St. George Marathon :: Post Race

Once I stepped over the finish line and was given that medal, I grabbed some water and spent a few moments to relish what I had just accomplished. Even though I could feel my blister covered pinky toe, my right foot was aching something terrible and my digestive system was all messed up, I was feeling awesome. 

I met up with Brooke, Eric and a sleepy Marlee for some pics. I still can't believe I didn't get any pics with Brooke?! 

When we got back to my Chris and Brooke's house I knew I needed to eat but I didn't have much of an appetite. I was able to get half a chicken sandwich from Kneaders down as well as a yogurt and some fruit. After that I attended to my poor blistered toe and took a good 2 hour nap. 

When I woke up I was feeling much better and I was excited to be hungry! We packed up our stuff and got on the road home. First, we had to stop at Eric's favorite Samari 21 and I was happy to get sushi! I usually try to avoid sushi before a race or a long run and I had been craving it for a couple days. 

Another thing I had been craving was fro yo. Yay for the marathon certificate and free yogurt from Yogurtland! I got pumpkin spice and white chocolate macadamia nut with almond slices. YUM! Just the right amount of sugar I needed. 

Special thanks to Brooke for having us stay with her and all her support! I also want to thank all my many friends and family for the advice, words of encouragement and patience with me the past few months as my life has revolved around marathon training. Oh and of course thanks to Redmond for hooking me up with all the races that I run! I still can't believe they pay for me to run. It has changed my life! THANK YOU!!

 

Happy Fitnessing!

St. George Marathon :: The Race

I woke up at 4:40am. To my surprise I was actually feeling normal and ready. I was worried I would wake up with the cold that had been knocking on my door the past few days. Thank goodness for the immune boosters I'd been taking the day before! Oh, and I can't forget those many prayers!

It took me 25 minutes to get dressed and ready. Eric took me to catch the last bus at 5:30am. I made friends with the nice guy sitting next to me who's wife who had just had a baby a couple days before. I thought he was crazy for running the marathon still but he had ran it a few times before and I was happy he was there to give me some last minute pointers. 

I arrived at the starting line at 6:15. I immediately lined up for the bathrooms. 30 minutes later the gun fired and the race was on... Except I was still in line for the bathroom and determined to go before I ran. 

Got my garbage bag on to keep me warm. It was so cold and windy!

I finally started running at 7:01. The 7,500 runners were still making their way to the start so I wasn't really that far behind. Thank goodness for chip timing. I hate being cold so I started running with all my warm ups and gloves still on. 

Miles 1-2: I started off slow and was feeling no confidence in myself and abilities. The little blister that I could feel already forming on my left pinky toe did not help that either. Mile 2 I dropped my warm ups and gloves off at the clothing drop. -I really liked how they had these at miles 1-6.

Miles 3-6: My confidence was growing, enough even for me to make a pit stop around mile 5. So much for the long bathroom wait. 

Miles 7-8: I loved running through the small town of Veyo. It seemed like the whole town was out to celebrate and cheer us on. At mile 7 was the infamous Veyo hill...

Far off in the distance was the dreaded hill.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I was planning on walking it as I needed but in the whole mile I probably walked less than .20 of a mile, which was surprising to me since I hadn't done a ton of hill training. 

Miles 9-13: Attacking that hill gave me just the boost of confidence I needed to speed up my pace. 

Miles 14-17: continued to speed up a tad. I really started to enjoy the scenery and found some great moments of meditation. I loved Snow Canyon! 

Mile 18-19: these miles were full of rolling hills. My paced slowed a little on the uphills but I was refusing to walk. It just didn't seem right to walk when my iPod was blasting Justin Bieber's "Never Say Never." 

Miles 20-23: I loved these miles! (Compare that to my first marathon where these were some of the hardest for me). They were all downhill and at mile 23 Eric, Brooke and Marlee where waiting for me. Special bonus* my friend Nancy was also there with her husband Pete cheering on a friend and it was so fun to see them. Funny note: they all thought they were at mile 21 (where I asked them to be) but they were in fact at 23. The map they were looking at was a little misleading.

Mile 24-26: Eric started running with me at mile 23 and it was nice to have him by my side cheering me on. By mile 25 his legs were giving up from a previous leg workout and I told him I was gonna take off to the finish 'cause I was feeling great. He took a short cut to meet me at the end.

.20, The Finish: there are few feelings that can match the awesomeness of finishing a race and a marathon takes the cake for me. Running those last few strides through the finish line was wonderful for so many reasons. I really couldn't believe I had just finished the St. George Marathon, one of the top marathons in the nation and as I looked at my Garmin it looked like I had beat my first marathon time by 10 minutes!! It was confirmed to me when my friend Olivia text me and congratulated me for my 4:19 time! Wow! I had cut my time by not 10 minutes but 13 minutes! I never would have predicted that to happen. That is a 9:55 pace AND I was surprised how good I felt. I had planned to run this marathon with nothing less than a 10:30 pace. I now know I can run a marathon again and I can even run it faster!!

