OH MY LANTA!!!! I can't believe I actually finished! That was the hardest thing I have ever done! I thought I would be able to keep a 10 to 10 1/2 minute per mile pace throughout the race, but I hadn't done that on a single long run yet so I wasn't too surprised when that pace slowly slipped away. The time said 5:27 when I crossed the finish line but since I didn't cross the starting line until 7 minutes after the start time my official time was 5:20. That put my average pace per mile just over 12 minutes. That also put me in 4824th place! Lol!! There were 5702 people that finished the race. That meant that only 878 people finished after me. There were 2461 women running the marathon and I finished 1973rd of them. Lol!! Peter and I got a good laugh out of those numbers! Oh well, it was seriously SUCH AN AMAZING experience! Let me start from the beginning...
After we had our 5th baby we began to feel more and more certain that we were done having kids. Naturally, after having 5 kids less than 8 years apart my body had seen better days. I'd worked out in between pregnancies and tried to stay in shape but then I would always get pregnant only a few months after I actually started to loose weight. So feeling pretty confident that we were done having kids I decided that I wanted to reclaim my body. I was going to loose ALL of my "baby weight" and regain control of my eating and exercise habits. So I started running, my fail proof weight loss plan. But something was different this time. I couldn't wait to get up in the mornings and tie on my running shoes. I started waking up earlier and earlier because I realized that there was something comforting and so peaceful about running while there was still dew on the grass and a fresh cool feeling in the air. I loved watching the sky turn from a dusky grey to a pinkish blue as the sun would rise. I loved hearing the birds wake up and start to sing while I was out running. I loved feeling the cool morning air brush across my face and hair and I couldn't wait to do it again the next day. Gradually I started pushing myself a little farther and a little faster and it wasn't long before I fell in love with running. The feeling caught me by complete surprise! My Dad is a runner, my sisters run and my brother is a runner, but not me!
My three older siblings had run the St George Marathon together last year and they were all talking about running again this year. I thought it would be so amazing to be able to run with them and push myself that far and accomplish something so great together with them. I'd always been the little sister who didn't like to run and they all ran track and cross country in Jr High and High School and now they'd all run a marathon together! I'd been left in the dust! I was the girl who used to forge Doctor's notes in High School to get out of doing "the mile run" in P.E. It was always either a doctor's note or I would tell my young male P.E. teacher that I was on my period! Lol! It never failed that he would wave me away and tell me to just "sit this one out"! But I was different now and I actually loved running. The farthest I had ever run was 9 miles, could I actually run 26.2... at once? There was only one way to find out! So I put my name into the lottery and was absolutely ecstatic when I got in!
The training was long and hard. Hard physically but also logistically since I had 5 small kids at home and a husband that needed to be at work every morning and he also had a list of projects and things he needed to get done on Saturdays while I needed to be out running for hours at a time and he was home taking care of the kids. But we made it work and he supported me every step of the way. Every Friday night I would sit at the computer on MapMyRun and plan out my route for the next day. And every Saturday I would come home tired but thrilled that I had run farther than I had ever run in my life! It was invigorating and exciting... and yes, exhausting! I had a knee injury towards the beginning of my training and decided to not worry about speed or pace at all and just work on building my distance. I've posted about a lot of my runs on here so I won't get into all of the details, but through this process I went from someone who abhorred running in High School, to someone who hated running but did it anyway because it was effective in helping me loose weight after having a baby, to someone who absolutely loved running and felt depressed when I couldn't run for awhile because of my knee injury. It was a long road, but one I would walk over and over and over again!
So after months of training and being amazed that I could push my body farther and farther every week, Marathon weekend finally came. Friday morning we got the kids off to school and the 3 youngest off to neighbors/friends houses and then Peter and I headed down to St George. Peter took the day off of work to come down and support me. We decided not to try to bring the kids for several reasons, but the biggest one was that on the day of the marathon there is a lot of waiting out in the heat and I didn't think the kids would enjoy that or cooperate for long and that would leave Peter unable to really enjoy it. I also wasn't looking forward to a 4 hour drive down when I was nervous and anxious trying to take care of all the kids OR the 4 hour drive back home with all 5 kids when I was exhausted from the run. Peter's brother Tim and his awesome wife Lisa came out and stayed overnight with the kids so we could go down just the two of us and really enjoy the experience.
