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Ogden Half Marathon 2014

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Location:

North Ogden,UT,U.S.

Member Since:

May 23, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

5K- 14:58, 10K- 31:05, 1/2- 1:06:47 Marathon- 2:23:29

3rd- Park City Marathon 2008

3rd and 4th Ogden Marathon 2010; 12'

5th, 3rd, and 7th- Utah Valley Marathon 2011;14'; 16'

9th, 3rd,11th, 8th, 5th, 8th St. George Marathon 2010, 11',13',14',15'16'

2nd- Deseret News Marathon 2015

1st- SandHollow Marathon- 2016 (CR***)

 

Short-Term Running Goals:

2024 POTENTIAL RACES

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.

                                                                          -Helen Keller

              

 

Personal:

Married to Nikki we have 4 children. Jaerdan, Korver, Grady and Lyla McKell

Head XC/Track Coach at Weber High

Graduated from Weber State with a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Athletic Therapy.

 

 

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 257.46
Race: Ogden Half Marathon 2014 (13.13 Miles) 01:08:54, Place overall: 1, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.0013.130.0017.13

 

Well what a great day at the Ogden Half Marathon. Leading up to this Half in the last couple of weeks I have started to feel really good and felt like I was on a major upswing in my fitness level. So going into this race I had alot of confidence based off of workouts and times that were being hit.Before I get started I want to wish Scott Keate and Riley Cook the best of recovery while they are on the road to recovery and getting their health back to normal, just wasnt the same without ya there today Scottie and Riley Freaking Cook! With that said.....

I ended up riding driving up with my family and Spencer and Bret to the start of the half. Spencer, Bret and I did a 2 mile warm to the secret bathrooms and back I dropped my bag off and did some strides and just felt great and ready to run. 

As the gun went off the Matt, Brett, and I went immediately to the front. I took the lead for the first 2 miles, Matt tucked behind and then around mile 3 he offered to take the lead so I tucked behind him for the next mile. Mile 4 came up and we now were running side by side and by now I started to get my legs underneath me and I knew that for me to win the race I needed to hit some hard miles in the canyon. I told my wife the night before that I didnt know if I could win if Matt Poulsen was with me in the canyon because he is such a strong downhill runner and I had flash backs of him slowly pulling away from me in the Snow Canyon Half. Well now reading Matts blog I know he wasnt feeling 100%, and he hit a solid 20 miler last weekend which he was still recovering from. So I know that he will be back stronger then ever. Great guy! Look up to the Utah County Crew, great classy guys and just glad to be running with them and keeping up in races.

Around mile 4 I started pushing the pace and wanted to use that surge and roll it into the canyon and hold close to 5 min/pace as possible. Matt came with me and held til mile 5 then I could hear footsteps getter farther away. Even though I was running solo I didnt feel comfortable in the lead. So I pushed the pace as hard and as long as I could. I soon hit the Ogden Parkway and knew that I had a chance to hold off Matt and Bret if I could just get to mile 11.5. I hit mile 11.5 and took my first look back and didnt see anyone. Thats when the stress sort of went away and I rolled into the finish with a new honest PR of 1:08:54(not counting snow canyon).

I honestly dont think that I could run this race any better and probably wouldnt have paced it any different. I still need to figure out how to hold the last 3 miles. I feel I can hit 10 miles pretty hard and hold but seem to have a difficult time holding the last 3 miles where I am losing anywhere between 10 to 20 seconds per mile. 

With that said I am grateful for my health. Matt Poulsen is a great class act! My Ogden Crew is one of the best supportive, motivating group of guys I could ask to run with. Overall support from my family is Awesome and wouldnt be able to get any type of run in without my wifes permission. Love her! 

