St. George Marathon 2012- Part 1

My only reader requested I do my marathon post. Thanks Nat!  I mean I can't really expect to continue to have readers when I never update my blog.  That's all about to change so I expect my readership to just skyrocket.  :)  I'm actually really glad she reminded me I hadn't blogged about this yet.  I thought I had but then I realized I had written about it in my other journal.  Hard to keep them all straight sometimes.  With no further ado....

I was so nervous for this race.  It had been 6 years since I had run a marathon, 6 YEARS!! Pre marriage, pre baby, I mean, a lot has changed in 6 years.  Me being worried that I would pee my pants running down a steep hill being one of them.  TMI, sorry, but not really.

My mom and the kids and I left Friday morning and had a pretty good drive down.  We stopped at some town along the way and I can't even remember what town it was but it had this awesome petting zoo at the gas station.  We weren't expecting it but it was great!  The kids were ready for a break so it was a great place to walk around before we had to get back in the car.

We made it down to St. George and headed straight to the expo to pick up my race packet.  I love the expos.  So much fun walking around seeing all the cool running stuff.  Even better when your awesome mom takes the kids out so you can actually look without worrying about losing your kids.  Thanks Mom!! I walked by the cliff bar booth and they had those pacing bands.  I got a 3:30 but then looked at the splits and thought no way, so i grabbed a 3:35 and 3:40.  I really had no expectations for the race but I did think it would be really cool if i could beat my previous fastest time which was 3:49 at my very first St. George Marathon in 1999 I think?  Gosh, I've been running a long time. 

I picked up my shot blocks and caffeinated jelly beans at the expo and we headed out to my sister Kath's house.  We hung out there for a little while and then decided it was time for dinner.  I have experimented a lot with food and have found that eating breakfast foods works really well for me.  Spaghetti, nope, doesn't work well for me.  I think it's all the sugar from the syrup I put on my pancakes but whatever works. So we went to Ihop for dinner.  Everybody was a good sports about that.  I'm sure that was not their first choice.

Here I am cleaning off the last plate that had food on the table.  I eat A LOT before a race, A LOT!  I ordered my own pancakes and then finished off whatever was left of everybody elses.  I love breakfast foods by the way so I love eating a mass amount of delicious, sugary foods.  I ate the entire way down on the drive too. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bagels, crackers, candy, etc.  Seriously I would hate to know how many calories I consumed because I would probably be disgusted with mysefl.  I'm not going to lie though, I love every second of it.  I have a huge fear of running out of energy in the middle of a long run so I fuel up and I fuel up good.  It worked!

My niece is such a ham, I love it!

After stopping at the store for a few groceries to take up to the house we were staying at, we were headed up to the Meadows.  One of my mom's best friends has a house up by the starting line.  It is a gorgeous house and she is so generous to let us stay there.  I can't even tell you how much I love not having to wake up super early to catch the buses and standing in the cold for the race to start.  Seriously, just thinking about it right now makes me so grateful for that house we have to stay in.  

Dan and my dad drove down together after work on Friday and met us at the house.

I think the race started at 6:45 and we didn't wake up until 6 or 6:15.  Awesome, awesome, awesome.  We didn't have to use the port a potty's either another win, win and win! My running buddy Deb had her husband drive her up to the house the night before so she could sleep in a little bit on race morning as well. Okay, so we may have slept in a little too much because by the time we got there the race was starting.  We were in the very far back of course because that's where we were dropped off. Dan dropped us off and took a quick picture before we got started.

We look excited to run 26.2 miles right?

My brother in law Darrell loaned me his nike gps watch and I was so excited to be able to see how fast I was going and keep track.  I had my pace bracelet on and the gps watch.  By the time we got to the starting line I think the clock said 10 minutes or so, so I knew that at every clock I saw along the course I would need to minus 10 minutes from it to get my accurate time.  The GPS watch said our first couple miles were around 7:48 or something like that and I thought that it must be wrong but I don't think it was.  Unfortunately Deb had to stop and go to the bathroom at, like, mile 4 so we lost each other super early this race.  Yes, I know, I'm one of those great friends that doesn't stop to wait for their running friends to go to the bathroom.  (Come to find out I'm really glad I didn't b/c she told me she had to wait, like, 5 minutes just to use the bathroom.) 

The GPS watch was showing me that I was ahead of my 3:35 racing bracelet but the battery died at, like, mile 10 and I was sooo sad.  I loved having it to help me keep track of how fast I was going.  So from there I decided I just needed to run and stay as comfortable as possible.  Something pretty much hurt the entire race but it is so mental that I just tried to distract myself with my music or people watching.  I love looking at cute running outfits while I run.  As I continued to run I would come up on the pacing groups.  I passed 5 hours, then 4:45, 4:30 all the way down to about 3:55 and I was getting excited.  I wasn't sure exactly of my time but towards the end I started getting really excited that I was going to beat my 3:49 time. 

Darrell was going to meet me at mile 20 which is up in the canyon and I gave him a time to meet me but I was way ahead of the time I had given him so I think I actually meet him at mile 21 instead.  As I started coming out of the canyon I think its mile 23 or so and I totally got a second wind seeing all the screaming people on the course. 

Please excuse the nasty running leg picture. 

My family barely caught me here.  Since I was not expecting to run as fast as I did I told them not to be there until way later.  Luckily they came a little early and barely caught me as I ran by.  Like, had just barely gotten out of the car and started walking up to find a place to stand.