After we had our 5th baby we began to feel more and more certain that we were done having kids. Naturally, after having 5 kids less than 8 years apart my body had seen better days. I'd worked out in between pregnancies and tried to stay in shape but then I would always get pregnant only a few months after I actually started to loose weight. So feeling pretty confident that we were done having kids I decided that I wanted to reclaim my body. I was going to loose ALL of my "baby weight" and regain control of my eating and exercise habits. So I started running, my fail proof weight loss plan. But something was different this time. I couldn't wait to get up in the mornings and tie on my running shoes. I started waking up earlier and earlier because I realized that there was something comforting and so peaceful about running while there was still dew on the grass and a fresh cool feeling in the air. I loved watching the sky turn from a dusky grey to a pinkish blue as the sun would rise. I loved hearing the birds wake up and start to sing while I was out running. I loved feeling the cool morning air brush across my face and hair and I couldn't wait to do it again the next day. Gradually I started pushing myself a little farther and a little faster and it wasn't long before I fell in love with running. The feeling caught me by complete surprise! My Dad is a runner, my sisters run and my brother is a runner, but not me!
My three older siblings had run the St George Marathon together last year and they were all talking about running again this year. I thought it would be so amazing to be able to run with them and push myself that far and accomplish something so great together with them. I'd always been the little sister who didn't like to run and they all ran track and cross country in Jr High and High School and now they'd all run a marathon together! I'd been left in the dust! I was the girl who used to forge Doctor's notes in High School to get out of doing "the mile run" in P.E. It was always either a doctor's note or I would tell my young male P.E. teacher that I was on my period! Lol! It never failed that he would wave me away and tell me to just "sit this one out"! But I was different now and I actually loved running. The farthest I had ever run was 9 miles, could I actually run 26.2... at once? There was only one way to find out! So I put my name into the lottery and was absolutely ecstatic when I got in!
The training was long and hard. Hard physically but also logistically since I had 5 small kids at home and a husband that needed to be at work every morning and he also had a list of projects and things he needed to get done on Saturdays while I needed to be out running for hours at a time and he was home taking care of the kids. But we made it work and he supported me every step of the way. Every Friday night I would sit at the computer on MapMyRun and plan out my route for the next day. And every Saturday I would come home tired but thrilled that I had run farther than I had ever run in my life! It was invigorating and exciting... and yes, exhausting! I had a knee injury towards the beginning of my training and decided to not worry about speed or pace at all and just work on building my distance. I've posted about a lot of my runs on here so I won't get into all of the details, but through this process I went from someone who abhorred running in High School, to someone who hated running but did it anyway because it was effective in helping me loose weight after having a baby, to someone who absolutely loved running and felt depressed when I couldn't run for awhile because of my knee injury. It was a long road, but one I would walk over and over and over again!
So after months of training and being amazed that I could push my body farther and farther every week, Marathon weekend finally came. Friday morning we got the kids off to school and the 3 youngest off to neighbors/friends houses and then Peter and I headed down to St George. Peter took the day off of work to come down and support me. We decided not to try to bring the kids for several reasons, but the biggest one was that on the day of the marathon there is a lot of waiting out in the heat and I didn't think the kids would enjoy that or cooperate for long and that would leave Peter unable to really enjoy it. I also wasn't looking forward to a 4 hour drive down when I was nervous and anxious trying to take care of all the kids OR the 4 hour drive back home with all 5 kids when I was exhausted from the run. Peter's brother Tim and his awesome wife Lisa came out and stayed overnight with the kids so we could go down just the two of us and really enjoy the experience.
We got there Friday afternoon and met up with my Mom and Jen (my oldest sister, shown in the picture above) and Billy (my older brother) and headed to the Expo to pick up our bibs (running numbers) and check out all of the vendors and souvenirs. Peter and I each got a cool marathon t-shirt and we had a lot of fun laughing at all of the t-shirts they had for sale. They said things like, "I hope there is someone behind me to read this", "I'm only doing this so I can post a picture on Facebook", "90% of running is half mental", "Running is a mental sport and we are all insane", and "Toenails are overrated!" I lost a toenail last week and it never occurred to me that it could be a result of all of my training! I saw several different signs along the course and quotes on t-shirts about toenails being overrated and something about sacrificing so much to get there - including our toenails, so I wonder if that's why my toenail fell off! We also sat in on the last half of a "First Timers Clinic" where they answered a ton of questions, gave a bunch of advice and walked us through the course mile by mile with pictures and video and told us what to expect. I was really glad that we decided to sit in and wish we would have been there for the whole thing.
