Mommy Tri's: 26.2 Miles

It is done. I did it. I finished the marathon. Never in my whole life did I EVER think I would run a marathon. I am not a runner, never have been. Even 2 years ago when I started running with my girlfriends it was ONLY because they told me they talk the whole time and I knew it was the best way to stay in shape (or rather get back into shape after having all these babies!) - Even then I laughed at them when they suggested running a marathon. They all do it, have done it, and will do it again. So what changed in the last few years? It is hard to pinpoint the moment(s) that it happened. Once I was running 6 miles 3x/week just for exercise the idea of running 8 on a saturday sounded like fun (what!?!?! FUN!?!?! running 8 miles!?!?! this is NOT the rachel we all have known and loved our whole lives.) Then I ran 10, then 12 - and after each of those runs to say, "Wow! that is the farthest I have EVER run in my life." was a cool and invigorating feeling. And hence, the marathon bug crept in, and stayed.

Saturday, October 3rd, in St. George, Utah - My first Marathon.
The weather was PERFECT - it could not have been better - we started in the dark at about 40 degrees and at 5200 feet elevation. We finished when it was sunny and high 60s and at 2200 ft elevation. Typically you have to take a bus from the finish area up to the start between 4:30-6am - Fortunately for me, Brecken and I stayed with some friends who used to live here, who now are in St. George and who have connections and Eric was able to drive us up to the starting line 15 minutes before it started - so we did not have to stand around in the cold or get up at 4 am (I think I was awake then anyway though!).

The Race
Brecken and I started off together and were feeling really good at the start. Brecken is faster than me and has always been the one to push me in our training, which has been great for me. Knowing that she wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon and because she is a few years younger than me, the time she had to get (3:40) was faster than what I had to get (3:45). We knew at some point she would probably have to take off ahead to make sure she made her qualifying time. So we ran together at the beginning, for about 3 miles, then she got ahead of me and we were going pretty fast for my standards (7:30/mile pace) and so I knew I could not push it harder to keep up, so I let her go and kept that same pace for the first 7 miles (and felt good doing it) - Just after you reach mile 7 is the long hill (about a mile long, but then it's not totally down after that - it's a steady up or slightly up until about mile 12). I dropped to about a 9, 9:30 pace going up the hill and walked a little bit at the end of it. I was still feeling good, really a little bummed to be alone though, and I let it get to me a bit. I am not a person who enjoys running alone, I have never run more than 8 miles alone, so to run the last 23 miles of the race by myself was hard, I had to make myself not think about that though, because I was in the middle of a marathon and I was not going to quit. I did have my music which helped for sure especially because I never run with music - Brecken and I even did our two 20 mile runs without our ipods b/c we always talk instead - so having that as a newdistraction did help!

By mile 13 I was at 1 hour 52 minutes - double that and it's 3 hours and 44 minutes - exactly what I needed to qualify. And the 2nd half of the race is more downhill than the first half so I was confident at that point that I could do it. But every time I checked my pace I was a little bit slower than I needed to be, and I started to get down on myself. I completely believe and understand that it is up to no one but me to motivate myself to run as fast as I need to in order to reach a certain goal or to qualify for anything. That being said, it sure would have helped to have someone next to me to help keep me motivated, and to encourage me to keep running when I wanted to walk, and to talk to. I did walk through most of the aid stations and took water and gatorade at every station, and bananas and oranges at some of them. My calves started getting really tight around the middle of the race and I had one of the volunteers rub icy hot on them which seemed to help. It was interesting to feel all the emotions that I went through - most of them were really good emotions - sense of accomplishment, "wow, am i really doing this", that type of thing - and I found myself getting choked up and having to suppress the emotion because I started to hyperventilate whenever I wanted to start crying!

I didn't ever hit "the wall" that people talk about. And my knee - which has hurt due to IT Band Friction Syndrom in all my long runs during training did not hurt at all the whole marathon. Bill gave me a blessing for that about two weeks ago, and with all the physical therapy and IMS (Intramuscular Stimulation) or "Needling" that I have been doing, it took care of the knee thing.

At mile 20 I started to calculate whether or not I could reach my goal. I could, if I ran the last 6.2 miles at an 8 minute mile pace, which I thought - "maybe I can do this if it really is mostly downhill." So I pushed it, and was under 8 for a few minutes and then a small hill would come and I was back above 9, and even close to a 10 minute pace at some points. So then I found myself thinking - "why am I killing myself to do this when I, realistically, am going to miss my goal by 1 or 2 minutes anyway?!" At about mile 23 I realized it was NOT going to happen and I let myself walk for a while. I was still pretty emotional and started to be amazed at some of the people that were passing me: old women, old men, larger older men, it was nuts! My second goal was to finish under 4 hours. So after walking a bit I started running again, and then I came into the city and all these people are lining the streets cheering for all the runners, and I wanted to walk but I couldn't with all of them watching and cheering! So I finished at 3 hours and 58 minutes - 13 minutes over my Boston Qualifying time. Nonetheless I am proud of myself, I know I did well, and I am actually starting to be glad I did it, and for a first marathon I actually am starting to believe I got a really good time (I am being told this by others), I just always want the best and expect the best from myself, and all the girls I run with are superstars and run super fast, and that is what I am comparing myself to.

The Marathon Results give you all these stats of where you finished in comparison to the rest of the runners. The best one is that I finished ahead of 50% of the men that ran the race (that made me feel good!) and ahead of 70% of the women. But here's a funny one - I had just passed mile 15 when the guy who won the whole marathon finished, and I was at mile 19 when the 1st female finished! That is unfathomable to me!

MY SOUVENIR
At about mile 21 or 22 I thought I felt a small little rock or woodchip in my shoe - just on the side of my big toe, it wasn'tthat annoying so I did not want to stop, sit down, and remove it because I knew I would not want to get up again. So then after the race I took off my shoe and this is the little bugger I found.

Look at that sucker - just ready to burst! The fun things they don' t tell you about - I also have two totally black toenails on my right foot - but they are painted over so you can't see them as easily!

PHOTOS:

Brecken and I on the airplane out (all smiles - I had NO IDEA what was in store!)