(or in other words, a long wordy post to accompany the pictures in the post above.)
Everyone that runs a marathon I'm sure has a completly unique experience. It is a personal story that takes place among the thousands of others around you. Everyone is attempting to run the same distance, but for some its the first time, for others their hundreth or more. At this event there were kids as young as 11 and adults as old as 84 all out to make a new memory in their life.
Was it hard? Yes. Would I do it again? Maybe.
Here is my story:
Have I always wanted to run a marathon? No, I don't think so. I have admired others that have done it, but I never thought it was something I could do. I enjoy running, but haven't stuck with it consistently, so getting back into running is always hard and slow. Before this year my longest run was about 6 miles, and at that time I thought I was amazing. I signed up for the Marathon on a whim. I enjoyed the structure of training for the Ragnar and after it was over I was looking for the next goal to work toward. I was thinking a half marathon would be good, but hadn't found one that worked yet. I found out that it was time to enter the St. George lottery and did it without thinking. The next week I found out I had my name drawn out of the hat and knew that I had a lot of work to do for the next 5 months.
Finding time to train was tough. It took a lot of planning with James to know how early he had to leave for work, if he would be home long enough I could run without kids. I found a training program online that I followed. I ran 4 times a week. I would have liked to have done cross-training on my off days, but running was a hobby, not my job, and there was only so much time I could put into the training and still have time for my responsibilities at home and with others.
I had some runs that I took the kids in the jogger for, but although pushing the stroller is a great workout, stopping every 5 minutes to break up the kids from picking on eachother is not an enjoyable way to get a workout in. Most often I would get up before the rest of my house woke up, drive to the Sante Dam, run on the bike trail and get home in time to get James out the door. Some runs I had move to different days or cut short because of other things going on, but because of James' help in making the training a priority I felt well prepared.
Running is not just physical, at times I was mentally exhausted getting through a workout. A 19 mile run can feel great, but a 2 mile run could be a challenge. It depends on sleep, food, how hot it is...there are just a lot of factors that go into making it a good run.
As my mileage started to taper I started getting more and more nervous that the marathon was approaching quickly. I had a hard time sleeping at night and worried about the upcoming event. I was confident with my training that I could complete the marathon, I just didn't want to hate it. I wanted to feel like it was worth all of the work that I had put into it.
The night before the event I went to bed at 10:30 exhausted from a busy week. I woke up 2 hours later and couldn't sleep. I tried relaxing every muscle in my body, I tried counting backward from 100, I soaked in a warm bath, I worried and wondered how the race would go.
So, it's not just running 26.2 miles, but doing that with no sleep. Yep, it is quite an experience.
I was mostly worried that I had trained mostly at sea level and was running at about 4500, so was concerned that breathing might be a problem. Breathing is kind of important when you are running. I was also scared of the weather. A predicted high of 99 degrees that day. I hate running when it is hot. It drains the run right out of me.
I decided I was going to just go for it. I couldn't control the weather, I couldn't change the elevation, but I knew I had done the best that I could with the time I had to train.
At 4am it was finally time to quit pretending to try to sleep and get ready to go catch the bus. James took Nathan and I down to the bus stop where we climbed abord along with the thousands of other runners to drive the 26.2 miles from the finish line to the starting line in Central, UT. It was a long drive. Maybe in a bus it only takes about 1/2 an hour, but knowing that you then have to run back to where you started from makes you realize you are a little bit crazy. We got up to the start and stood among the 6000 other runners waiting in anticipation to be told to start moving. I ate a granola bar hoping it would give me the energy I wanted for the next 5 hours. I looked around and saw people of all ages, some sitting patiently, others dancing nervously. Some women had taken the time to do their hair and make-up (maybe they couldn't sleep either and didn't know what else they should do or maybe they thought they could run that far and still look good, I'm not sure.)
So, at 6:45 they finally gave us permission to start. The crowd slowly moved forward then crossed the starting line and took off running.
For me the first 5 miles flew by in a blur. I was trying to keep things slow and not start too fast so I could maintain my energy the whole time. I was half listening to a book and half watching the scenery as I mindlessly put one foot in front of the other and moved forward. Mile 8 came with a big hill that made me have to start concentrating on the breathing and pushing myself mentally foward. There were other hills that came later, but that was the tough one for me. Mile 10 came and I realized this was easy, I was enjoying myself, I was having fun running. I came to the half way mark and was feeling good knowing that I was going faster than I thought I could and I wasn't dead. yet.
It did get tougher. Miles 10-15 felt like they stretched a little bit longer than the first 10 had, but I kept moving forward. At mile 20 I was excited because I knew my family would be there to cheer me on. I looked and looked and realized the weren't at mile marker 21 like they thought they were as I saw miles 21 and 22 and 23 go by. I spotted them just past 23 and was excited they hadn't given up on me and left. They were there cheering me on, and I knew I was almost done.
But this was the hard part. We had come out of the canyon and it was getting hot. I was so glad that I had met up with my brother-in-law Nathan at this point. He stuck with me and we pushed each other on one step at a time. The last mile was tough. I saw a girl that had feinted on the side of the road with only a mile left to go. The ambulance was there checking on her. I didn't want that to be me. Finally I saw the balloons and realized I was there. I scanned the faces and saw James had made it in time. He cheered me to the end. I was done.
With the heat, the elevation, being the first time I'd ever run 26.2 miles I had no idea what to expect. My anticipated time was 5 hours. My dream time was 4 1/2 hours. My final time was 4:29:37. Not too fast, not too slow, just an average marathon women runners pace...but for me, it was perfect.
I didn't die, I didn't get injured (well, one huge blister, but that's not too bad), I am stiff but can move, I can finally sleep. I accomplished something I said I was going to do. It feels good.