Great company today with Spencer! Thanks for the awesome photos Riley! Definitely a second job. Great runs in the Marathon by Fritz, Steve, Bryant, Jace, Justin, Jason and everyone else.

splits from todays race. 5:21; 5:22; 5:26; 5:09; 4:54; 5:03; 5:10; 5:07; 5:01; 5:11; 5:25; 5:24; 5:34; 41s for last .10

Go Speed Bright Yellow Miles: 17.13
Weight: 0.00
Comments
From Matt Poulsen on Sat, May 17, 2014 at 18:06:39 from 50.168.224.197

Excellent race, Benny-Van! (I just had to use Riley's nickname for you) You were very strong today! So happy for you. My hat's off to you. Fun hangin' with you for as long as I could today. Congrats again for the well-deserved win today, and for finishing school!!

From RileyCook on Sat, May 17, 2014 at 18:42:53 from 73.52.134.194

A thousands congrats!

A great, excellent, and uplifting report! I love reading these kinds of reports when you just hit the race perfectly and have a day to remember. Soak this up, take some easy runs next week, and then I want to see 2:22-2:23 out of you at UVM!

By the way, I loved your celebration and enthusiasm at the end, that's what it's all about! Some people are too boring when they cross the line with a win.

From Fritz on Sat, May 17, 2014 at 18:53:17 from 98.202.9.237

Great race Ben and congrats on the PR! I couldn't agree more that the Utah and Ogden Crews are a solid/talented/genuine bunch of guys.

From allie on Sat, May 17, 2014 at 20:43:15 from 174.23.149.245

way to go, ben. i thought it was great that they let your boys hold the finish line tape -- a fun moment to remember. congrats.

From Ben VanBeekum on Sun, May 18, 2014 at 09:46:19 from 73.52.142.160

Thanks guys! It was a great day running! Great family support and great overall fastrunningblog support. Great group of people on this blog.

From Derek D on Sun, May 18, 2014 at 11:37:08 from 68.109.132.154

Awesome race Ben! Not surprising given your recent workouts. Glad to see it came together for you on race day. Congrats on finishing school as well. That alone is a great accomplishment so to run the way you have during that is super impressive.

From Josh E on Sun, May 18, 2014 at 13:50:19 from 65.130.119.46

Congrats Ben. You have been on a roll lately. To me, that pacing seems perfect other than a minor let up in the last mile. Flattish stuff in 5:20-5:25 and downhills in the 5-5:10 range.

From Burt on Sun, May 18, 2014 at 19:05:25 from 184.101.210.108

Congratulations!

From Steve Shepherd on Mon, May 19, 2014 at 09:24:11 from 168.180.136.164

Great race Ben. I am really happy for you! You've had this race as a target for a long time and you earned the win and fast time! Congratulations!

From Steve on Mon, May 19, 2014 at 09:24:22 from 66.87.126.233

Saweet! Inspiring run. Good way to start off spring.

From jtshad on Mon, May 19, 2014 at 15:25:07 from 141.221.191.225

Congrats on the win and awesome time! You ran a very smart race against tough competition. Nicely done!

From I Just Run on Tue, May 20, 2014 at 09:04:46 from 67.79.11.242

Smoking FAST!

From Superfly on Mon, Jun 02, 2014 at 08:49:15 from 74.211.21.81

I'm late but GOOD JOB! Looking really good as of late. The world is your oyster.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, May 15, 2017 at 13:49:58 from 72.250.218.114

Ben - I know it's been a while, but maybe you still remember. When I ran this course in 2009 my first mile was 5:30, my second 6:10 due to the uphill, then I went back to sub-5:30 pace for most of the rest of it and ended up with 1:12:08. Your second mile was 5:22 while the first 5:21. This puzzles me. Did they change the course? I cannot see how you could change it while still starting in Eden and finishing in downtown Ogden. But otherwise, if you can run 5:22 up that hill, you should be able to run around 4:50 everywhere else, and definitely not 5:24/5:34 at the end.

From Ben VanBeekum on Mon, May 15, 2017 at 14:03:15 from 159.212.71.84

Sasha the course is the same. Though you look at the mile 2 split as 5:22 there is actually a net downhill for that mile. Also going up that hill I was 5:42 pace. The only explanation for the last 3 miles of that race is a simple bonk. Didn't have the mileage or workouts under my legs. Went out in the beginning pretty hard because I wanted to win the race and didn't care much for pacing and ate it the last 3 miles.

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