I registered for the St George marathon with hopes of qualifying for Boston. I had high hopes as my training continued through July. I spent many runs with my friend Wan in Herriman. The trails and canyon runs helped build the leg muscles and my endurance. I was also running with new running friends from Kaysville. These guys were fast and I was the young guy of the crowd. I did everything I could to keep up. These gentleman had all ran sub three marathons at St George. I was glad they let me join in on their training runs. Then everything feel apart through August. I only made it out to run six times. My longest run was on August first and I ran 17.5 miles.
Work was stressful and news came down that would alter my plans for the marathon. I would no longer be able to go down for as long as I wanted to. Also there was a good chance of working 50 hours the Monday through Thursday of marathon week.
I teetered with not running the marathon all together. I was stressed and every time I thought I found my mojo it only lasted a couple of days. My decision was not to run.
Then my wife started to tell me to run. She wanted to see me finish. Something that eluded me at the Ogden marathon. I also think she wanted to get away for a few days. Also the posts on Facebook started with excitement of those running the marathon. I was hooked and convinced to run.
The question remained on how to run the marathon. I knew a BQ was not possible. The plan was to run with the 3:10 pacer through 13 miles. I hoped to hang on through 18 miles with the pacer. Then it was to hold on with everything I had and finish in the 3:25 time frame. Plans and execution are often different.
When I arrived at packet pick up I found out there would be no pacer for 3:10. I was disappointed and changed the plan again. Packet pick up was great. This was the first expo I was able to enjoy. I walked around. Bumped into a few friends. Attended a few clinics. I could feel and sense the excitement. I was ready as I was going to be.
The girls and I stayed with my cousin and his family. The Nylands were great hosts and provided us with a place to stay and food in are bellys. My girls had a great time playing with cousins they do not see very often.
I was able to get to bed early as my wake up call was 3:30. I wanted to be one of the first ones on the bus at 4 am.
I woke up right on time. I quickly was ready and headed to my car. I was ready but my car was not, it was 3:40 in the morning and my car would not start. Panic set in, how was I going to get to the start line. I quickly went to Facebook to try and hope my fellow runner buddies would be on and could get me to the buses. My next thought was to find a taxi. Luckily this worked and soon I was in my first taxi ride. Best $18.00 I ever spent. The driver dropped me off 100 feet from the buses.
I immediately found many run4fun friends. I rode up with wan and Adrian. Riding a bus at 4 am in the dark you get a sense of how far 26.2 miles really is.
Once at the start line the nerves took over and feelings of excitement started. I was ready for the cold but not for the wind. The fires helped to keep us all warm. Several people decided to hang out in the porta potties to stay warm.
For some odd reason the race started late. This gave me more time to evaluate the upcoming run and how I wanted to execute the marathon. I decided to go by feel for the whole race. Still had hopes of finishing around 3:25. I would take what the course gave me and roll with it.
The race started and we were off. For the first several miles I paid no attention to my watch. I just let the miles slip by. I could tell I was cruising but did not want to be influenced by what the numbers said. I ran by several friends as I headed to the dreaded vejo hill. The hill was not as bad as I thought. I decided to walk a portion in an attempt to save some energy. The vejo hill was manageable. I was starting to understand why everyone said you had to run this race smart.
I came through the half marathon mark in about 1:48. I knew that was ok and I was conserving energy. This was the point in the race where I started the fight between the mental and physical aspects of the race. I was only half done and had still had a half marathon to go.
The first mile stone would be 17.5 miles as this was the longest training run I had for this marathon. Also around 16 was when exhaustion, dizziness came into play. I passed the 17 mile marker and all I could think of was the dreaded 18.5. The spot of my dnf at Ogden. It was out of sure will I made it to this point as now I was also battling the dry heaves. I nearly stopped in tears and emotion for being able to pass this point in the marathon.I wanted to make sure I made it past this point.
It was between 18 and 23 miles where I had the battle of the mind. I wanted nothing more than to start vomiting and be able to call it day. I did not vomit so I trudged on. I tried to run between aid stations but usually only made it about a mile. I also figured out if I stopped taking anything at the aid stations the need to dry heave went away.
I never have texted in the middle of a race, I decided to start texting Julie to get sympathy from her. Deep down I was hoping she would be worried and want me to quit. She instead had the guts to tell me to suck it up and carry on. Well now I did not even have my wife on board to quit, so how could I.
It was just before you enter town I found a new rhythm. If I ran everything did not hurt as much. It felt good to run and let lose. The hard part was exhaustion and the heat were doing a number on me. I wanted to find a chair and sit down. I knew if I sat down I would never get up again. So I put things into a second gear and flew through miles 23, 24, and 25. These miles were some of my fastest of the entire day. Partly this was because of the downhill and some because I wanted to be done. The main thing is all the pain disappeared the faster I ran.
I ran mile 24 in 7:06 my second fastest of the course and ran mile 25 in 7:56. Not sure where the speed came from. It does make me sad it took so long to overcome the mental aspect. I am just glad I did overcome the mental aspect. I am glad I did not cave and continued on to finish this race.
I did need to take a walking break between 25 and 26. This gave me the energy to throw down a quick .2 miles to finish strong and not look like death at the finish line photos.
My wife and girls were at the finish line. Unfortunately I was unaware of their signs,yelling, and screaming for me. I will trust them that they did such things.
I finished the marathon in 3:51. Not my fastest but not my slowest. I am happy with the day. Considering at mile 20 I swore off marathons all together. It was also at this point I remembered I had just registered for the Ogden marathon.
I found out I can over the mental side of the marathon. I found when things get tough I can still hunker down and get things done.
I had two goals for this marathon. Goal 1 was to finish. Goal 2 was to avoid the medical tent. Mission accomplished on both accounts.
I am not sure if my problems once again were from me being dehydrated or lingering effects from the stomach virus I had the Tuesday before. I do know I was covered in a thick layer of salt all over my body. I could see the layer of salt with my eyes. I was going to use salt tabs during the race but left them in my car.
I am already looking to register for the 2015 St George marathon. 2015 will be a year of redemption.
here are the stats of the marathon:
Time: 3:51:42
overall: 1899
Place in gender: 1243
5k split: 23:48
10k: 45:49
13.1- 1:48:02
30k- 2:36:48
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