The St. George Marathon has been one of my goals ever since I volunteered at an aid station with my ward when I was in Young Womens. I was always so inspired by the runners and wanted to be like them and accomplish something great like this sometime in my life. Well that dream and goal finally came to pass this year. I ran the St. George Marathon!
At the expo where I picked up my bib number and packet, there were so many runners and booths. We walked around the expo for a while just browsing all of the cool things for sale. We even won a couple of shirts and got some new cool headbands. All of this excitement was getting me a little nervous for the race. I knew that all I had to do was finish but, in my mind, I was starting to worry that I would have some sort of problem.
After the expo, we took the kids to the Vernon Worthin Park and the finish line of the marathon. Here they were able to run in the Move It! Kids run.
All four of them were able to run a fun race and finish over the actual finish line of the St. George Marathon just like I would the next day. The big kids ran a one mile race while Charlotte ran 200 meters.
This was Charlotte's first race ever and she was so excited to start. She even stretched and got ready at the starting line. As the announcer said "Go!" Charlotte took off running. She was so happy and had the biggest smile on her face as she ran. Then tragedy struck and she tripped on her shoes and went down hard. She was crying and did not want to finish. Russell went to save her from being trampled by the other kids and then helped her run to the finish line. She was so sad and even the cool medal didn't help...
Emily, Colby, and Logan all ran together in the one mile course around the park. Trista's girls also ran with them. These kids are getting pretty quick in finishing their miles. Colby was the first to cross. His time was a little under 8 minutes. Then I was so surprised to see Logan come in right after him. Logan is not our runner. He would rather play than focus on running but he did amazing on this race. His time was about 8:15. Emily came in next. She runs her heart out and does the best she can in every race. She finished in 9 minutes and really did well. She was very surprised and happy with herself for finishing before Trista's girls. She thought they looked pretty athletic and would be fast but she was able to come in first. This was a good boost for her.
At the finish line they all received finisher medals and loved showing them off. They were all really tired after the race because they had worked so hard. It was time to head back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and an early bedtime for me.
I don't know if I really slept much that night due to nerves and Charlotte waking up a bunch of times. When 4:00 AM came, I was so tired. It was time to get up though and get ready for the marathon! Trista and her dad came and picked me up and together we drove to the finish line to get on the buses to take us to the starting line in Central.
The bus ride up took about a half hour but we were too excited to sleep. Instead we talked and tried to eat some breakfast. When we got off the warm bus, we were blasted with a cold hard wind. Luckily we had dressed warm but it was still freezing. We grabbed a couple of the silver emergency blankets and wrapped them around us. Surprisingly, they did help to block out some of the cold wind and helped us stay a little warmer. We decided to huddle behind a car out of the wind and wait for the race to start. We were there for about an hour or more before the race started.
Finally it was time to start the race. We reluctantly stripped off our warm clothes and ditched our blankets and got ready to be corralled into the starting area. The elite runners were already in the starting gates warming up and getting ready to sprint to the finish. Trista and I worked our way to the middle of the crowd and waited for the gun to go off. This was it! It was time to go! Because the race is chip timed, we were not too worried about starting right when the gun went off. In fact we couldn't start then because there were so many people. We actually walked for a little ways to the starting line and after because we were so crowded in the gates that there was no where to move. Finally as we got going, things spaced out and we were finally able to run and get moving. Moving was the best thing because then we could actually get warmed up. I think my feet were frozen for the first mile.
This was it, we were running the marathon. Going into the marathon my ultimate goal was to run in under four hours even if it was 3:59. Well we were going good for the first 7 miles and then we hit Veyo hill. Before heading up the hill, we grabbed a GU from the aid station and ate it and took a bathroom break. Well I think that is where I went wrong. I should have known that GUs do not agree with my stomach but I wanted a little bit of fuel. We paced our way up Veyo hill and were doing okay and then about a mile later, the GU hit my gut and started giving me bowel issues. I should have known this would happen. For the next 3 miles, I had to stop at every bathroom at every mile. One had a long line, the next port-a-potty felt like it was going to tip over if I sat down, and finally at mile 13 I was able to get rid of that bad feeling in my bowels caused by the GU. Finally I was able to run and not feel like I needed to stop and use the bathroom.