No one really slept much that night, we were all anxious about the marathon. We got up at what Jen refers to as "O'dark thirty" and got ready to go and ate breakfast. I was relieved to find that the hotel had all of my usual pre-run foods so I ate a banana and 2 pieces of wheat toast with peanut butter and jam and a little bit of orange juice.
We got to the park where the buses would drive us to the starting line around 5am and waited among the huge throngs of people to get on a bus. When our turn finally came we piled in with 3 adults in each seat (mind you, these seats might be big enough for 2 small children to sit on). It was quite a sight! And then we started to drive... and drive.... and DRIVE!!! HOLY COW!! I could not believe how long we were driving and we were driving the course! I kept saying, "Are you sure they aren't taking us a different route? This is really only 26.2 miles?! Are you sure?!?!" It was crazy! That's when I realized I was completely insane. It was pitch black and thousands of people were being dropped off in the middle of nowhere and going to be told, "Now run back!" Insanity I tell you!!! Finally we got to the starting line and loud music was playing while thousands of us unloaded the buses and began waiting anxiously for the start of the race. There were hundreds of fire pits lit since it is usually super cold at the start of the race but we took off our warm clothes and sent them right back down the hill and were quite comfortable. It was the hottest morning in St. George Marathon history, which didn't bode too well for the rest of the day! There is no shade on the whole course (except for one bridge that we ran under about mile 17 or so and there were at least 40 people stopped under it stretching and trying to escape the heat).
The starting line was CRAZY! Not unorganized crazy just crazy to see! Almost 6000 people crammed onto one road. The mass of sardine people stretched back at least a mile. I wedged my way in and the whistle blew for the start of the race. And I laughed as nothing happened. No one moved. No one could move! I'm sure the people in the very front did, but it took about 4 minutes until the movement reached where I was wedged. And then we all kind of shuffled, stopped, shuffled, stopped and then eventually we all kind of bobbed up and down in a way that tried to mimic a jog (still touching people on all sides) and then we crossed the starting line 7 minutes after the whistle had blown! After we crossed the starting line the mob started to disperse a little bit but you still couldn't put your elbows out very far or take very big strides. You were all just kind of carried along together for about another half mile and then you had a little bit more room and you might be able to put one of your hands out straight to one side of you, but certainly not both. And that squishiness stayed on for not quite another half mile and then it started to get a little less crowded and you could start maneuvering in and around people as you tried to start thinking about your pace. Until about the second mile you didn't really have a choice how fast or slow you were going unless you wanted to get trampled or trample others! By that point as well it was hot enough out that I was full on sweating, which I hear is pretty crazy since you are usually still trying to thaw out at that point. I saw a box on the side of the road for warm clothes that had a big 3 written on it and I thought, "What in the world? Does that mean 3 miles? That's so crazy! Have we really run 3 miles?" I was so focused on not getting trampled and trying to weave my way past people and find a way to get out of the mob that I had no idea how far we'd gone! I have an app on my phone that I use that tells me distance and pace and everything and I'd turned it on at the starting line, but I guess in the crowd at the start someone probably bumped it and it turned off. Anyway, there were a LOT of people!
My sister took this picture on her phone around mile 17. It was a beautiful course! It was super hot though and like I said, no shade. So the sun just roasted us the whole time! I wish I would have thought to wear sunscreen on my face at least. I started out running the first few miles about 8:30 average but I think that was mostly because that seemed to be the "flow of traffic" and at that point I didn't have much of a choice! Then I settled into about 9 - 9:30 min/mile for the next several miles. I was hoping to run with the 4 hour group (they had pacers who carried balloons that said their goal finish time on them) but I couldn't find them in the chaos of the start, so I ran just ahead of the 4:15 group until about mile 7 (yes that's Veyo - one of the only real uphills on the course). I got a pebble in my shoe and stopped to get it out and couldn't get the momentum going again to get back to my 9:30 pace and I slowed down to about 10 - 10:30 for a long time. I was really comfortable running that pace and was really feeling pretty good! I saw a man that looked so much like my Daddy that I did a double take. And he ran like my Daddy! It made me so happy that I ran along side him as long as I could. It lasted a few miles and then I lost him at a water station. It was a fun little distraction!
