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

St. George Marathon!  A personal best of 2:58:19, 10th place overall finish and 1st in my age category.  My goal was to break three hours so although I crossed the finish line exhausted I was happy.

Sleeping:

I have sleeping problems.  I went to bed feeling really good about everything.  I took a melatonin and went right to sleep.  In fact I figure I went to sleep about 20-25 times in the 6 hours I spent in bed, which basically means I woke up about every 15 or 20 minutes.  I was on a futon couch at my brother-in-laws home and every time the air conditioner kicked on it woke me up.  My 5 year old daughter was sleeping next to me and her kicks account for about another 5 wake-ups.  I wished I had ear-plugs and my own bed.

Pre-Race:

I met Melanie, Kim and Jane at the busses and we rode to the start together.  We found a spot in the bushes to stretch, pee, visit, stretch, pee and pee some more.  Then we said a prayer together and went to the starting line. 

The Race:

I ran with Melanie, Kim and Jane for the first three miles and lost track of them at the water stop.  The rest of the race I ran on my own. 

Miles 1-7:  6:57, 7:05, 6:41, 6:32, 6:34, 6:34, 6:23  These miles felt good and relaxed.  I was cautious not to go out too fast and I think I ran smart along here.

Miles 8-13:  7:40 (Veho hill), 7:23, 7:08, 7:30 (another hill), 7:09, 6:41.  This is the long slightly uphill section that always seems harder for me than the miles after.  My right hamstring also started hurting at the top of Veyo and ached all along here until I hit the downhill. 

I felt a little panicked when I saw the clock at mile 13 say 1:30:08..09..10...  I knew I needed to run the second half faster than the first half if I wanted to reach my goal and I've never done that before. 

Miles 14-19:  6:48, 6:22, 6:13, 6:30, 6:34, 7:00.  I felt really good along these miles.  Although at the mile 17 water stop I learned that yellow Gatorade in the eye REALLY HURTS!

Miles 20-26.2:  6:43, 6:25, 6:44, 6:29, 6:23, 6:51, 7:08, Last .2 @ 7:13 pace.  I felt the best I've ever felt miles 20-24 of a marathon.  As I approached the 23rd mile marker I decided to put out a little more effort and pick up the pace.  I was hoping I had three miles of "more effort" in me, but I didn't.  Just after the 24th mile marker I started to hurt.  I took my last gu hoping that would get me through the last two miles.  It seemed to help some, but only for about a mile.  Just after the 25.2 marker with only one mile to go my whole body shut down.  Everything felt tight and in pain.  My thought here was, "NOOOO!"  I wanted to finish strong, but I really felt like I was going to cry.  I swear the first half of this last mile is slightly uphill and that was a big problem for me right then.  After I turned the corner I felt just a tiny bit better as the road went just a tiny bit downhill, but I lost control of my breathing and probably sounded funny.  Josse came running  up to me and asked if I wanted her to run with me.  I said, "Sure, I don't care," but about a minute later was really glad she stuck with me for that half mile.  After I turned the corner I just stared at the finish line and didn't even see my kids yelling from the sidelines.  I knew I would be under three hours if I could just keep running for another quarter mile.  I put my arms up in the air as I crossed in 2:58:19!. 

Post Race:

I received an award for being in the top 10 women and also an age division award, a stone clock.  As I drove home with my clock on my lap I remembered the first time I ran the St. George Marathon with my dad at age 18.  I won my age division with a 3:18:47 and drove home with a similar clock on my lap.  Twenty years later I finished 20 minutes faster and have myself another clock. 

I have to thank Melanie B for being such a good running partner.  I never would have done the 22 and 23 mile training runs on my own and I think they really helped.  I'm also so happy for her 2:59:00!  Kim and Jane were great to run with too and PR congratulations on a 2:50:35 and 3:00:23.

I got out of bed Sunday morning easier than I ever have post marathon.  I wasn't nearly as sore as I've been on some of my past races.  But for how good I felt Sunday I sure struggled today.

