I am now officially a Marathoner!

Wow! What an experience! I have to say that running a marathon is one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I'm also so glad that I did it. I'm sorry I haven't posted about it yet, but I've been resting ;0) and thinking a lot about the experience. I have to take a few days to mull it over in my brain in order to talk/write clearly. And I'm grateful to Vince for being my soundboard, and not minding that the marathon has been the only thing I've talked about for the past two days! (Thanks, Babe!)

I've been preparing for this for 6 months. And I honestly think it was harder to do than I actually thought it would be. (Not that I wouldn't recommend it, though, so if you've been thinking about it, it's awesome too, just hard!) I've been trying hard not to feel disappointed in the results, because really the main goal for me was to finish! But I was so far off my time goal, that it's been hard to feel complete satisfaction from it. I originally wanted to run a 4 hour 30 minute marathon. Then in training, I adjusted my goal to 4:45. My chip time was 5:11:44. I was #79 out of 89 in my age group. I think there were many factors that affected my performance:

1. TOTAL lack of sleep the night before. (I was way too wound up--and probably slept 4 hours total, if that.)
2. Having to take a potty break after the 1st 3 miles. (I think I drank too much before the start, and at that point, the lines for potties were so long, I wasted 7 minutes just going to the bathroom!)
3. Wind! (It was a pretty windy day. And I was slow enough that I experienced headwind from about mile 7-13. But then I turned north, and had fabulous tailwind to the finish! That part was great!)
4. Running too fast at the beginning & using up too much energy to start off. (After my 1st potty break, I was really anxious and tense, and tried to catch up on time by running faster. I think that really hurt me more than anything, and I tired out more quickly than on my practice runs.)
5. Inadequate fuel intake. (They have these GU packs on the course, which is just a shot of frosting-ish carbohydrate, about 100 calories, in a little pouch you eat w/ water to give you a boost of energy. I've been training by taking them about every hour. The problem was they only had 2 fuel stations along the route--at miles 10 and 16. I think I was already tired by the time I started fueling up. If I could go back and do over, I'd bring my own & fuel at mile 7 or 8, again at about 15, and then again at 20 or 21 to get me to the end. But once I got to mile 20, I was so nauseous I could barely drink down water, let alone anything else. And that's when I really started to slow down. I just felt sick and weak the last 5 or 6 miles.)
6. Breaking the 1st rule of marathoning--Never do anything new during a race, only what you've tried in training. (In training I only ever drank water and used GU packs. But during the race, because I knew I'd only have 2 GU packs, I drank Gatorade on some of the stops. I've heard that Gatorade AND GU can sometimes affect the stomach in adversely, and I think that's part of the reason I got so sick. Next time I'll skip the Gatorade and just go for more GU.)

Now the positives:

1. I FINISHED!!!
2. I ran almost the entire route. I only walked at the water stations. (And sometimes a LITTLE past, but not much!) And the rest of the way I ran/jogged. By the time I finished, most people were walking the majority, but I kept shuffling along, and felt good about that!
3. I FINISHED!!!
4. I experienced such wonderful camaraderie from such fabulous runners! Like John T from Louisiana. He was probably in his 60's, and this was his 1st marathon, too! He was all alone--no one running with him, and no family at the finish. So he ironed on letters to the front of his shirt that read, "Yell 'Go John T'" so everyone knew him and cheered him on along the way! He was very sweet and felt bad for me as we were jogging along together, so when spectators would cheer for him, he yelled back at them and told them to cheer for ME! I also saw several people with the 50 states marathon t-shirt--this was their first Utah marathon. Some only had less than 10 states to go before they'd run a marathon in all 50 states! I also met a man who'd been running "since '73!" I met another man in a florescent yellow/green shorts and shirt that was a speed-walker. He walked all 26.2 miles, and finished before I did!! This was his 10th marathon in 2008! And by the end, we were all friends, and rooting each other on, and trying to distract one another by thinking of anything but the pain!
5. I FINISHED!!!
6. I am so thankful for all the people who made it out to support me! It made such a huge difference! Thanks to Leslie, my very pregnant internet friend who jogged with me (and she's due in 3 days, people!) for a few yards, asking how I was feeling, and cheering me to go another 8 more miles! You're awesome, woman! Thanks to Robin, one of my piano moms who met me at Liberty Park and jogged with me for most of the way around the park, exclaiming how amazing it was that I made it this far, what I was doing, and letting me know 3 miles was NOT that much further (even though at that point it really felt like it)! Thanks to Jeff & Becca who brought baby Tyler to smile and cheer me on. Thanks to both my parents & my (big) little bro Joseph who met me at the finish with Jeff & Becca & my family. You should've heard them yelling!! (Well, you can, if you check the video below...) And especially thanks to Vince who happily woke up at 4am with me, dragged the kids to 5 points along the way, took pictures, gave me high fives, and told me I could do what I never imagined I could've done! You're amazing, Babe! And I love you for it. I never would've gotten there if it hadn't been for you!!
7. I feel like I've learned so much from this first experience, and that I can take what I've learned now, and do it again--better--the next time!

That's right! I'm signed up to run the Ogden Marathon next on May 17th! And this course is going to be much easier, I think. It's all downhill. My new goal is under 5 hours! I'd love to get under 4:45. I think it might take me more time to reach my ultimate goal of a 4:30 marathon, but maybe that just means I'll have to train for another one in the future! It's amazing to think I'd want to do this again. But it really is exhilarating! And if you'd asked me on Saturday if I'd try it again, I honestly thought it would be misery to put myself through that experience one more time! But even the next day, I was excited to try once more (on an easier route!) to see if I could meet my goals! At least I can come away knowing what I can do to improve and do better next time! So if you're in the Ogden area in 4 weeks, come on by. I'll definitely be to the finish by noon this time!!



And now for the pictures:



Here I am shuffling by Sugarhouse Park

On the other side of Sugarhouse, going up the hill

I don't remember where this one was, but it was in the first half

This was taken on Van Winkle Expressway

Closer up on Van Winkle. I'm definitely looking tired now!

Here I am after it was all over, in the car waiting for Vince to get back from buying ice cream, pizza, and grapes for me. He said I should get whatever I wanted, and that's what sounded good! (Brookie took this picture, by the way. Not bad, eh?)

Here's me and Brookie waiting for dad

Here's Evan in the car! Hehehe! I love this picture! I guess a 4am start was just a little too early for this poor kid!

And here I am after it was all over, proudly sporting my medal, and so glad to be done!

And this is the wonderful short video Vince took of me as I was getting the crowd to cheer me on the last few hundred yards, right to the finish line. It still brings me chills watching it again. That was the greatest moment in the entire race! Thanks again, everyone!