St. George Marathon

When I first signed up for this marathon I didn't really think I would get in..and when I did I got mad that I actually put my name in the drawing. I had a nursing baby and this was a dumb idea. And I just didn't know how I would pull it off. I would be lying if I didn't say it was really hard at times. There were a lot of morning that I drug myself out of bed on little sleep because of a crying baby all night. I was stressed and got little sleep on the night before a long run because I was so worried about leaving Kasen, worried he would be hungry or that he wouldn't wake up in time for me to feed him. The only thing that made this do able is that I have an amazing husband who fully supported me in my crazy desire to run. He sacrificed a lot of sleep and was up with a crying baby who just wanted his mom more times than one. I'm so glad that he never made me feel bad about getting my runs in. It was also hard because he was gone a lot on the weekends due to work or scouts so my long runs often happened on Friday earlier than normal so I could make it back in time to get the kids to school. I will just say that all of those dark, cold mornings, lack of sleep and hard work TOTALLY paid off!!! 

I am so in love with running!

We drove down the St. George after school on Friday. We needed to pick up my packet before 9 pm. We almost didn't make it. We pulled up at 8:59 and I jump out of the car running inside to get my bib number. I was totally sweating in the car thinking we would never make it. Kasen screamed the last hour just wanting to be fed and go to sleep but we had no choice but to keep going. I woke up at 3:30 am to get ready to leave the morning of the race. Luckily Kasen had woken up around 2:30 to eat so I had felt so much better knowing he was fed and asleep for my sister who stayed at the house with us so TJ could drop me off. I met up with Heather Brinkerhoff, Kelly Thorpe, Sara Judd and Heather Love at the corner where the buses were loading. It was SO freezing at the top. We had an hour to wait and I had arm warmers, a pullover, sweats and one of those emergency blankets sitting next to a fire. My toes were falling asleep and I was still so cold and I was gonna have to drop my clothes down to a tank top and shorts. I kept my arm warmers on and tied the blanket around me like a cape. We started the race in the dark. I felt so good and started my pace at just over an 8 min mile. After a few miles I dropped my blanket. For the first 8 miles I ran with the girls which was kind of nice because it made the miles go by really fast. Once we hit the series of hills I put in my ear phones and tuned out and took off. Everyone was telling me to watch out for these crazy hard hills. And thank goodness I had been training on hills because honestly they felt like no big deal. The first one was the longest and steepest but I was able to maintain an 8:45 min mile up the whole way and I felt really good at the top. The rest of the hills were a piece of cake and they lasted until mile 12. I was still holding onto my pace. I was kind of bummed when at mile 16 I had hoped to see my family since they had planned on meeting me there. They didn't make it since they were running late and I was running faster than they planned. But around mile 18 the top of my foot started to hurt like I had pulled it or something and my right quad balled up and my knees were hurting. It was at that point where I wasn't picking up speed on the downhills like I had planned. I was actually slowing down. And I was really trying not to stop for the bathroom. I mentally kind of broke at this point. I had not seen anyone, I was hurting and so tired and it is really hard to cry and run at the same time. I did stop for the bathroom and felt like the porta potty was swaying and my legs wouldn't stop shaking. I randomly saw Marilyn Boucher and her sister at this point and man it helped me so much! And I finally saw TJ and the kids at mile 23 and I couldn't have asked for better timing. They all gave me high 5's and it gave me a little bit more energy. At this point I wasn't constantly looking at my watch, checking my pace, or the time. I was just concentrating on not stopping and giving up. I felt like I was dragging my body and then Kelly passes me telling me I was doing great. It didn't help. Then I came up on Heather Love and cheered her on as I passed her. She ended up passing me in the end. I saw Tessa and I knew I was close to being done. There were so many people at the finish line cheering that I was able to pick up the pace and finish at a 9 min mile pace. I just wanted to collapse. But I did it. I actually hit my goal time of 4 hours!! (plus 23 sec). And now all I can think about is all the times I could have gone a little bit faster or not gone to the bathroom so that that 4 hours would turn into a 3 something. I was SO close!

I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with this and not giving up and for shaving 38 min off my last time! And I know I said I would never run another marathon but really who am I kidding??!!