Race # 4 THE BIG ONE St. George Marathon

Tis done.

I finished. I did almost as well as I wanted to.

Anytime anyone asked me what time I wanted to get, It would change :) At one point I was thinking that I maybe could qualify for the Boston Marathon. HA! OK, so I didn't really think I could but thought maybe on a really good day I could. After talking to a lot of people I thought that anywhere from 4:00:00 to 4:30:00 would be a more realistic expectation.

I said it before. I had no idea what to expect.  Boy did I have no idea.

I would compare it to the difficulty of child birth. I don't feel like it's quite as rewarding, thrilling or empowering, but maybe I will after my legs don't feel like they are recovering from a knife fight.

Before I tell you my actual time let me give you a run down of my entire Marathon experience. This could get long, so grab a snack.

The week before the race my hamstrings started getting really tight for no apparent reason. No amount of stretching helped them and I was getting worried so on Wednesday I called my friend who is a massage therapist for help.

She worked out some nasty knots and the tightness turned to just a little bit of sore muscles which was more familiar and less scary. I was quite worried I would end up pulling a muscle with how tight they were.

Anyway, with that done I was feeling better but that night my son got sick and threw up several times in the night. The next night was thankfully better but I knew Friday night in the Hotel was going to be tough.

I had an Advil PM but it didn't touch my insomnia, I'm afraid it may have made it worse. With my alarm set for 3:45 and the clock burning it's 1:15 in my eyes I took a melatonin and that luckily took affect and soon fell asleep. but 2 hours of sleep. I mean..... OUCH!

I didn't really notice though. Adrenalin does a lot, but I'm sure to some degree it had an affect on my run.

I hopped on the early buses hoping to get an early bird prize. (didn't) And tried to rest on the way up.  When I got up there I quickly spotted a neighbor and I just leached on to her to pass time.


The start line is nice. They have bonfires to keep warm, a HUGE line of bathrooms which I used 3 times before the race. (I know, I'm pathetic) and food and drinks, gloves and Mylar blankets. One thing I can say about this race, they have all the bases covered. I felt like every penny I paid to enter that race was put to really good use. I rarely feel that way. Most of the time I wonder where my money went.


So anyway... Starting line was great! I didn't mind waiting around one bit. On my last trip to the bathrooms I was about the 4th person in line when the gun went off. (no big deal, it's chip timed so your time doesn't start until you cross the start line). I took care of business, threw away my blanket and my water bottle  and started running.


I stuck with my neighbor for the first mile when at some point I lost her. I'm pretty sure I was going faster than she wanted to go but in the end she passed me at some point. She's done 13 of these things, I really should have just stuck with her. I probably would have done better.

Mile 1-4 flew by. I seriously don't remember much other than reading all the silly signs people taped everywhere and feeling like even though the sun wasn't even up, I was hot. This was one of the hottest days for the marathon and got into the 90's outside. The start was probably in the high 50's to 60's.

It's a pretty steady up and down until about mile 7 and that is when you spot it. Veyo hill. It's a biggie! But I was feeling great. So before the 7 mile marker I popped a cliff bar shot. Drank some water and took advantage of no wait for a port-a-potty.  I didn't want to walk the hill when I was feeling so good so I just took it slow. In hind sight...maybe I should have just walked it like I was told. But the top was the first spot of sunlight and I wanted to get the most of my "sun free" running. After the dreaded hill it just gradually goes uphill for about another mile or two.  I still only walked when I was drinking water at the aid stations.

Mile 13 passed and I felt good. The time clock read 2:03:00 which was great since I knew I had about 5-10 minutes on the clock and I was running about as fast as I did my half marathon and I was still feeling alive.

Things started to get harder from here.

At some point the guy holding the 4:00 hr pace balloons past me and they were going too fast for me to keep up.

I looked forward to mile 17 when I would open another cliff bar shot and hope for a caffeine boost.

I made it to 17 and was still feeling ok but this is when my legs started to just hurt with every step. My muscles were angry.

Mile 18 to 23 are kind of a blur. They were hard but I was running most of it. I think I walked the steeper hills. But they still seemed to go by quickly.

Mile 23 held in store a great big brick wall. SERIOUSLY kicked my butt. I think a major mistake was stopping to go pee. Turns out I didn't have anything to pee and the sitting was really hard on my legs. They didn't want to start up again and the battle was on. The is where the child birth comparison came to play.

