"If we don't suffer enough we won't remember it."

Sat, Oct 04, 2014

Sat, 04 Oct 2014 06:00:00

St. George Marathon 2:56:51, my second fastest time!

I was extreemely pleased with my race after the terrible year I had. I never felt good after my ablation at the end of April. The medications or the procecure or something made me feel tight all over and I struggled with it all summer. I felt like my body just wouldn't allow me to really push myself in a workout and I couldn't figure out what it was.
It was discouraging to feel so bad going so slow all the time.

It was only in the last 2 weeks or so that I had a significant improvement in how I felt. Josse helped me a lot with that. She's an excellent massage therapist. I thought if I could warm-up a bit and stretch really good before the race that I had a good chance of feeling ok and doing well.

I printed a band on an old bib number with mile splits for a 2:58:30 and planned to follow that. I figured if my watch was off by a little on the distance this would give me a min or so to make that up. My husband gave me a look like I was crazy when he saw this spreadsheet pulled up on the computer and I told him my plan.

I followed the mile splits pretty well the first part of the race. A few of my downhill miles were a little faster, but my uphill miles were slower. Somewhere in the first 5 miles I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. I knew it was mostly gas. I felt gassy after I ate at the expo. I'm never eating there again. It made me feel the same way last year. I figured stopping to poop a little might just get things moving more and decided not to stop. The feeling went away for several miles, but returned again, went away again etc. I didn't get my water bottles in on time so I was at the mercy of the cups. I drank at every stop.

Mile 11 is always the worst for me. I looked down at my watch about 1/2 way through it and my pace was 20 seconds slower than it was supposed to be. I sped up some to get it over with but still finished it slower than I should have been. As I approached the 13th mile marker I felt like I needed to poop again and this time it was really bad. I looked over at the line of port-o-potties longingly and just kept running. About a quarter mile later I felt ok again.

When I crossed the clock at the 1/2 way point I saw 1:30:50 and worried I wasn't going to reach my goal of breaking 3 hours. I remembered crossing the 1/2 in just over 1:30 the year I ran 2:58 and I was slower and less confident in my training this year.

Miles 15 and 16 are my favorite miles, so pretty and fast. My husband, Brent, met me on his bike at about mile 16. He rode out to give me a water bottle then went back on the running trail. He dropped my water bottles for the last two Elite stops which was nice. He went ahead to video me several times so I saw him off and on. I felt pretty good on miles 15 to 20 with the occasional feeling like I needed to poop. I tried to follow the splits on my band I printed, but they were almost all faster through this section. In mile 19 my legs started to feel tired, going up the hill, and I worried I might fall to pieces. But when I hit the downhill again I felt good again. My splits were right on again for a few miles.

When I hit mile 23 I took my last of 6 GU and drank then decided to not drink any more. I was so sick of feeling like I had to go to the bathroom and the feeling seemed to return whenever I ate my GU or drank. A min or so later I felt good again.

At mile 24 Brent told me to catch the two girls ahead of me. I looked up and couldn't see any women. Then a 1/2 mile later he told me the two girls looked like they might be master division women. I said, "Don't do that to me!" I hate feeling like I'm racing against other people on a marathon. I just like to race the clock and see what I can do. I really don't like to be near other women at the finish. It stresses me out, so I was glad I couldn't see them. I did pass one of the women, but not the other.

I was so pleased that I actually felt good all the way to the end. When I saw the clock at mile 25.2 turning 2:50 I realized I might finish with a 2:56 if I was able to keep up the pace I was doing. I felt good and I only had one mile.

As I turned the corner to the finish line I thought about how I felt turning that corner last year, miserable and cramping, stopping to walk with the finish line in sight. I felt extremely grateful to be feeling good. Something I haven't felt much for an entire year. What a blessing it was to feel good on the day of a race. I said so many prayers of thanks during this race.