Yesterday I thought the little soreness I had was gone so this morning I got up with enough time to run 8 or 10 miles.  After less than a mile my quad started hurting, then my hamstring.  I decided to cut my run to a 4 mile loop and stopped at a dumpster to ditch my water bottle.  No sense carrying a used water bottle for only 4 miles.  When I started running again I realized my lungs were burning.  I must have held my breath too long taking my drink or something because I only run 1 mile at a 7:40 pace and the last part of it was downhill. 

I headed around my 4 mile loop, but a half mile later decided even that might be too far.  I turned around after 1.5 miles and went home for a total of 3 miles.  Avg pace 7:53.  I'll hope for better luck tomorrow.

This time I made it 6 miles.  I was hoping for 10, but only made it 3 before my hamstring started hurting.  Avg 7:42 pace.  I know I need to really rub it out, but I keep forgetting because it doesn't bother me other times of the day.

4 miles avg 7:11 pace.  My hamstring was a little better.  I still didn't rub it out over the weekend like I should have so I dug into it a little when I got home.  Hopefully tomorrow it will feel good. 

10 miles avg 7:13 pace.  It felt so good to go 10 miles again.  All except the dull aching pain in my hamstring.  At least it wasn't a sharp piercing pain like last week. 

Ran 6 miles with Marie, Amanda and Rebecca.  I don't usually run on Wednesday, but thought it would be fun to get together with friends.  Avg 7:40 pace.

10 miles up/down Provo Canyon after the kids went to school.  Nice weather out.  Avg 7:06 pace.

I met Marie and Rebecca for a run.  Marie ran a 6 mile loop with us and headed home from the start of the Canyon.  Rebecca and I went up the canyon a few miles and I ran her back down to the drinking fountain.  At this point I had 10.5 miles at an average 7:30 pace.  I headed back up the canyon a few more miles and then home for a total of 20 miles and an average 7:15 pace.  Why did I run 20 miles today?  That's what I was thinking at about mile 16 when I started to feel tired.  I guess "Because I can."

10 miles avg 7:25 pace. I felt fine running my 20 on Saturday, but later that day my hamstring started hurting and Sunday I could hardly walk. I had a shooting pain down the back of my leg that felt nerve related. I didn't run Monday and wasn't sure how far I would make it when I headed out this day. I did my 10 miles but it was uncomfortable. I was happy I didn't feel worse later in the day as a result of my run.

Nothing today. I went on a field trip with my son's 5th grade class and all the waking made my leg hurt. I tried to run 2 doors down to return something to my mom's house and was discouraged because there was no way I could go on a run feeling the way I did.

10 miles avg 7:30 pace. I felt even less confident heading out the door today than I did on Tuesday. My leg seemed to warm up better and my hamstring didn't feel as bad at the end of my run. I was going slow and my 10 miles felt like 20 though. My legs were unusually tired. The only encouraging thing about this run was a few hours later when I realized my hamstring is actually feeling better than it did before the run instead of worse.

4 miles avg 7:24 pace

14 miles up/down Provo Canyon with my husband on his bike avg 7:11 pace.

4 miles

10 miles.  I ran 6 miles alone, avg 6:59 pace, then 4 miles with my brother pushing my 2 year old nephew, avg 7:58 pace.  My brother said if I wanted a workout I needed to push the stroller because he couldn't go fast enough.   

6 miles with Marie, Rebecca and Jossse

4 miles

I ran the Hale Center Theater 10K that I think was really only 6 miles.  Still my time was not impressive.  I didn't warm up much so the first two miles felt too fast.  Then Marie got ahead of me on the downhill and she's such a good uphill runner and I knew I wouldn't catch her going up.  I sort of gave up on beating her and took second.  I won some tickets to the plays which was nice. 

I could feel the effects of the three cupcakes I ate the night before at our Halloween party and think I need to go back to eating more healthy.  I really watched what I ate the 6 weekks before the St. Geroge Marathon and, although I didn't lose any weight because I hate to be hungry and still ate a lot, I felt good because of it.  Sunday at dinner my cousin said she's thinking about not eating any sweets for the month of November.  I think that sounds like a good idea.  I'm not a candy eater, but I really love my home made baked goods.

My whole body also feels a little out of wack, like I'm tight everywhere.  I don't feel as bad as I did a couple of weeks ago, but I'm still not 100%.  I think I need to do some more work on that to get everything working well again. 

4 miles avg 7:36