My mind was doing fine. I was thinking "It's just a 5K. That's nothing!" I wasn't gasping for air in anyway. I was still keeping my two to three step breathing pattern, two steps breath in, two steps breath out (I'm kind of neurotic about my breathing pattern, it's hard for me to run with music because of it) but my legs just wouldn't go. Walking felt fine, in fact I could walk pretty fast so when I just had to walk I would try to pass others who were walking. But running, even when it was really slow was still faster than walking so I did my best.

The last three miles were probably somewhere between 40 and 50 percent walking. DARN!

The 4:15:00 balloons went past me somewhere around the 23 mile marker and that was discouraging. But with the end so close what else could I do but keep going?

After rounding the final turn I kept running because I knew I would soon see my kids. There they were, Roman wanted a five. Shane took pictures to document my pain and the finish line was  taunting me and might as well have been four more miles away, it just wouldn't get closer.

I eventually made it. The clock read 4:27:50. My actual time was 4:23:03

The misters at the end were heavenly but hard to leave. I worked my way through the sea of people who could barely stand or were passed out on the ground and found some food. Suddenly I was STARVING and very thirsty.

I got a huge plate of food and a bomb pop (DELICIOUS!) and headed to where I planned on meeting my family. I actually felt OK. Although there was no way I was going to sit down because there would be no getting up. All of my pain was in my legs.

So, there you have it.

I'm a little disappointed in my time. I thought I would do better. But... It gives me something to work on in the (far distant) future. And now I know what to expect.

At this point I just feel like my legs weren't used to that kind of running. All those little runs I did during the week just didn't prepare my muscles and joints for that kind of torture and by mile 23 they let me know. My aerobic abilities didn't even get pushed to their max I don't think. My mind was still good, I was ready to sprint that last mile if my legs would have done it. So, I will keep all that in mind for the (far, far, distant) future. :)

Maybe more strengthening would have been helpful. I KNOW a running partner would have been helpful (especially on those long long runs). And, experience is definitely helpful.

Now, I will consider this a real success if in a week, I get up, get on my running clothes and keep running. :)

This is it

In about an hour I will be strapping my children into the car and driving away from home towards St. George.

OH. MY. GOSH!

Biggest problem. I would be nervous taking my kids on a two day vacation anyway. A two day vacation where I'm going to come as close as I ever have to killing myself. I don't know. When was this ever a good idea? Ok, So it was a slightly better idea when I had a partner in crime (my neighbor) to keep my mind from thinking about everything too much.

I'm worried about being too tired to function or enjoy. I'm worried about next to no sleep. I'm worried about bored kids, hungry kids, tired kids, sick kids, grouchy husband, being sore, being sick, being tired. Oh, did I mention that?

I don't do well when I"m tired.

Oh well, I got a massage from a friend from High School who is a massage therapist. It was nice. My hamstring is now sore, but at least not strangely tight. I'm not as worried about it anymore.

My stuff is packed now and I'm just waiting for my oldest to come home from school and my husband to come home from work and we will go.

OH! MY! GOSH!

I LOVE carbs!

Yes, we are down to the last moments before the race. There is nothing I can do to improve my training now except eat. :)

I'm good at eating. I've found that I'm really good at eating carbs, which is making my plan difficult.

My plan, after some research on pre-race nutrition, is to deprive my body of carbs for 4 days, then carbo load the last four days. In theory, your body will then over-load the glycogen stores in your muscles because it didn't like the deprivation and would like to avoid it in the future.

The problem. EVERYTHING I love to eat and makes my tummy happy is filled with carbs. Seriously! Cereal... nope, rice, nope, tortillas, bread, crackers, nope, nope, nope.  I haven't gone 100% without carbs though. That can't be good for you.  I'm just trying to cut back where it's totally obvious.

When day 4 comes though (tomorrow-ish) I'm going to carb up baby! I've got a nice stack of bagels calling my name, bananas, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, bread mmmmm.

I don't know how anyone can do the whole low carb diets. I would die!

I LOVE CARBS!!!!

Oh and there is the subject of sleep that haunts me. Already I'm having bad dreams about the race. Last night I had a dream that I didn't even wake up until I was miles into the race (don't ask me how this is possible) But when I did finally "wake up" I couldn't move very well and OH! I had pee!!!! I finally came across a port-a-potty and was able to go... at which point I really woke up in a panic because I was worried I had peed in the bed. Wouldn't that have been interesting. Don't worry, I didn't But I did REALLY have to go.  End of sleep for me.

I'm hoping the Advil PM helps me out the night before the race. I'm gonna need all the help I can get.