When I crossed the finish line I cried, tears of gratitude and joy. I had an experience earlier in the year where I felt like I would be "ok." That I wouldn't "win," but I would have "some success this year." All summer long I thought about that experience and just couldn't see how it was going to happen, but it happened. I was so happy to just feel good.

I gave Brent a big hug. He was so supportive of me all year, even when he thought I was crazy for planning to break 3 hours. He kept that to himself and didn't tell me until after the race.

I felt really happy and good about my race until I saw the results. The other woman my husband told me to pass that I didn't catch was the masters division winner and she finished only 45 seconds ahead of me. Huge prize for the masters winner. Trying not to feel ungrateful I couldn't help but groan "45 seconds" three or four times in the few hours after the race to which Brent finally said, "Stop with the 45 seconds!"

Mile splits 6:58, 7:02, 6:35, 6:36, 6:34, 6:26, 6:31, 7:43 (veyo), 7:12, 7:06, 7:28(mile 11), 7:01, 6:40 (1/2 way), 6:39, 6:20, 6:10, 6:28, 6:30, 6:59, 6:44, 6:24, 6:42, 6:34, 6:35, 6:41, 6:37, 6:29 (last .2). Average 6:45 pace. Official first half 1:30:47 (6:56 pace), second half 1:26:04 (6:34 pace).

Thu, Oct 02, 2014

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 06:00:00

3 miles. I didn't stretch before and had the dead leg thing after only 1/2 mile. This didn't give me a lot of confidence to be able to run 26 miles without stopping on Saturday.

I went to a chiropractor to have my ankle adjusted the day before and when he yanked on my ankle it felt like he pulled my hips off. I lay down on the floor the night before and asked my boys if my legs looked the same length. They said one, the one he yanked on, looked a centimeter longer. I had them yank on my other leg to even them out. My 11 and 13 year old boys yanked several times to get them the same.

They still felt off to me on my run so I asked my husband and it said that same one still looked longer. I had him yank on the other one and that seemed to fix my problems. I spent some time rubbing things out to get ready for the race.

Tue, Sep 30, 2014

Tue, 30 Sep 2014 06:00:00

6 miles with Melanie. We ran Emily Bates tempo loop in Provo. Tempo 3 miles. My "tempo" is only about 6:40 pace on a flat though.

Mon, Sep 29, 2014

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 06:00:00

4.5 miles with Marie and others

Sat, Sep 27, 2014

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 06:00:00

13 miles down AF Canyon on the old AF 1/2 Marathon course. Met Melanie, Kim, Jane and Josse for this run. It was raining a little, but not too cold and a lot of fun. Melanie and Jane went faster than us, I ran with Kim the whole way and Josse was close to us. Avg 6:40 pace.

I had Josse work on my again the day before and it seemed to help. I had only a little dead leg feeling starting out, but not enought that I had to stop. It bothered me a little the first 2 miles then went away after my first water/stretch stop.

Thu, Sep 25, 2014

Thu, 25 Sep 2014 06:00:00

8 miles to Timpview high school and back after the kids went to school. I didn't feel very good, so tired from Monday and Tuesday. At mile 6 I stopped and stood on the side of the road wishing I had just gone 6 miles. Average 7:22 pace.

Tue, Sep 23, 2014

Tue, 23 Sep 2014 06:00:00

9.5 miles with Melanie along Jordan River trail. She went 10. I went a little slower and had a longer stop to stretch. Avg 7:01 pace.

Mon, Sep 22, 2014

Mon, 22 Sep 2014 06:00:00

18 miles up/down Provo Canyon on the trail after the kids went to school. I didn't get in a run as long as I wanted on Saturday because I was short on time and didn't want to run in the dark with my still hurt ankle.

I really wanted one more longer run. I still had a little of the "dead leg" think going on and had to stop to stretch in the first mile but after that I felt pretty good. I had a 7:23 pace when I turned around a couple miles up South Fork. I was pushing the pace coming down to try to get my pace under 7 min and barely did, 6:59 average. I was just happy I actually felt like I could push the pace. All year long I've felt like my body wouldn't allow me to really push myself because everything felt so tight and just not right.

