Why I plan on running the virtual Utah Valley Marathon
I started really running in 2012. I was over 300 lbs and my friend challenged me to run with him every morning. I could not even run a full half-mile from our apartment to the freeway overpass, and I had to walk back home. I was pulling 20-minute miles. But over the course of the next 2 years of running, I was able to shed 50 lbs. Running changed my life.
Three years ago I started running races for the first time. My work had a running club and needed an extra runner for Zion's Ragnar, I volunteered. A few months before the race our team captain asked that I send him my 10k time. I had never even run a 10k before in my life. I had kept running most mornings, but only 2-3 miles max. So March of 2018 I pushed myself and I ran my first 10k in 60 minutes.
Our team captain needed the extra runner but thought I would slow the team down. So I trained hard. I started making sure every morning I ran at least 3-4 miles and on the weekends 4-6 miles. I refused to take the elevator at work and instead I ran up the four flights of stairs. When Ragnar came my leg of the relay race was the final leg, 6+ miles of trail running in Southern Utah in the mid-morning heat. Before I started my leg my boss said that he expected my time to be about 1:30-1:40 minutes. I ran as fast as I could and passed over the finish at just about 1:15, faster than anyone else on the team. I was literally walking back to our campsite as my whole team was coming down to the finish line to cheer me on. The look on their faces was priceless! The team captain, whos time I beat, admitted that I surprised him.
What does Ragnar have to do with the Utah Valley Marathon? It was after Ragnar two years ago that I started to love running races. After Ragnar, I ran the Utah Valley 10k with my now in-laws, and last year I ran SLC Ragnar and the Utah Valley Marathon 10k with my wife. I ran because I loved it, and because it helped me get healthy, I reached an all-time low of 205 last summer.
This year I was stoked to run Ragnar in Zion's again, and my wife and I were planning on running the Utah Valley Marathon half-marathon, I was out of shape since getting married last summer, so in January we got a gym pass and started running and working out daily. Everything was on track then Rona hit and our local gym closed, that was a setback as it was cold outside and I really hated running in 20-30 degree weather in the morning. Ragnar was pushed back until the end of summer, and I just gave up on running until it was going to get warmer.
Then in mid-march, my mother-in-law was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and started to deteriorate rapidly, as a family we all gathered together and spent as much time as possible with her. Eating healthy, and exercising went out of the window. By mid-April, my mother in law had started to stabilize but suddenly I found myself weighing more than I had weighed in the past 5 years at 255. So I told my wife that I was done feeling disgusting in my own body and that I was going to go back to the good old fundamentals of eating less and moving more.
When I got the email from that the Utah Valley Marathon will be holding a virtual race I was a bit disappointed. My wife was did not want to do it, commenting that the water and the environment was half the fun. A week earlier I had gotten an email that Ragnar was completely canceled. In that email it mentioned that they had to let go of a good chuck of their staff, and that it was hard times. I explained to my wife that in times like this, where every small business is struggling, and we have the means to patron some of them, we should ensure we are supporting the companies that we love the most.
If we want to be able to have a Utah Valley Marathon in future years, then how we support it this year could make a massive difference. I explained to her Ragnar and how they had let all those people go, after hearing about that my wife agreed that we won't be doing the half marathon this year, but we will be running the 10k.
I am running the virtual Utah Valley Marathon, not because a virtual race enthralls me, but because running is something I do to be healthy, and because I love running races, and I want to do my part to ensure races like the Utah Valley Marathon are around after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
So if you have the means to support the Utah Valley Marathon, I encourage you to sign up for their virtual 10k/half/full marathon. Run a 10k/half/full marathon by the end of June and they will send you a medal and shirt, and most importantly you will help a small business stay afloat.
Plus, if you use Promo-code: gogo15 you will save 15% off your 2026 Utah Valley Marathon registration! Here is the link to register! https://www.raceentry.com/races/utah-valley-marathon-and-half-marathon-10k/2026/register
