UTAH RUNNING CLUB

I first started running competitively in 5th grade in Hershey Track Meets.  I broke all the distance records in middle school, and then did the same in High School, including the Nevada State record in the 3200 M twice, with Coach Jeff Knudson.  I accepted a full-ride track scholarship to Southern Utah University, where I broke many more school records with Coach Eric Houle, and I still hold the Steeple Chase record.  After college I moved to Provo and BYU Coach Patrick Shane coached me as I ran in the USA Nationals in the steeple chase and placed 21st.  In December 2008 I found training partner and Coach Sasha Pachev from Russia who helped me to run a personal record time in the Provo City Half Marathon of 1:19:51 on a net flat course at altitude in April, 2009.  In May I started to train alone and in June I won my debut marathon, the Utah Valley Marathon, in 3:00:39, winning $1000, the most prize money I have ever won!  Since then I organized the Utah Running Club and combined efforts with the BYU Running Club so we train together.

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Details of my running history:

Elementary School, Malad and Homedale, ID

Began competitive running in Hershey Track Meets

White Pine Middle School, Ely, NV

Set school records in 3200M and 1600M.
Undefeated in 3200.

White Pine High School, Ely, NV, Under Coach Knudson
Won 8 state AA high school championship titles in Nevada, 3200 (4), 1600 (2), 800 (1), 4 x 400 (1).
Broke the 3200 M State Record Freshman year by 25 seconds and Sophomore Year another 7 seconds.
Broke the BYU High School 3200 AA Meet Record as a Freshman.
Set WPHS school records in 3200, 1600, 800, 4 x 800 and 4 x 400, tied 400 record.

NCAA Div I Southern Utah University (SUU), Cedar City, UT, Under Coach Eric Houle
Full-ride running scholarship to SUU for 5 years.
Broke SUU’s former indoor 800 M, 3000 M, 5K & DMR records and set current steeple chase record.
Top 10 in school records in indoor Mile and 800, and outdoor 800, 1500, 3000, 5K, and Cross Country.

Post Collegiate

Assistant Coach at Utah Valley State College (Cross Country) and SUU (Cross Country and Track)

With Coach Patrick Shane (2001, 2004-2008)

Qualified for the USATF National Championships in the Steeple Chase and placed 21st.

68th in nation in steeple chase 2008.
711th in world all-time history in steeple in 2008.

Won many collegiate track races and road races.

Only 8 seconds (with altitude adjustment) from Olympic Trials “B” standard in Steeple chase, even with an accidental submersion in the water pit!

With Coach and Training Partner Alexander “Sasha” Pachev (January-May 2009)

Won the following races:

BYU Collegiate Cougar Indoor 800 M (4 finishers), January (meet record)

St. George 1/2 Marathon (1000+ finishers), January, (course record)

Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series (5K, 10K, and 15K) (200+ finishers), January-March (broke 2 10-year records)

Provo City Half Marathon (554 finishers), April (course record)

Salt Lake City 1/2 Marathon (4125 finishers), April, largest race in Utah

Self-coaching (May -October 2009):

Won the following races:

American Legacy Academy 5K (about 100 finishers), May

Frugality 5 Mile (about 20 finishers), May

Harrington Memorial Mile (50 finishers), May

Race For Red 5K (168 finishers), June

Utah Valley Marathon (656 finishers), June 13, debut marathon

CUCIL 5K (about 150 finishers), June 27

Run For Youth 5K (about 50 finishers), June 27

Alta 8K (about 80 finishers), August 29

End of Summer 5K (about 40 finishers), September 12

A.F. Halloween 5K (173 females), October 24

With Coach Iain Hunter (November 2009 to present):

1st: Orem Family Fun 3.5 Mile (about 200 finishers), November 7

2nd: Nov 21, Mesquite Marathon (about 150 finishers)

1st: Frigid 5K, Lehi, Jan 16 (about 50 finishers)

1st: Mar 17, St. Patty’s Day 5K, (about 200 finishers)

7th: Mar 27, Running of the Leopards (about 700 finishers)

4th: April 3, Striders Half (about 400 finishers)

1st: April 10, Commit To Virtue 5K (about 100 finishers)

1st: Apr 22, Earth Day 10K (about 80 finishers)

1st: Apr 24, Thanksgiving Point Half (about 580 finishers)

1st: May 1, Provo City Half (about 1000 finishers)

1st: May 15, Ogden Half (about 1800 finishers)

2nd: May 29, Memorial Day 10K

1st: May 31, Harrington Memorial Mile (about 50 finishers)

1st: June 6, Run For Rex 5K (about 100 finishers)

3rd: June 12, Utah Valley Half (about 1000 finishers)

1st: June 19, Countryfest 5K (about 100 finishers)

3rd: July 3, Murray Fun Days 5K

3rd: July 5, Freedom 5K

2nd: July 10, Hobbler Half

3rd: July 17, Draper 5K

11th: July 24, Deseret News 10K

P.R.s: (*altitude adjusted)

200: 28.24  U of U, Salt Lake City, UT (2008) (Patrick Shane)

400: 58.32  U of U, Salt Lake City, UT (2008) (Patrick Shane)

400 Hurdles: 66.61  Long Beach, CA (2001), first one! (Eric Houle)

800: 2:11.05  Last Chance Meet, Houston, TX (2001) (self-coaching)

1500 M: 4:29* (4:34) BYU Cougar Invite, Provo (April? 2008) (Patrick Shane)

Indoor Mile: 4:54.77* NAU, Flagstaff, AZ (1999) (Eric Houle)