Sat, Sep 20, 2014

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 06:00:00

12 miles with Melody and Melanie up/down Provo Canyon. Melanie got ahead of us after about 1 mile and went farther so I didn't see her much. My ankle hurt so much the first quarter mile that I almost turned around. Then it warmed up and felt ok unless I stopped for very long. Then it would hurt to start up again.

I didn't really think about our pace and we had an average 7:22 pace when we turned around at Vivian Park. We ran into some other people there and visited for a few minutes. Coming down we must have averaged 6:37 pace. I was so surprised when I looked at my watch as we were finishing and saw an average 6:59 pace for the run. All year I have struggled and felt horrible doing 7:15 pace so it was wonderful to feel pretty good doing 7's.

Thu, Sep 18, 2014

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 06:00:00

.25 miles into my run on Suncrest I stepped on a rock in the dark and sprained my ankle. I was so discouraged. A few weeks ago running up AF Canyon with Melody I had actually thought I wouldn't mind spraining my ankle so I would have a good excuse to not do St. George. Now right when I think I actually want to do it and am not feeling as bad I sprain my ankle. I slowly walked back to my car, ice, crutches, etc. So discouraging.

Tue, Sep 16, 2014

Tue, 16 Sep 2014 06:00:00

11.5 Miles with Melanie. We ran a 2 mile warm-up to the BYU track and met Melody there. Melanie did mile repeats and I did 1200 meter repeats with a longer recovery to stretch. I had a lot of time being stoped, but was able to get my times faster, about 6:05 pace on each one.

I had Josse work on me Monday and I think it really helped. She dug into my abdomen and up by my ribs. I didn't realize I was so tight all through there. I actually felt much better on the cool-down back to the car than I have all year. I noticed the sharp pain I've had in my stomach muscles whenever I couch was gone. I've had that all summer, ever since my surgery in April.

Mon, Sep 15, 2014

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 06:00:00

5 miles with Marie and others.

Sat, Sep 13, 2014

Sat, 13 Sep 2014 06:00:00

23 miles down Provo Canyon from Wallsburg. Met Melanie and Jane for this run. I was happy I didn't have to stop in the first few miles to stretch with the "dead leg" thing. It still bothered me some, but I was able to just stretch at regular water stops. Avg 6:47 pace. This run gave me hope that I can run St. George close to 3 hours if I don't have to stop.

Fri, Sep 12, 2014

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 06:00:00

4 miles

Thu, Sep 11, 2014

Thu, 11 Sep 2014 06:00:00

11.5 miles. Met Melanie at Bridal Veil and ran up/down trail and South Fork from there. Melanie went 12 faster than I went 11.5. It still takes me so long to warm up. My right leg starts feeling dead, like blood isn't circulating to it and I have to stop. It's worse on uphill. Avg 7:09, but I had a lot of minutes with my watch stopped.

Tue, Sep 09, 2014

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 06:00:00

14 miles with Melanie on the Jordan River trail. We did 5 x .75 with .5 recovery. My interval times weren't very fast, around 6:20 pace. Had to stop to stretch a lot, avg 7:02 though.

Mon, Sep 08, 2014

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 06:00:00

4 miles

Sat, Sep 06, 2014

Sat, 06 Sep 2014 06:00:00

20 miles @ 7:26 pace. Up/Down AF Canyon. The first 5 with Melody and the rest on my own. 8:13 pace to top and 6:39 pace down. Never felt good. Seriously wondering whether I even want to run St. George.

Fri, Sep 05, 2014

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 06:00:00

4 miles @ 7:20 pace

Thu, Sep 04, 2014

Thu, 04 Sep 2014 06:00:00

8 miles @ 7:24 pace