I saw the 3:45 pacer and got really, really excited because I knew I was 10 minutes behind the time so I knew I was faster then 3:45.  I was not sure exactly what my time was going to be because I started so late and I was getting really, really tired so my math skills weren't the best.  It was great to have Darrell there.  I told him I couldn't talk to him because I was so stinking tired but it was nice to have his body next to me continuing to run because I wanted to stop soooo bad. I just kept moving my body in stride with his so I wouldn't stop.  I took a few shot blocks along the course and then started popping caffeinated jelly beans around mile 14 or so.  I love those things.  I think they helped a lot.  I drank pretty good a long the course as well.  They had us turn down this road that wasn't fully paved yet and it felt like we were running on sand.  It was so hard to run on and I think I may have already said this but I was way tired.  Cannot imagine why.  Unfortunately my family didn't make it to the finish line in time.  :(  So we didn't get any pictures of me actually crossing the line but that's fine. 

I promised myself that even though I feel super sick at the end of the race I had to force myself to eat something so that hopefully I wouldn't be so sore and I would recover faster.  I drank some chocolate milk and had some fruit but that's about all I could stomach.  And for the record this is the fastest race I have ever recovered from.  I wasn't half as sore as I usually am and I was run/walking by Tuesday.  Seriously shocked about this one.  I usually can't walk for a good week.

I did make sure to stock up on lot's of treats for my cheering squad.  Ellie enjoyed the ice cream.

I feel so blessed to have such a supportive family.  My parents have supported me in sooo many races it's ridiculous.  I really appreciate all of those that came to support me.

Gosh, I love these guys!

We hung out at the finish line for a while. I went in and out of the racing area to get diet coke and whatever else the family wanted.  Hey, I get my money's worth at these things.  :)  It was such a beautiful day.  I forgot to mention the great running weather as well.  I started with a throw away zip hoodie that I got at the DI  and borrowed some of Deb's running sleeves.  The sweatshirt came off real fast but I kept the running sleeves on until around mile 15 I think.  The weather could not have been any better.  Seriously, it was perfect.  I'm thinking it was in the 60's while I was racing and it got up into the 70's after the race.  I felt really bad for those still running around 11 because it started getting really toasty.  I was absolutley loving soaking up the sun.

Darrell spent a ton of time over at the results area trying to get my final results for me but he couldn't ever find it.  So they have this booth where you can go and just give them your number and then they print off a piece of paper that has your final time.  When she printed mine off and it said 3:30 on the dot, I was extactic.  Seriously, I was freaking out.  I had crushed my last time by 19 minutes and qualified for Boston Marathon.  It is about an 8 minute mile pace which doesn't seem too speedy but that is really speedy for me. The stars just aligned on this race.  The weather was great, I fueled myself well before and during the race and I just felt great.  I love those kind of races.  I feel like this was the perfect way to go out of my marathon racing with a bang.  Both Deb and I have said this is our last marathon.  I'm not saying it is my last marathon ever but it is going to be my last one for a while.  I hated doing the long runs, HATED!!  I knew I would but I did it anyway.  When our last long run was done I was sooo excited.  It's just a lot of work with little kids.  Maybe when the kids are a little bit older I will do it but that was my last marathon for a while and what a great note to end on.  It still makes me excited thinking about it. 

I trained pretty much entirely on the treadmill.  I think we did 4 long runs on the pavement and other then that all of my training was on the treadmill.  I actually think the treadmill running helped my body learn the pace and just run.  I put my treadmill on about an 8 or 8:30 minute mile pace everytime (except for speed work of course) I run so I honestly think my body just did what it was trained to do.  I did one long run on the treadmill.  I think it was a 14 miler and I watched the Hunger Games so that helped the time go by really fast. 

Gosh, I love this lady.  And I love our kids in this picture.  I was sad that I lost her so early but glad we were able to meet up at the end and celebrate our accomplishment.  We did most all of our long runs together and I really don't think I would have done them without her. All of our long runs we drove one car up Big or Little Cottonwood Canyon and then would run down and into Salt Lake Valley for however long we had to go.  We just parked a car at the end of our course and would drive eachother back up to get the starting car.  And for the record those canyons are gorgeous in the Fall, gorgeous!  I hated getting up early but the view was gorgeous.  We also saw a bunch of deer and moose on our way down the canyons. 

And might I add that the St. George Marathon is NOT all down hill.  I remember when people told me that before I had done it.  Then once I got out on the course I realized that they were liars.  There are quite a bit of hills on that course.  Yes, once you reach mile 18 or so it's all down hill but up until that point I would say it's rolling hills on and off.  Not to mention heart break hill at what mile 6 or 7?  I can't quite remember. 

Well, this is just the beginning of our crazy long, fun day.  Since this is so long already, I will end it here for the night because I am tired and I need to wake up early for my workout.  Oh but before we leave the racing scene we had to have a break down from Ellie.  A trip out and about wouldn't be complete without one.

I am doing Ogden Half marathon in May and I am so glad I have a race to motivate me to get my fat ars out of bed in the morning because I have really been struggling as of late.  Booo!  I'll have to show you a picture of my workout room, I love it!  It really is my oasis.  Okay, seriously, going to bed.  Come back to find out what we did after the race.