St. George Marathon 2010

St. George Marathon 2010 Finish Time 3:49:10

All Right folks, so Yes I ran the 2010 St. George Marathon last Sat (Oct 2) with the goal to qualify for Boston. That means I need to finish the marathon under 3 hrs & 40 min. That's holding about an 8 min mile for 26.2 miles. Yeah. I have been training ALL summer, doing several 20 milers, speed intervals, biking, weight lifting, I felt a little like my life was dedicated to training this summer. So you can imagine my excitement for the race, and my disappointment when I did not reach my goal. My finish time was 3:49:10. Here is the story.

I have only so many mental barriers in a marathon. Meaning, there is only so much I can handle before all walls come down and I crash burn and die in the race. I didn't crash at my last marathon, it went really well. And with all the training I did for this race, I assumed it would go as well. I had heard so much about the marathon being downhill and a great race to get a PR that I just KNEW I would reach my goal of Boston.

Barriers started coming down well before the race started. 2 weeks before I was to run the race my shins decided to hate me, a lot. I didn't want to get new shoes to run a marathon in, but when it is a choice between some blisters and shin splints, I will take blisters. And yes, I got blisters. Who doesn't though in a marathon? The next thing was my hat, I always train in what I am going to wear on race day, that way I know exactly how and where it is going to rub me and I will be prepared for it. I trained in a hat this summer and loved it. Kept my face shaded and the sweat out of my eyes. Race morning...hat was gone. Couldn't find it anywhere. Never did. Oh well, I'll live without a hat. Move on.

Got to the start of the race. Looked amazing!!! Flags everywhere, so many people, you almost felt like an olympian, I loved it. I brought tons of warm clothes to keep warm for the 3 hrs before the race start, only, I didn't need them. It was warm. Uh Oh. Warm at 4 am in the mountains? Really? I had lots of fun chatting with everyone before the race, ran into one of my old HS teachers, hung out with my brother, Jeremy. Then it was time to start.

I got in line with the 3:40 pacer. THe marathon had pacers for us. They were part of the Clif Bar Pace team and were pro at it. Each of them had a set of balloons with the finish time they would be getting so we could easily follow them. I found the one with the 3:40 balloons and stuck to him like glue. Then the race started.

It was still dark outside when we started, so it REALLY surprised me when I started sweating at mile 1. Yeah, mile 1 out of 26.2. This was not a good sign of things to come. As I look around I saw others sweating as well and was glad it wasn't just me. Another barrier falling. The first part of the race was really easy, I was ahead of the pacer by just a min, my breathing was pretty easy, and everyone was just excited to be running. We were having a good time chatting, and running together. Unfortunately my shins were screaming, I knew though that they would stop once I had run a few miles, so just ignored it. I was right. Around mile 6, they shut up.

As we approached Vejo (mile 7) I saw the massive hill I was warned about. I knew there were a set of hills around mile 7 to mile 11, so I was prepared for it and was ready to kick its butt. Which I did. Ran up it very well, and recovered quickly. I was not prepared for the number hills we would be running for the next 13 miles. It felt like all we did was run up hill after hill. Obviously we went down too, I just didn't know it was all rolling hills. My breathing was getting extremely ragged, and my quads really hated me.

When I got to mile 13 it started a downhill stretch...thank you!!! I got just ahead of the pacer again and felt the best I had in the entire race. I was holing a great pace and thought that if this how the rest of the course was, I could easily pull a 3:35 out of this race. I was excited to see so many people cheering us on, and I felt like I was actually going to make it. But, the racing Gods weren't so kind.

The sun was beating down on me at that point. And then, my pacer dropped out of the race. WHAT??? What hope does that give me? Sheesh. Another runner took his place and his balloons and we continued on. The next several miles broke me, slowly. Again there were hills. As we would approach each unexpected hill I would think, "okay make it up this hill, give it one more shot, come on don't give up". As we would run up those hills our pacer would say, "this is the last hill, it's all downhill from here." So yeah I would push myself up that "last hill" only to find another hill waiting to break me. Now, I am sure that if I were to look back at those hills now I would laugh and think "you call this a hill?" But when you are running them, anything that even slightly slants up, is a hill, and it hurts. I felt like I was breathing through a straw, and my quads were screaming so loud at me.