When I got to mile 14 I started to walk through the water stations (at every odd mile) and eventually started to walk about 10-30 seconds of every mile and I'd slowed down quite a bit to where I was doing more like 12 minute miles. I still felt really good until about mile 19. There was another hill that was a pretty steady incline for over a mile and I got my first cramp in my calf. I jogged through it for a few more miles and then finally stopped to get a Bengay rub down about mile 21. I don't think I ever regretted signing up or felt incredibly disappointed that my goal time slipped away from me. There were however a few times, when I looked around me and saw the hordes of exhausted people hobbling, jogging and limping down the road in the middle of the desert and found it extremely comical that we were all crazy enough to be here. But we WERE here! We were running a MARATHON! And we were going to finish, and no matter what that finish looked like it was an incredible accomplishment to be proud of!
I noticed the 5:00 balloons pass me around mile as I was getting my legs rubbed and drinking my Gatorade. I decided to call Peter since my phone was about to die and I'd told him to expect me somewhere around or just after 4 hours and that would NOT be happening! Then at mile 23 I got a phone call from my sister Tara who decided not to run this year and she got emotional telling me how proud she was of me and I just started to cry. It was the perfect motivation that I needed to keep me going through the end. I only had 3 more miles and I wanted to run the whole way. My calf cramped up several more times and I slowed considerably but I did it. As I ran into town I just started to cry again. People were lining the streets on both sides cheering and holding signs and a few people walked along side of me for a minute or called out to me and said, "Good Job!" "You are doing great! You are almost there!" "You've done it! Just one more block and you ran a marathon!" and I just cried and told them thank you as I jogged passed. Peter told me that they were just passed the last turn right before the finish line and I wasn't sure how many turns there were in through town so every corner I'd turn I'd choke up knowing that they were right there cheering me on. But then I would turn it and realize there was another turn up ahead. After several turns in town I saw my mom peeking through the bushes on the corner watching for me and she ran back to tell the rest of them that I was coming. I turned the corner and emotions flooded through me.
I noticed the 5:00 balloons pass me around mile as I was getting my legs rubbed and drinking my Gatorade. I decided to call Peter since my phone was about to die and I'd told him to expect me somewhere around or just after 4 hours and that would NOT be happening! Then at mile 23 I got a phone call from my sister Tara who decided not to run this year and she got emotional telling me how proud she was of me and I just started to cry. It was the perfect motivation that I needed to keep me going through the end. I only had 3 more miles and I wanted to run the whole way. My calf cramped up several more times and I slowed considerably but I did it. As I ran into town I just started to cry again. People were lining the streets on both sides cheering and holding signs and a few people walked along side of me for a minute or called out to me and said, "Good Job!" "You are doing great! You are almost there!" "You've done it! Just one more block and you ran a marathon!" and I just cried and told them thank you as I jogged passed. Peter told me that they were just passed the last turn right before the finish line and I wasn't sure how many turns there were in through town so every corner I'd turn I'd choke up knowing that they were right there cheering me on. But then I would turn it and realize there was another turn up ahead. After several turns in town I saw my mom peeking through the bushes on the corner watching for me and she ran back to tell the rest of them that I was coming. I turned the corner and emotions flooded through me.
There is me crying. It was the most amazing feeling of accomplishment and joy and love for my family and Peter who supported me through all of my crazy hours of training and I just couldn't hold it in. I think being so physically exhausted probably made me a little extra emotional but it truly was such an amazing experience and one that I will NEVER forget.
Here we all are after we finished. Jen had a knee injury towards the end of her training that kept her from getting in her long runs and so she decided to stop at mile 21 and ride the shuttle in the rest of the way so she didn't get injured and they took her bib number when she got on the shuttle :( You can read about her experience on her blog here.
