrelated to any patella inflammation.

“My friends held me up for about 100 yards because pain was so bad,” he said. “On my iPod, I had synchronized these songs. The ‘Rocky’ theme song came on at a crucial point, and the ‘Chariots of Fire’ song ending was for the end, with my arms in the air. But (instead) I was hobbling and crying because the pain was so bad.”

Even running to the bus stop now hurts his knees, he said.

Lee said a common feeling experienced by marathon runners during a race is hitting “the wall,” or the time when a runner realizes the energy depletes and the pain really hits home.

“I hit a wall at mile 18,” Lee said. “The pain shut down my energy, everything was gone. If it wasn’t for the people on the side of the streets, the cops, the old ladies … I had to feed off their energy. I felt like I was in a parade.”

Lee, who ran with his friend Ryan Shaw, said the last few blocks of the race were the most intense. Since he had trained with Shaw, Lee said they had a tradition of racing each other as soon as they hit the last few blocks of their run. So once the last block came into view, both students started to race against each other.

“Instincts came in and we ran,” Lee said. “I beat him by nine seconds. Some people might have grabbed hands at the finish line, but our competitive sides came out.”

And receiving a Top of Utah medal and shirt wasn’t the only thing Lee said he was excited about.

“You get roommate pride if you beat your roommate by nine seconds,” he said. “I can use that for the rest of your life.”

Shaw, senior in business information systems, said he is not a runner but wanted to run a marathon so he could check it off of the list of things to do in his lifetime. Having previously run the Salt Lake City Marathon, Shaw said it helped prepare him for what a marathon physically demands from the runner. But feeling sick during the marathon was not in the game plan.

“Cam passed me early on because I was sick, so the last 10 miles I was just trying to catch up to him,” Shaw said.

If a runner needs a break or needs to use a restroom, outhouses are usually set up by water stations every few miles. But not all the runners use the outhouses, Shaw said.

“This is gross, but we’re up in the nice neighborhoods (during the Salt Lake City Marathon) and this lady decides to run right on the people’s lawn and took a dump on their front lawn,” Shaw said. “Another girl was squatting so we were thinking maybe she had to pee, but no, she was taking a dump.”

Lee said if runners consider themselves truly intense, they sometimes end up going in their pants.

Potty humor aside, marathon running and training can be demanding on the body. Whyte said he tried to find a running specialist to help tell him how he could improving his running form. While there, he said he was videotaped running barefoot and running with shoes while a program analyzed his running pattern as well as the placement of his feet and legs as they hit the ground. Afterward, the specialist from Logan Regional Hospital gave recommendations about the type of shoes that would work best for him according to his step placement, he said.

Lee said anyone can run a marathon even if running has never been a strong point. And getting the first one out of the way is the obstacle, he said.

“Just do it,” he said. “If you’re thinking about it, just go out and do it and then you can train harder and better for the next one.”

Whyte said he will run a marathon again and hopes to beat his time.

“I’m addicted now,” Whyte said. “It’s an incredible experience. You’re part of a big family when you’re running. You all have the same goal. They’re not aspiring to be number one. We just want to finish.”

The next Utah marathon, the St. Geroge Marathon, takes place Oct. 6 and is capped at 6,800 runners, according to its Web site.

-brittny.jo@aggiemail.usu.edu