But now that I was feeling fine, Trista was starting to feel bad. We stuck together for the next few miles but then she needed to walk up the hill at Winchester Hills. She was feeling weak and need food other than a GU and I could use something as well. As we passed the aid station, we found a box of Quaker granola bars. I don't know if they were for the runners or the volunteers but we each took one. We ate it as we finished walking up the hill and that seemed to do the trick to get us going. We started running again and were doing well until about mile 20. This is always the hardest wall to break through. I was doing okay but Trista was not. She was tired. I told her I would stay with her but she finally told me to go on. She had not trained very well but knew that I had so she told me to go on and finish strong what I had trained for. So I went on without her. I was feeling really good but I could feel my legs getting heavy. Thankfully the rest of the race was downhill so I could kind of coast. When I got to St. George, there were a lot more people out cheering for the runners. It was so nice to hear them and get some energy from their cheers. As I was running down Diagonal Street, I kept looking for Russell and the kids. I told them to meet me on this street at around 10:30. Well I was way behind my anticipated pace due to the bathroom breaks and walking so I didn't know if they would still be there or not. Then as I got to the end of Diagonal, there they were!
They had made these awesome signs at the expo and they were waving them around for me. The first person I saw was Colby. He had ran ahead to see if he could find me and when he did, he yelled my name and ran with me for a minute.
It was so great to see the kids and my family there cheering for me. I gave Colby a hug as I was running and he was pushing me on. Then Emily came running up to me and ran with me as I turned the corner. We were about 2 miles from the finish line and Emily wanted to run with me until the end. I wish she could have because that would have been so fun but the race rules said that I would be disqualified if I had someone running with me. I don't know if I really would have been disqualified but I didn't want to take a chance. So I made Emily run back to Russell and I continued on.
My legs were getting really heavy at this point but I knew that if I stopped to walk, I would never get going again. I kept jogging even if it was at a slower pace just so my legs would know we were not done yet. The next two miles were through downtown St. George. There were a lot of people cheering for us now which really helped. Finally I made the final turn from Main Street onto 300 South and I knew the finish line was just a short distance ahead. I picked up my pace a little. Then, when I saw the Finish Line, I picked it up even more. I had made it! I had done it!
I had finished the St. George Marathon! I had completed one of my bucket list items! I finished with a time of 4:27 which was not really what I had wanted but I still finished! I even got the finishers medal to prove it.
As I crossed the finish line, we were corralled once again through the ending. This was fine except my legs wanted to walk a little faster than the other people in front of me. We were guided through the misters which felt amazing. I really wanted to just stand there for a minute. Then we were pushed through to get our medals. Finally we were open to walk through to get some post race recovery food and be on our way.
When I walked through, I found my whole family standing on the other side of the fence just waiting for me. They were all cheering for me and snapping shots of me as I crossed the finish line. I was really surprised to see all of my sisters and brothers and thier families there to support me as well. It was so awesome. They all told me good job!
I was starting to get worried about Trista because she still hadn't come in. As I walked back to see if I could find her, she crossed the finish line. She was about 10 minutes behind me but still finished strong.
She had realized that she was starting to get dehydrated so at about mile 22 she filled her water bottle back up with ice water this time and drank the whole thing. She said she felt much better after that and could continue running. I am glad she was feeling better and I am glad we were able to run together in this race.
Once we had gotten enough pictures taken, she and I hung out at the finish line for a few hours. First we loaded up with post race food and sat down and relaxed in the shade. The race food was good but we could not eat much so we ended up taking it home. We did like the soda pop fountain, the Creamies, Great Harvest bread, grapes, and yogurt. We also enjoyed the free massages!
The line for the massages was really long though and we barely made it in before they closed down for the day. While we waited in line, Russell was awesome enough to dig through the mounds of clothes and find our jackets that we dropped at mile 3. It was such a mess and took a while but he was able to find them, thankfully. Finally we got to the massage table. I was expecting a good hard massage like the ones I get at our massage therapist but this was not that. It was still nice don't get me wrong but I could tell this guy had been giving massages all day and was ready to be done. I kind of felt bad for him because I am sure he was tired of massaging sweaty runners. Oh well it was still relaxing and I knew I would be going to Brandie (my massage therapist) in a few days when I got home.
After the massage, it was time to go home. We had been at the park all day and it was starting to get hot. And I could tell that I needed a shower...
The marathon was great. I am glad that I finally accomplished my goal of running this marathon.
I am especially grateful for my family that supported me and helped me get to this point.
Did I get my goal time? No but I did finish and that is what matters. As I was looking back though, I don't know that I would have gotten my goal time anyway. Even if I took out all of the bathroom breaks and the walking up Winchester hill, I probably would have only knocked off about 10-15 minutes which would have still been over 4 hours. Oh well I can always dream and work toward it again later.
On the way home from the marathon, we stopped at Arctic Circle for lunch and my pumpkin shake. I told Russell that my reward for running the marathon would be a pumpkin shake. I kept telling myself as I was running "Just think of the Pumpkin Shake at the end!" So we had to go there.
Afterward I felt good but tired. I was glad that all we had to do that day was listen to General Conference. Now I need to think of another goal. What should I do?
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