Here's my mom, my sister Jen, my niece Britta, my brother Billy and Me and Peter. Billy finished in 3:55 (crazy, that I thought I would do close to that). I think the heat added to everyone's times but regardless of time, it was an amazing experience and I still get emotional thinking about it. I was sore... VERY sore. In fact I'm still sore as I write this (2 days after the Marathon) but not as sore as yesterday. I sat in the finishers area on the grass stretching and eating bread and oranges feeling exhausted but so happy. I heard that less than 1% of the population had ever run a marathon and I realized how completely amazing what I had just done was. I was now and would forever be a marathoner. Wow!
I continued to stretch in the car as we drove the 4 hours home and stretched some more when we got there. Then I took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood trying to keep my legs moving and work all of the lactic acid out of my muscles. I was starting to get really sore. Even my TOES were sore! How does THAT happen?! The soreness gradually increased through the night and on Sunday it was really bad and I couldn't go down stairs really at all. I couldn't carry my baby and walk at the same time and I started having crazy tiny muscle spasms and shooting pains every once in awhile that evening. I took a couple of hot baths and my 7 year old daughter spent Sunday afternoon massaging my legs and feet since I was still having a hard time walking. At this point I contemplated whether or not it was worth it (by the way it was). I woke up this morning able to get out of bed without rocking back and forth to get enough momentum to push me forward. I also walked down the stairs without holding onto the rails, I was walking sideways and not straight down but I was QUITE proud of my accomplishment!
This evening as we had dinner with Peter's family I heard myself say the words, "The next time I run a marathon..." and I realized how badly I wanted to do it again. To run the whole time even if it was slow. To prove to myself that it wasn't just a one time thing. I wanted to prove to myself that I could push myself even harder the next time and improve my time of 5:20. I wanted to see if I would still feel the same elation and excitement as I trained even though each long run wouldn't be my farthest run I'd ever done. Yes, I had checked something off of my bucket list and yes, I had accomplished my goal of loosing all of my baby weight and reclaiming my body after 5 kids but it was so much more than that. I had changed. I was a different person. I was a person whose mind was stronger than my body. Who could will myself to do something that every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop doing! I know now that I can do hard things... REALLY hard things! That knowledge has changed me and made me a better person. A better mother, a better wife, and a better daughter, sister, and friend. Running a marathon isn't about running for a really long time, it's about accomplishing something amazing. It's about being in control of your body, your thoughts and your attitude. It's about becoming a stronger and more motivated individual. That is what I took away from this experience, and THAT is why I can't wait for "the next time I run a marathon..."
I continued to stretch in the car as we drove the 4 hours home and stretched some more when we got there. Then I took the kids on a walk around the neighborhood trying to keep my legs moving and work all of the lactic acid out of my muscles. I was starting to get really sore. Even my TOES were sore! How does THAT happen?! The soreness gradually increased through the night and on Sunday it was really bad and I couldn't go down stairs really at all. I couldn't carry my baby and walk at the same time and I started having crazy tiny muscle spasms and shooting pains every once in awhile that evening. I took a couple of hot baths and my 7 year old daughter spent Sunday afternoon massaging my legs and feet since I was still having a hard time walking. At this point I contemplated whether or not it was worth it (by the way it was). I woke up this morning able to get out of bed without rocking back and forth to get enough momentum to push me forward. I also walked down the stairs without holding onto the rails, I was walking sideways and not straight down but I was QUITE proud of my accomplishment!
This evening as we had dinner with Peter's family I heard myself say the words, "The next time I run a marathon..." and I realized how badly I wanted to do it again. To run the whole time even if it was slow. To prove to myself that it wasn't just a one time thing. I wanted to prove to myself that I could push myself even harder the next time and improve my time of 5:20. I wanted to see if I would still feel the same elation and excitement as I trained even though each long run wouldn't be my farthest run I'd ever done. Yes, I had checked something off of my bucket list and yes, I had accomplished my goal of loosing all of my baby weight and reclaiming my body after 5 kids but it was so much more than that. I had changed. I was a different person. I was a person whose mind was stronger than my body. Who could will myself to do something that every muscle in my body was screaming at me to stop doing! I know now that I can do hard things... REALLY hard things! That knowledge has changed me and made me a better person. A better mother, a better wife, and a better daughter, sister, and friend. Running a marathon isn't about running for a really long time, it's about accomplishing something amazing. It's about being in control of your body, your thoughts and your attitude. It's about becoming a stronger and more motivated individual. That is what I took away from this experience, and THAT is why I can't wait for "the next time I run a marathon..."
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