The finish line

The race is nearly a week away! OH. MY. GOSH!

What was I thinking? I'm not even excited. I'm terrified!

I'm afraid to have any expectations whatsoever for fear of failing misserably.

Four hours of running !!!! What was I thinking???!?!??

I will say this though... I can run a mean 3 miles ;)

My hips no longer bother me, but now I have a new nagging pain in my hamstring. I have to stop and stretch it often and it hurts on and off durring the day as well. It seems so deep in my leg that it's hare to pinpoint or rub, So I stretch and stretch and stretch more

I hope it doesn't give up on me. That is actually my biggest fear is that I will get hurt. I'm not worried about being so tired. I expect it. I just worry about not finishing.

Two weeks from now it will be over and I can run if I want to, not because I have to. Translation= I probably won't get my self out there very much.

race # 3.5

So, I hadn't planned on running another race but I can't pass up on a free race to test my speed.

My high school has an Alumni race every year. I did it last year and gasped my way through 3-9 minute miles. It was kind of embarrassing considering I had been running all summer. I wasn't prepared though. Grass and hills were something I had not done in a long time. That is all the race is.

This year was a little different. I've been running.... A LOT!

And I've been running more hills (see previous post). I was ready to go kick butt...at the rate of about 8 minute miles. :)

So, I went, I ran and I totally surprised myself.

I ran three rather consistent 7:25 miles. My finish time was faster than I've been since my high school days. 23:00:06 or something like that. :)

I felt pretty good throughout too.  Thank to my friend Dorothy for pacing with me for most of the race and keeping me going.

so YEA!

I'm still aiming for 9 minute miles on the marathon though. Not that I'm going to even wear a watch. But I just can't see myself going much faster for that long.

the one where I "ran" the twenty miles

So yeah, I did actually run the twenty miles and lived...barely.

I made the mistake of making the first ten miles kind of tough. I ran  up to the hobble creek golf course and back. In a car it seems like nothing but running it is not an easy run. Lots of up and downs with about 500 ft elevation difference.

Not to mention that I had to start my run before 5 pm to finish before it got dark. It was hot, and miserable.

I've been wanting to run this route all summer but never had a good opportunity. It's a little scary to do alone because there isn't a whole lot of foot traffic along the trail and there some very secluded areas where bears and cougars while rare and not typically aggressive, are still there. And I can't guarantee that I don't look like an injured animal when I run. HA! I decided to be brave and do it anyway. I'm glad I did but It would definitely be less scary with someone. Luckily the scariest thing I saw was a tiny little snake that was about the size of a pencil.


I got a drink at the park on the east side of the golf course and headed back down.

When I got home from that leg I didn't want to continue. I was pretty tired. But I gagged down a cliff shot and left home... again.

This time I went and ran my "around Mapleton" route. It's actually more like 8 miles but I figure with the extra hardness of the first part and I think I went a bit farther than 10 miles on that part so all in all I probably went closer to 19 miles. I made it home just as it really got uncomfortably dark.

Good enough.

Surprisingly, I probably felt best in mile 16-18 or so. 12-15 were absolutely dreadful.

It's all down hill from here right?

I can't believe my race is going to be longer than that. Whoever does these often is just plane crazy. So many hours of running. I'm starting to decided that I really LOVE running 5k races.

The dreaded day

Today is the dreaded day.... I guess.

I run 20 miles tonight. And I LOATH this day. I couldn't sleep last night... like all the nights before my long run I just can't stop thinking about running enough to get a good solid sleep in.  I wasn't even possitive that I was going to do my 20 miler today and I still couldn't sleep.  I've gotta do something about that. I can't imagine running a marathon on 4 hours of poor sleep. But at least I have lots of practice at running on next to no sleep.

AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

As soon as Shane gets home from work I will quickly feed my family, jump into my running clothes and run, and run, and run, and die, and run some more. The goal is to make in home before dark. Actually I will probably run two 10 mile loops so that I can go to the bathroom, get a decent drink and contemplate skipping the second loop all together.

a little more than 4 weeks and it will be history. The pain, I'm sure, will not be.

I read an article about doing sprints to keep your twitch muscles in check so that even when you are exhausted you can keep a good turnover. This is really what I need because I get really slow and worn out and all my runs aren't really improving my form, just my endurance. But the thought of doing sprints after my runs makes me want to barf. I did some yesterday. Maybe every other time? 

I'm ready to go back to running 3-5 miles 3 days a week for the heck of it.  chances are, I won't even be able to keep that up. SIGH