But I wouldn't give up, I wasn't going to give in. We hit another hill at mile 19 and I asked our pacer if this was the last. "yep, then it is all downhill". Thank heavens, nope. wrong again. another @#$%*#@ hill. I was still holding a fabulous pace, right on target, but I couldn't slow down, or I wouldn't make it. I start up that hill determined to make it up, and then, it broke me. completely.

My legs went out from under me, started twitching, I started seeing stars and then nothing. I knew I was going down and caught myself. I don't really remember at all what happened. I do remember as I was hanging onto my sanity I saw a girl just in front of me completely collapse, and then a man passed out on the side. A cop came over to the girl and was helping her. I knew that was about to be me, that it was my turn next to be carried away. While all my body was screaming at me to just stay there and let them take me away, my mind was stronger and told me no, no, no. don't let them take you. This is not what you came here for. My heart was broken as I watched my balloon man (the pacer) pass me by and I knew that was Boston slipping through my fingers. I was broken. so broken.

How could I do this? How did I let this happen? I would be disappointing everyone that was cheering me on, that was waiting for my phone call to tell them I would be in Boston next spring. Ben, he would be waiting for me in the stands, wondering what happened. THe tears started and I wanted to give up. My head was spinning, my legs were spazzing out, I was about to puke my guts out, and why was I still breathing through a straw? There was no way I could go on. But I did. It was no longer about making it to Boston, but about finishing. About not giving up, no matter what. I got up, walked for a few seconds, and then running. Slowly, but I was running. All of that happened in about 3 min. It felt like forever.

I honestly do not remember the next 3 miles. I know I was listening to music. I don't remmber it. I don't remember my watch beeping at me each mile, I don't remember aid stations. I don't remember anything, just, don't give up. I DO remember mile 22.5 all I wanted to do was die. As every Marathoner knows, those last few miles are extremely brutal. And all anyone wants to do is go die on the side of the road. But you keep going. And I kept going. The great thing about St. George is that the last several miles you have tons of people cheering you on. I loved all the support from the community. It made all the difference those last few miles. Finally finally finally there was finish line. Everyone is cheering, and shouting, ringing bells, you feel like you'll never make it, but then, somehow you cross that finish line. My final time 3:49:10.

And then you die. Ha. I finished and even though I knew I should be drinking all the water I could get my hands on, I went to the Coca Cola trailer and got an ice cold Dr. Pepper. It was heaven on earth I tell you. So I had another.

After laying on the grass for an hour I tried to stand up, passed out again (Ben caught me this time) And then after another 10 min figured out how to walk again.

One of my friends, Emily Dougall, took this pic of me. Her sister was running and it was fun to see her there. I am actually waving at people as I am running through, I know I look a little ridiculous, but I honestly wasn't concerned with my looks at that point. Ben videoed me coming through and I will post that when I get it downloaded.

We stayed the weekend and had tons of fun visiting with other runners. I guess St. George hit record highs that day and EVERYONE missed their goal time by 15 or more minutes. When I finished the race the temps were in the low 90's. Lots and lots of people passed out, and ambulances were going non stop. Knowing all that, made me feel a whole lot better.

So, there you have it. Another marathon done. I was fine with my time the day of race and even the day after. But then, after the adrenaline had worn off, and the excitement gone. My heart broke for a day. I got my cry out, but then moved on. I did the best I could, and I now know what I need to work on for other races. I have already signed up for 4 races next year and cannot wait to start training again and get back in the game. I love Marathons, they are always an adventure. They push you beyond your limits and you always push back. Love it.

Here is the video of my finish.