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Brian Glotzbach
2016 REVEL Big Cottonwood Marathon
Published: Sept. 12, 2016, 4:41 p.m. 
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Overall Rating
4/5 Stars
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Describe your race day.
My dad drove me to the busses at about 4:30AM. I had gotten an e-mail from the BAA stating that registration for Boston 2017 was opening on Monday and I realized I didn't have a qualifier. So I immediately looked up races on marathonguide.com and discovered this event that finishes about 5 miles from my dad's house. Running Boston is kind of a yearly event for my father and I so I called him up and told him I was driving out from Colorado to run the race and try to BQ. Signed up on Thursday and drove out in Friday. Through the race I just kept thinking about why I was there when things got tough and I was able to meet the qualifying standard - so I'll be going back to Boston for another father and son Boston experience.
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Did you PR?
No. My PR is 2:52:11 from when I was 34 years old with no children. I'm 41now with a 3 and a 5 year old. I did run the fastest I've ran since my kids were born. I think if I specifically targeted this race and trained appropriately I could probably run 2:45. But like I said in the previous answer, this wasn't planned, I was actually training for Tucson in December so I wasn't even half way through my training program. But I qualified for Boston by over 13 minutes, so the course is definitely fast and I'm contemplating coming back being fully prepared to see what I'm capable of here.
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How would you describe the course?
Fast - maybe a bit too steep in spots, particularly if you haven't prepared with a lot of downhill running and strength training - which I didn't and I'm paying for it now! But running down the west side of the mountains is a huge plus because it keeps you out of the sun so you don't get too warm. I live in Colorado at about 6500 feet so I never noticed the elevation except for the uphill at mile three. I could do without the out and back on Wasatch Blvd - if there's a way to get rid of that it would be a plus. Overall, a fast course- but that doesn't mean "easy."
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Tell us about your training.
Well, I was anticipating running Tucson in December, so I was only 11 weeks in to training. I like to do a 24 week marathon build up with a lot of long runs including a decent amount of race pace work. I only got in one race pace workout and all my training was done on a flat gravel path. If I were to plan for this event I would do a lot of downhill running at a moderate to fast clip, a lot of strength work in the weight room with my legs, a lot more core work, and probably drop my weekly mileage a bit because aerobic fitness isn't as much of an issue with this course as is strengthening your legs and body to handle the downhill pounding.
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What advice would you give future runners?
Don't equate downhill and fast with "easy." This is not an easy course and it will beat you up if you're not well prepared for the downhills. Also, don't fight the downhill either. I was worried that my legs would give out on me because I wasn't completely trained - so I held back a lot and found that when I sped up and just let the course kind of "pull me along" that my legs felt better. Also, don't over dress. It will be cold at the start, but if you're wearing tights or long sleeves you're going to regret it as you move down the canyon and it warms up. And you'll really regret it on Wasatch Blvd.
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What fun things did you do in the area before or after the race?
Not much. I got in to my dad's house from Denver about 8PM on Friday so I basically ate dinner and went straight to bed. After the race we went to Scheels because I was wondering what the heck it was and that was cool. And we drove up to Alta and Snowbird. To be honest I didn't want to do much after the race because I was spent and could barely walk.
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