3000 M Steeple Chase: 10:28.92* (10:43.57) BYU, Robison Invite, Provo (4-26-08), broke meet record, (Patrick Shane)
5K Road Race: 17:28* (17:50.3) 2.08% altitude adj., SLCTC Winter Series, Tooele/Magna (near Salt Lake City) (1-31-09) (USATF certified, 4260 ft), 10-year course record by 40 seconds! (Sasha Pachev)

5K track: 17:43 Long Beach, CA (1999), (Eric Houle)

5k Cross Country: 17:35  Mid-Conference Champs, Buffalo, New York (1998) hilly, grass, All-Conference (Eric Houle)

4 Mile: 22:55* (23:30), 2.5% altitude adj., During Run13 Zion’s Provo 1/2 Marathon, UT,  4491-4593 ft, (4-4-09) (Sasha Pachev)

10K Road: 35:57.8* (37:00), 2.8% altitude adj, chip split time during Run13 Zion’s Provo 1/2 Marathon, UT, 4491-4593 ft (4-4-09) (Sasha Pachev)

37:35? Memorial Day 10K, Orem, UT, flat (5-30-10) (Iain Hunter)

15K: 55:42 (at altitude, but not adjusted), SLCTC Winter Series 15K, Tooele/Magna (near Salt Lake City) 4260 ft, flat, (2-28-09), Broke course record by 1 1/2 minutes! (Sasha Pachev)

1/2 Marathon: 1:18:06* (1:19:51), finish was 10 ft higher than start (141 ft ascent, 131 ft descent), one hill, nearly flat after that, Run13 Zion’s Provo 1/2 Marathon, UT, 4491-4593 ft (4-4-09)  Broke course record by almost 2 minutes! (Sasha Pachev)

Marathon: 3:00:39, 850? drop, rolling, Utah Valley Marathon, Provo, UT, 6-13-09, Broke course record by 15 minutes! 5350-4500?, (self-coaching)

“The Lord has blessed me, and many people have made these accomplishments possible and helped me to acheive them.  Thanks to my parents, family, relatives, coaches, training partners, teammates, sponsors, running clubs, race directors, those city and county officials who approve races and make it easy and affordable for race directors to put races on, and all my friends who support and encourage me.”  ~Mary Ann

Running Goals:
Qualify for the Olympics in the Marathon and become a professional runner!

Qualifying window:  January 1, 2010 until 30 days prior to the designated Olympic Trials race.
Event                “A”          “B”
Marathon     2:39:00     2:46:00

Half Marathon           1:15:00

10,000m (track)           33:00.00

How I stay motivated:

I really want to become a professional runner, because it is a job where I will get respect from people and freedom to do what I want and not have to work for a boss!  I want to make my parents happy and prove to all those who have told me that I don’t have what it takes that I can accomplish anything I want.  I hope to give my family help by earning money from running.  I also want to have a good physique because I want to be attractive, healthy, and I want to have a long life.  I also depend of exercise to boost my mood and refresh myself mentally and physically.  When I exercise I feel happy and invigorated and can face tedious tasks.

I feel some discouragement often in running, but I don’t give up.  I see so many others give up because they aren’t the best anymore and I don’t want to be like that.  I don’t have to always succeed or always make steady progress to believe I can reach my goals.  I think that continuing to try to improve even when I’m not the best will help me to succeed in the long term.  Those people who will only compete when they are the best often never compete again and it’s sad.  I learn a lot from my failures, too, so I’m not too afraid to fail.  I get a great workout with great runners in races even if I don’t win, so they aren’t a waste.  I also learn the courses and learn about my competition by competing often with them, which helps me the next time I come to the same race or if I see the same competition in another race.

When I get discouraged about my running, I overcome it by coming up with a plan to try to ensure that the failure won’t happen again.  I try not to dwell on my failure and try to look forward and not backwards.  I try to think about my next race and imagine myself winning it and how happy I will feel when it happens.  I list all the ways that I have improved my lifestyle and running so that I see all my progress and try to focus on my improvement and tell myself to just take it one step at a time.  I think about how many people have given up and I think how at least I am still putting myself in the “boxing ring.”  I tell myself compliments on how tough I am and brave and imagine myself faster than the fastest guys in Utah and imagine myself ripped and muscular and lean and it helps me to not focus on my shortcomings.

I have become burnt out once, to the point where I couldn’t make myself run fast even though physically I was capable, but mentally I couldn’t make myself do it.  It was during the summer during my college running years.  I had put so much pressure on myself that I became very rigid in what I expected from myself, and I tried to make myself stick to a really boring running route and routine.

I have learned from that and refuse to become burnt out again.  I guess once you hit rock bottom you realize how awful it is and don’t want to get to that point again.  I think being burnt out is kind of like being tired of doing something.  Running is a very repetitive activity like many other activities in life, and I guess it’s fun to show to others that I don’t get burnt out and that I am always excited because I like people to think of me as an energetic, tough person who will never quit.  Running is a way of expressing myself and I like to tell others through my running that I am unique because I am a highly dedicated person who is also very passionate about what I set my heart to.  If I start to put too much pressure on myself and I feel like I’m bordering on burn out I tell myself that at least I’m trying while others are sitting around being sedentary and not even trying.  I try to focus on how fit and beautiful I am trying to become by running or something else if I feel too tired to push myself hard enough to reach my bigger goals until I feel like I can face my bigger goals again.