Friday we left to St. George for the marathon....oh the marathon....I didn't sign up for this marathon but the group we started running with on Saturdays convince me to run it. KO Murdock sponsors it and had extra spots so my sister Courtney and I got lucky to be able to sign up for it just a couple months ago. (sadly my sister Candace did not run it even though she has been training with us-her BYU couch was suppose to get her in and it didn't work out...sad :( ) Anyways everyone has told me that the St. George marathon is a faster course and mostly downhill but I was warned about one nasty hill at mile 7ish and one other hill.....well I was lied to. The course had a lot more rolling hills than I expected. It was a rough course I would say-especially on my knees-yikes!
Anyone that wants to know the details of my race here it is:
I went into the race feeling pretty good. Since I ran Ogden in 3:43 and everyone told me this course was faster I was hoping to beat my time possibly! At the start of the race is was freezing but thankfully we were on one of the last buses so we were up there too long before the race started but just enough to make your muscles and joint tighten up! I started off really well and felt great. I was going a little faster than usual but since I started a couple minutes after the gun went off I felt like I was playing catch up to find the pacers I wanted to keep with. I was running around 7:30 min pace but felt really good. I finally got the pacer-which I thought was the 4 hr pacer...it ended up being the 3:25 pacer....yeah too fast for me. ha
mile 1: 7:25
mile 2: 7:45
mile 3: 7:35
mile 4: 7:16
mile 5: 7:27
mile 6: 7:18
So I tried to slow down but I felt good so I just did what felt good at the time. The nasty hill at mile 7 wasn't horrible for me but it did tighten up my butt quite well....I butt is usually always the first thing to tighten up. ha! It seemed like after that is when I started not feeling my best...my stomach was hurting. So at mile 10 (on another hill) I had to stop and go the bathroom. At that point I was just behind the 3:25 pacer still but I knew I wasn't going to catch back up with them after the bathroom but I didn't want to get too far behind. I felt better but not great after. At around mile 13 (I think?) I had to go the bathroom again...goodness stomach issues are not fun while running a race-I experience that the first time with my half at the end of August and was hoping to not have that experience again but I did... (and I know you want to hear about my new issues haha)
mile 7: 7:19
mile 8: 8:20
mile 9: 8:16
mile 10: 8:11
mile 11: 9:36
mile 12: 8:41
mile 13: 8:03
mile 14: 8:27
mile 15: 9:31
mile 16: 7:34
mile 17: 7:47
mile 18 8:13
At this point I was feeling kinda drained. I made sure I was drinking at every aide station and I ate my energy tummies but I felt like I was going to throw up when I did.
At mile 19 I stopped again to go the bathroom-stomach pain was too bad..ugh at this point I was getting kinda frustrated but also feeling really crummy and was losing hope of doing well. I went down hill from there and hard. I hit that "wall" they talk about...At one point I wanted to quit and just cry. The 3:35 pacer passed me around mile 22...then the 3:45 a little later... I tried to mentally tell my self I was ok because they say it more mental than physical and I totally believe that...but this time my body completely told me "NO, you can't run right now"! Every time I started to run right under my diaphragm hurt-I can take my sore muscles and achy knees hurting but this pain was not going to allow me to run. And I do have to mention that fact that my son made it that I only got around 4 hours of sleep before running a marathon. He woke up at 1:30ish that morning and decided not to go back to bed!! (He does not sleep well in a pack-n-play) He was wide awake ready to play-Jesse and I did everything we could to try to get him to sleep but he just woke up the whole house-so you can say that would contribute to my exhaustion at this point...
and it went down hill fast from here....
mile 19: 9:33
mile 20: 10:25
mile 21: 9:55
mile 22: 11:11
mile 23: 12:54
mile 24: 11:54
mile 25: 14:00
mile 26: 11:08
(I know everyone said I went out too fast..I probably did and need to force myself to run at a good pace even if I feel like running faster..I just didn't want to hold myself back from getter an even faster time than I thought-I think it was more of my stomach pain and being completely drained-literally...ha!)
My pride was getting to me as I had to just walk...it was awful! and I really didn't want the 4 hour pacer to pass.. The last couple miles I was just waiting for my sister and mom to pass me cause I thought they would be able to run it right around 4 hours. I would run a block maybe then walk...until about the last .5 mile where everyone is cheering you on I had to push myself to run that in....it was miserable. haha! but I finished right under 4 hours! So I should be happy and proud of myself still...I guess I was more disappointed with how I felt and that I didn't have the greatest experience. I was excited to run St. George because this was the marathon I grew up knowing my mom ran it almost every year-the thing that made me have a desire to run a marathon in the first place. But oh well you can't completely control how you feel! But now I really am questioning if I should run another marathon...half I can do...but another marathon-we will see...hate to end on more of a bad note..ha!
The car ride down....car rides are always fun with Corbin (ok that was completely sarcastic) He still does not like the car and fights sleep like no other kid! So with all of our many stops when we went into the gas stations and stuff he would always want the candy so I gave in and let him have a sucker to help him be more pleasant...sadly it didn't last as long as I was hoping....ended in a sticky mess-but he was happy with it! :)
On sunday we laid around, my Grandma made her famous strawberry waffles (with ice cream) and watched General Conference-Ill have to read or watch most of it. It is hard to watch when you have a child-he will stay in the room with me but then he is too noisy! ha but I can't complain too much!
Monday we took it easy in the morning packing up and hoping that Corbin would take a nap (didn't happen). We went and hiked a little hike in St. George and let Corbin play in the sand then took the scenic route through Zion's to drive to Panguitch.
We stayed in the nicest little motel they have in little Panquitch...ha! but it really wasn't too bad. Corbin is getting a little too comfortable on a big bed...first time I have ever let him sleep with us in bed as in St. George....it was not a good night rest..but I was desperate for just some sleep..
We spent the evening with our friends, our sister-in-laws family, the Yardleys. They had us over for dinner and a little FHE! They are the nicest people!
Tuesday we went and hiked around Kodachrome which is a little past Bryce Canyon. Pretty little State Park! Jesse wasn't feeling too well and even thinks he might have a little flu bug so we had to take it a little easy for him. I thought all of our hikes were beautiful even though Jesse jokingly said he thought of the "lone and dreary world" ha!
After we figured out we could go to the Rim at Bryce Canyon. The hotels right outside can take you on a little shuttle ride and you can see a little of Bryce Canyon! One day we will go actually in..ha! (Thank you Government shutdown for changing out vacation plans and not letting us hike in Zions and Bryce Canyon.....but I really am glad we were able to do the little hikes we did instead ha)
We live in a beautiful world! :)
