St. George marathon race report

I contemplated shutting this blog down, but then I couldn't post my race report if I did, lol.

This year has been crazy busy for me, so my training for this, my second marathon, was seriously lacking. I wanted to run this one for fun, since last year was so miserable in the rain and wind and all alone. I ran this with Lisa mom extraordinaire, she is my hero.

We decided to go ahead and get on the early bird buses, try to win a prize and get the fast pass massage. So I found myself, at about 3:45 sitting on the bus on the way up to the start line. Lisa got me some sweats and shared her blanket with me as we sat up in the cold around the bonfires. We chatted with different people to pass the time, though I was really tempted to try and nap. It took us about 9 minutes to pass the start line and then away we went. Lisa wanted to prove that she can go way faster than she says, when I had to slow her down a few times ;). The adrenaline just gets to you, so I can't blame her :)

By mile 3 I was already sweating, not a good sign for me. I haven't been able to train in any sort of heat in quite awhile now, so I was worried about the expected upper 70's at our finish time. I brought some salt with me to take in case I started having problems.

Veyo hill is actually a welcome site for me, it's huge but I know once we are over it, the biggest one is done. I wish people would mention the hill on mile 18, that one isn't as big but it's late in the race and just sucks out my will to live :P. So we get up and over Veyo, passing many people on the way, that was an ego boost for sure.

Oh and Lisa's huge family, or part of it anyway, were at Veyo cheering her on, that was really cool. They all had matching t-shirts and they had signs, such a sweet family :)

At the halfway mark we were already behind about 15 minutes, not good, but we were feeling pretty well and just kept plugging along. I started feeling the dreaded blisters at mile 8 and just tried to ignore them the best I could. We did get a bit more downhill at this point and picked it up a bit, that was good because the sun was out and I was getting nervous.

At mile 15 I couldn't stand the blister pain anymore so I stopped and took off my shoes to glob on more vaseline, that is when I found out my right foot had a huge blister and the left hurt more but the blister was smaller. The aid station only had one moleskin so I decided to put it on my right foot. I got back up, sadly already tightening up, and away we went.

Mile 17 I have cell phone reception and I had several texts waiting for me, that was awesome. My hamstrings were yelling at me for quite awhile, I focused more on downhill than uphill and it came back to bite me, hard.

Mile 18ish, I thought that maybe I could count down to mile 21 or so, where more spectators should be, maybe Lucy and Keera would be there. My knee was mad, though I was really trying to hide it, and I was just so very tired. I got some cliff bars around here somewhere and ate one, plus some orange slices and a banana, that really helped with the energy.

Mile 21 we had yet another potty stop, we both were plagued with problems for the first part of the race, but poor Lisa got hit hard for the last 6 miles or so. She was so awesome pushing as hard as she could though, such an inspiration. I got a text here from Lisa's husband saying they were at 23 and would be ready and waiting. I also got a text from Stu saying they were at the finish and would be cheering us on from there.

Mile 23 and there are Lisa's family, her sister? Karen joined us here and I can't thank her enough, I was struggling bad, just having someone able to talk and help us count down was amazing.

I got a huge surprise at mile 24, there were Lucy and Keera, which I was expecting, but my Dad and Mom, sister Natalie, and her 4 kids. They all had smiley face signs for me, I of course cried, hehe. Things were really tough for me at this point, I was hot, I knew I was getting a sunburn on my face and I just wanted to be done.

Mile 25 ish Lisa had to make another potty stop and my knee decided that it was, in fact, finished, so I tried stretching and walking in place to warm it up, no go. I cried from here on out, it just hurt. I ended up using my hip to pull my leg along, which wasn't good but I needed to be done. We turn the last corner and there is my whole family again, including Stu and the kids. I got to run it in with Stu holding my hand as my hip decided to try and leave my body :P, my kids running around me, as well as nieces and nephews. I totally ditched Lisa at this point, it was either go or just lay down and give up :P. I know her family ran it in with her, so I dont' feel so guilty, hehe.

Oh, a quick funny, Lisa wanted some sports beans and I had some in my pack but the zipper was stuck, Karen said she would help get them so I just ripped off the pack and threw it at her, haha. I feel bad now but I was done. She was nice enough to carry it in the rest of the way.

I finished in 6:15:53 surrounded by family and friends, the support was amazing. Lisa and I cheered on the volunteers and spectators through most of the race, I know we were slow and they were tired, but we wanted some cheers, lol. The finish line spectators were awesome though, so loud and encouraging, just what I needed.

I got a free massage, that was pure heaven, and some much needed quiet time while i waited, I was just too tired to speak.

My feet hurt more than my legs and my knee is still angry with me, but I am planning on running another one, this one with better training though ;). So it must not have been too bad, hehe.

I know this is disjointed and poorly written, but I don't care, hehe.

Thanks to my family that came and my family that couldn't but thought of me and cheered me on from wherever they were. Also to my many friends that supported me as well, it really helped :)