STG marathon!!!

Ahhh! Its about time I've ran a marathon... I feel like I've been a runner for ever and have never ran a marathon, but finally I feel like a real runner ahah. SO last year I was signed up for the stg marathon and after struggling with some foot injuries and still having a collegiate xc season ahead of me I figured it would be smart to avoid running 26.2 miles. To be honest, I was so upset. I had been training so hard and was looking forward to finally running the marathon, but I knew I had plenty of years ahead of me to accomplish this goal. Ive been training this year and was in such good shape when I was struck with another injury. I was more than frustrated with myself and had multiple thoughts of maybe Im not cut out to run long distances. Well I didnt have a xc season to worry about this time around so I decided to do my best and just send it. I figured I might end up walking the whole thing but I just didn't want to give it up two years in a row. People would ask me my goal and I respond with "I don't know!" I mean I wanted to hit sub 3:30 but I just didnt know what was going to happen. I knew if I felt good I could probably run a decent time, but if my back was hurting I would be lucky to hit sub 4 hours, so I didnt know what to expect. 

Dad and I picked up our race day packets and a crap ton of pasta. I was shoving my face full of breadsticks and pasta from noon until after 9pm. We then headed up to Cedar to watch the boys run some xc races. 

Some of the kiddos I coach... Im definitely more of a fun coach than a strict coach and boy does it show on race day ahah. But its fine, these kids have plenty of high school years to be champs, so we'll stick to playing tag at practice. 

Drew crushed it. Overall he ran an awesome race, but his finish was the highlight. The last 400 meters of the race is on the track and at about 300 meters left drew flipped the switch and seriously was gobbling up these other boys. He passed about 10 or 12 boys to get desert hills some major points! I seriously love watching my brothers race especially when they kill it.  

After the meet, dad and I peaced out. We headed to Pine Valley for the night and ended up taking the dirt road through pinto. Lots of deer and cattle and a way pretty sunset. 

One of the things I was most excited for was the big ole party in Pine valley the night before the race.  Eating our pasta and just having friends and family hanging out by the fire. Put together my outfit and running supplies for the morning and headed to bed. Waking up I was so stoked. Maybe a little nervous, but really just stoked. I was so happy to actually be doing it because for the longest time I wasnt sure if I was going to be able to. We got our hobo-looking throw away clothes on to keep us warm, got our hydration and morning poops out before heading to the start. 

Pretty cold morning, but we like it like that. We also had a tail wind the first little bit which was seriously heaven sent. The week prior to the race dad and I ran 14 miles of the marathon route and it was head wind the whole time. I would seriously drop out if I had to race 26 miles with a head wind, so seriously that just made me even more stoked. Gun went off and we hopped in line near the 3:35 pacer. Weaving in and out of the people the first 3 miles is kinda fun. Still kinda chilly and we just found a good rhythm. I saw my DSU teammates at the mile 3 aid station woohoo! About a mile before veyo I started leaving dad. I felt really good and with this being my first marathon I knew I would die at the end, but I figured I might as well take advantage of the time that I feel good, so I just kept passing people. I said hello to Troy as I passed him. I managed my way up veyo hill and just kept going at it. I seriously felt so good all the way to winchester. As I was passing people through dammeron valley lots of stuff passed through my head like "should I still be passing people or am I stupid?" "I wonder when my wheels are gonna fall off" "I mean I feel good so I might as well just keep at this pace, why slow down?" So I really didnt know if I was running this race smart, but I figured oh well its my first one. At the half way mark I was at 1:39 clock time (actually 1:37) and I was super surprised. I did the math and I knew that two 1:40's was a 3:20 marathon. So I was shook. I did know that I would probably tank the last little bit but I was way stoked to see the time I was hitting at that point. I ran past Harmony at diamond valley and felt good until, like I said, the dreaded winchester hill. That was definitely my few miles of darkness. Dad caught me at the top of winchester  and I was so happy to see him. I tried to stay with him but couldn't. At that point my blisters were killing and mentally I just wanted to be done. But I knew I only had 6 miles left. Hallelujah. I started walking through each aid station which would then give me the energy to get through that mile and to the next aid station. At mile 23 I was greeted by drew which got me pumped. He pushed me to run just a little bit faster even though I didn't want to. I remember thinking I had totally dropped off and I saw a pacer coming up behind me. I thought for sure it was the 3:30 pacer and I was just about to totally slow down and give up. Well when the pacer passed me it said 3:20. I was so happy to know that even though I had slowed down the last few miles I was still running about a 3:20. woohoo. So Ive heard the last mile sucks. Let me just say... the last mile... SUCKS! Weaving in and around the corners of town just waiting to see the finish line is the worst. Oh also everyone and their dog is there to watch you look like death the last mile! What the heck! there was hardly anyone to see me miles 1-20 and everyone to see you at the end. super awesome lol. Dad was there at the finish line waiting for me and my final time was 3:18:41. Dad's final time was 3:15 something so in other words WE KILLED IT. I don't think either of us were planning on running anything special, but we surprised ourselves, thats for sure. I was so happy to be done and to just sit down and rest. I couldn't walk in a straight line for the life of me and my feet just felt raw and blistery. We met up with the  fam and talked to them for a little bit. I took off my shoes and socks to see what my blisters looked like and seth says "ew put that back in your sock" so ya. It looked like I had another toe growing, but its all good. Blisters are a part of running and Im pretty used to my feet being beat up and ugly. Well there ya have it, my first marathon story. A total success and I wouldn't change anything... except maybe not being injured and actually being able to train next time around. But seriously - perfect weather, my stomach functioned properly and my legs did pretty Aok. I seriously love running. So much. More than ever. I finished 121st out of the women and 11th in my age group (19-24) and qualifying for boston - not too shabby. 

The rest of the day was hot tubbing, relaxing, watching conference, and texas roadhouse wootwoot. OH and did I mention I couldn't walk for about 4 days. I have never been so sore in my entire life. I had to wear birkenstocks to work and it took me what felt like 15 minutes to get up and down my stairs. Worth it and guess what... Im stoked to run it next year.