Last Saturday I finished my third marathon. With all the moving and other things that needed to be done this summer, I didn’t carve out the time for my Saturday morning long runs. I ended up with only two long runs. My half marathon in August was one of them. And I did a 20 miler a few weeks ago.
This was a little disappointing. For me, part of the excitement of running is the build-up. Going out each week and accomplishing your goal. Then, all those hard training hours finally culminate in the big race. There is a lot of anticipation and nervousness.
Without training, you don’t really get that. I have to admit, I was more excited to hang out with my friends Shelah and Deanna than I was to run the race.
The morning of the race was chilly. We had our handwarmers and mylar sleeping bags, and I actually felt pretty warm. The first 14 miles of the race was so beautiful. It was a nice downhill. Not too steep. My Garmin didn’t charge right, so it shut off at mile 5. That was okay since I didn’t want to go out too fast. It was kinda odd to have no idea what pace I was running, but liberating as well. I enjoyed the scenery and tried to gauge where I was at by how I felt. I tried to keep pace with some of the other runners around me.
One lady was so inspiring. I was running behind her for five minutes when I looked down and noticed she had an artificial leg with a metal foot. It was pretty awesome. She was running to raise money for child amputees. Another guy had a huge orange backpack on. I should have asked him what he was doing running a race with that monster on his back.
The first half flew by. I hardly remembered I was running. i think I finished the first 13 in about 2 hours. The course was beautiful. I was chatting with the amputee lady and the orange backpack guy, and all was well. We were all trying not to go out too fast and burn out. So a little diversion was good.
At mile 14, I got a great little boost seeing my friend Megan and her son holding a little sign with *MY* name on it. It put a big smile on my face and definitely made me tear up a little. There is just something about having that personal encouragement that means so much at that point. I remember in Chicago, people would tape their names onto their shirts so the crowd could cheer for them. It really helps!
I kept pace with these two until about the last few miles. After mile 15, the race started getting hard. We lost the downhill incline and had 11 left to go. My legs started to feel like lead. So I decided to take it one mile at a time and just run to the next water stop, then walk while I drank and ate my orange slices. After the race, I wasn’t as hungry or thirsty as usual. I think the oranges really helped. At the end of the Chicago Marathon I had eaten so much energy gel I wanted to puke. Real food was wonderful! I think every race ought to have oranges slices.
I started playing mindgames at about mile 18. They went like this, “My legs are numb. My legs are numb. I can’t feel anything.” My legs were actually very heavy and pretending they weren’t there did help. The last four miles, I was doing a run/walk.
It was so nice to cross that finish line. I was pleasantly surprised that I finished in 4:36. At some of the later water stops, I'd call out "what time is it?" just to get a rough idea of where I was at and I was thinking that I was closer to 4:40. So my average pace was 10:31/mile, about a minute slower per mile than my last marathon. But hey, for what I put into it, I'll take it.
When I pulled into our driveway, Miles greeted me with the same question he asks me every time I run a race, “Did you WIN?!” Then before I could even answer, he saw my medal and was so excited. He ran downstairs and put it with my other race medals. I found a frame last week and realized it would be a great place for my medals. Sunday I was so sore, I told Jared I didn’t know if I was ever going to do another marathon. Miles overheard me, and said I had to do at least one more so I could fill up my medals frame. LOL. There is space for one more. It will be a sad day when Miles finally learns that no, I did not win all those races.
Overall, I liked the race. I preferred St. George, but Top of Utah was fun and was a good alternative. It seemed to be well organized. The next one on the books is the Phoenix Rock and Roll Marathon in January. That ought to fill my case. After that, who knows.