Stay tuned for fun after the finish line!

Happy Fitnessing!

St. George Marathon :: Pre-Race

First stop when we arrived in St. George was to pick up my packet. I usually like hanging out at the Expo for a little bit but I just was not feeling into it so we were basically in and out.

After snagging a quick picture we were on our way to my brother's house. My brother was actually up in Salt Lake for work so my Sis-in-law and niece were there to greet us. Check out these awesome signs they made! So cool! I was definitely feeling the love. 

Even their fat cat Sherami was there to show his support by lounging on my lugging and stealing sips of water from my cup.

Silly guy. 

Since I had not yet ever seen the marathon course we all piled into the car to drive it together. I got to sit by this cute thing.

I think the drive made Marlee sleepy and delusional because she pulled out her baby pony tail and started eating her shoe!

Haha I was totally distracted by her cuteness, I forgot to pay attention to the road I'd be running the next morning!

Once we got to the cold and windy start line we took a few pics. I loved all the flags! So cool! 

During the drive back Eric and Brooke were making comments like... "This is a long drive!" and "how many miles is this now?" I couldn't help but laugh and think about how crazy it was that I was really gonna run 26.2 miles the next day. 

We had all worked up an appetite during the long drive - it was time for carbs!! I ate Pizza Factory before the Utah Valley Marathon and decided that would be the appropriate choice again. I got the classic pesto angel hair pasta and a bread stick. Not my desired choice on a normal night but I try to avoid dairy and hearty whole wheat pasta the night before a long run or race. 

Eric was nice and slept on a blow up mattress that night and gave me the bed so I could sleep as best as possible.

Before heading to bed I went through my race packet. It was a pretty good assortment if goodies. Not a huge fan of the tech shirt but I liked the "Run for Boston" wristband. I just wish it was made for tiny arms like mine.

I also laid out my outfit for the race before going to bed around 10pm. 

After about a dozen prayers to help me be able to sleep well and feel better (since I felt like I was getting a cold), it took me a little bit to fall asleep but I think as long as the few days before the race you get plenty of sleep then it's fine to lose a little sleep the night before. I got a good 5 1/2 hours before waking up at 4:30am... 

Happy Fitnessing!

St. George Marathon, Here I Come!

Here's what last night looked like..

...and I'm sure I still forgot something. 

Now I'm in the car, trying to relax as we head towards St George. I needed a way to release some of this anxiety I'm feeling so I thought I'd take it out on the blog. 

It took us a while to get on the road this morning. I was feeling nauseous and emotional (no I'm not pregnant, I'm just tired) so I was dragging. I drank some tea and had half an apple. Dang, I really needed to get some fuel in me but it's hard when you have no appetite. 

This is what tired and nauseous looks like  today. 

My sister, Larissa, told me she wouldn't be making it down to watch the race because she is still sick. BIG thumbs down. At least I have Eric and Sis-in-law Brooke! Oh and I cannot wait to cuddle my adorable niece Marlee. 

We stopped for Subway before hitting the freeway which was a total fail because the silly 14 year old taking our order at the drive in didn't have a clue. We ended up at McDonalds shortly after so Eric could get something. The smell of   Chicken nuggets almost made me puke. I drank some ginger kombucha and had a few salt and vinegar chips and that settled my tummy. I was finally able to get some food in with half a turkey sandwich. 

On the road! 

I'll be loading up on these today before I start my pre-race rituals. I'll share those later. :)

Weekend Rundown

Another busy weekend has come and gone. 

Eric and I joined a softball team a few weeks ago and so Friday night we had our last game before the tournament starts next week. Unfortunely, we're going to have to miss our first tournament game since we'll be in St. George Friday night prepping for the marathon. After softball we hung out with our friends who came to watch. We have cool friends.

That night I could not sleep, yet I was so tired. However, my mind was so hung up on all the things I have going on with work and then once it switched to the marathon I almost had an anxiety attack thinking, what have I gotten myself into?? Somehow I was finally able to calm myself down and eventually fall asleep, but I only got like 4 hours of sleep. I am pretty much worthless on less than 6 hours. 

When I woke up Saturday morning I was not sure if I could run... Or maybe I just didn't want to and was making up lots of lame excuses. I was so tired but I convinced myself that I needed to run that day not for the physical preparation but mental confidence it would give me. So I did 8 miles then went to work at our new store opening all day. 

I met up with Riss after work for Women's Conference, shopping and sushi. We tried a place we'd never been before called Teru Shushi. Yum! 

Now here's to my final few days of tapering. On the schedule: sleep, eat, sleep, repeat!

Happy Fitnessing! 

How was your weekend?

What's your favorite sushi place?