St. George Marathon 2008

Where do I even start? First of all, I am not holding up 1 finger because I got first place (duh), just that I finished my first marathon :)
Ok, moving on....I've been waiting (don't know why) to run a marathon since high school. That is well over 10 years. Running has been a part of my life since 6th grade, and doing a marathon has always been a part of that. I actually had entered the St. George Marathon 2 times prior to actually running it, but the first time, Shaune was diagnosed with cancer 8 weeks before the race (we actually entered together...obviously we didn't run :). The next year, I was entered again, only to find out 8 weeks prior that I was already 3 months prego...wow, that was a shocker (I'm not exactly Fertile Myrtle). Being a nervous prego woman, I decided not to run. What a relief to finally get to this race!!!! I've been training since March (too early to start training in my opinion). Most of my training was done with my fabulous neighbor Megan (love that girl!). We have put in hundreds and hundreds of miles. She is a marathon veteran (11 St. George Marathons) so I felt honestly privileged to run with her. She gave me lots of good advice and took me on some great runs. Not to mention that she kept me rolling in laughter...I don't even know how my friend, Tricialicious trained for this marathon BY HERSELF (and her iPod and her Dr. Pepper :), I could not have done this without Megan and a VERY supportive husband who was often sentenced to giving me lots of foot-rubs, back-rubs, and taking care of everything on his one day off so that I could get my long runs in. My husband is the bomb...seriously. He biked along the trail with me from mile 17-26 giving me Gu, ibuprofen, and lots of support. He made me feel like I was the most amazing runner out there. It was fun to experience the marathon together.
And I have to send a special shout-out to my amazing fam who helped us with the kids! My sister was my midnight coach answering all my insane questions the night before the race :)
The day before the race, Tricialicious ( a long-time friend of mine who lives in AZ but came up to run the marathon, too) and all my Fullerton Girls were in town for our Fun Fullerton Friend Reunion (all of our husbands went to optometry school together)...it was SSSOOO FUN! It started with a birthday party for Brian and ended with a lot of laughter, shopping, and sore muscles. Anyways, Tricia and I decided that we needed to look good while running a marathon so, we ventured off to get spray-tans (what a bonding pre-marathon experience :). This backfired on us since it rained the entire marathon!!! Golden goddesses the night before, drippy ex-prom queens the day of....go figure :) Anyways, seriously though, if you ever want to feel instantly HOTTER, get a spray-tan. I have such a testimony of it.
It was time for bed....
8 Gu's--check.
64 oz. of Gatorade finished--check.
Race day outfit (Lulu marathoner mandatory :)--check.
Race chip--check.
Watch--check.
Really expensive lycra socks--check.
Hot running shirt that my husband surprised me with the day before--check.
Race number--check.
Spray-tan--check.
Everything was good to go.
The morning of, I went to pick up Tricia. I was GIDDY about running...seriously. I think Tricia wanted to kill me for being so hyper. The biggest disappointment of the morning was that we didn't have camera's with us to document this...bummer. Anyways, we shuttled up to the top of the race course, and were greeted by hundreds of runners, a DJ, food, bonfires (not sure how they survived with all the rain), garbage bag pancho's, and a bazillion port-a-potties. We hid out in those port-a-potties for as long as we felt we could to avoid standing in the rain...went back several times :) After about an hour and a half, it was finally time for the race to start...and where were we? Standing in line for the port-a-potty---very anti-climatic for the record :) We got off though before the last of the 7000 runners so we weren't too far behind.
It was really dark when the race started. Tricia and I hung together for the first three miles, and then I could just tell that I needed to go a little faster. By mile 6, I had caught up with the 4 hour pacer. After a few miles with her, I could tell I needed to go even faster...just took off at about mile 10. By mile 13, still felt great. I took Gu and water or Gatorade at every aid station. I think that helped me not to bonk. Saw Shaune at mile 15, and then had his company the rest of the way. Couldn't have had a better person with me :) Having him around made me want to do even better. Started to feel my knee's around mile 20, so I popped some ibuprofen and was fine by mile 23. At this point there were so many people cheering...felt like I was winning the Olympics or something. TOTAL runner's high!!! I saw my mom, dad, and kids just before the finish line and couldn't have ended on a better note! My time was 3:51:59. That put me only 11 minutes away from qualifying for the Boston Marathon...not bad for a first time marathon. Looks like I am going to have to run another one to see if I can qualify someday :)
My muscles were pretty sore the day after (like had to be pulled out of bed sore and was considering renting a Jazzy-chair), but was able to run just a few days later. By far, this is one of the coolest things I have ever done. Already looking forward to doing this again. I was really worried about being able to stick to my training schedule and staying committed to doing this. It sure helped to have a mother-in-law spend her vacation time to bike with you on 18 mile runs, in-laws who know just when to send the perfect training "pick-me-up" (aka my LULULEMON jacket...good choice, Erin!!), a husband who wants to help you achieve your goals, a sister who is willing to coach me, and a neighbor who is a pro.
I thought that when I crossed the finish line I would bawl my eyes out (partially out of happiness, but mostly out of pain)--however, I didn't shed a single tear...just had this perm-grin that I couldn't even get rid of...it was like my cheeks were cramped in a smile :) It was worth every mile of training and prep to get to the finish-line. Goal accomplished. Everyone should take the challenge to achieve one goal this year...it feels so good. Peace out.