On Saturday I ran the Big Cottonwood Marathon! Ya Baby! I say that because I am soooo glad that it's over! For two days before the race I was so nervous I couldn't stop eating... Carb loading is a good thing, right :) Here's a great (not blurry at all) picture of Mike and I at dinner filling up on pizza and pasta! Why we didn't get a group picture of all the couples I'll never know. There was a few ladies from the neighborhood running too so we decided to take our hubbies and grab dinner together. Dinner and shopping at Everything's Dollar is a great way to calm pre-race nerves!
Race morning I had to wake up at 3:25 am (way too early for this girl) to get ready to go. At 4:30 am I found AnnDee and we loaded onto the buses.
About 3 miles from the starting line we heard there was a problem over the bus speaker... One of the buses got high-centered in the canyon and was only on one wheel. There was no way up to the starting line until they cleared out that bus. After a while I told the bus driver to take a hike and let me have the wheel. Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands :)
Just kidding of course... We ended up walking around the bus and up 1/2 a mile to be shuttled to the starting line. When you know you have to run 26.2 miles, walking a steep canyon for 1/2 a mile before you even start isn't the best way to start out. Oh well, we eventually got there and with all the chaos they only started about 30 minutes late. I was impressed with the race coordinators. I thought this was a well organized race for sure.
The first 17 miles were in Big Cottonwood Canyon... It was BEAUTIFUL and nice to have so much downhill, but it definitely was too steep in some parts. My legs were hurting about 5 miles in, but my pace in the canyon was around 7:50 min miles so I was happy. A bit faster than I was planning, but you have to take advantage of the downhill while you can.
Once I came out of the canyon it leveled out and there was actually quite a bit of uphills. Mike was my little hero that day. He met me at mile 18 and brought me a coke - just what I wanted and needed! Then he ran with me for a bit and then had to hurry to move his car... Then I saw him again at mile 20 and he took this picture. I was still feeling good at this point and running pretty strong.
And then I hit my wall (like I always do!) around mile 22. I had 50 minutes to run the last 4.2 miles to get in under 4 hours... Piece of cake right! That's what I was thinking... But my legs didn't think it was as easy as my head. They felt like they weighted 500 pounds and they HURT - everywhere! Calves, hips, quads - it all HURT! Every single step hurt. I had to make myself forget about the pain and just keep pushing along because I was so close (even though it felt like I was so, so far away)...
The Hesses spotted Mike at the finish and secretly took this picture of him patiently waiting :) Along with a bunch of other pictures which was super nice. He looks hot when he's all serious.
AnnDee at the finish waiting with Mike to cheer me in... What a good friend!
The last 4 miles were hard, no make that brutal! I made some serious fueling errors and ran out of gas, but I did it.
The single best step of my life was crossing that line... DONE! My dream of running a 4 hour marathon is now complete. I ran a 4:02:53 (close enough!) and can now cross that goal off the list!
Feeling the pain and looking for the popsicles! My favorite post-race snack.
AnnDee is basically my running coach. I always go to her for running advice and I hope to run like her someday. She ran this in 3:41 - missed qualifying for Boston by only 1 minute... What a bummer!! But that's still such an amazing time! Good job AnnDee!
Celebrate!
On my way home my parents sent me a text and said they stole the kids for the afternoon and went to the zoo. It was the best surprise ever! I could barely walk to the car, but once I finally got home, I had the house to myself to take a warm bath and rest for a bit. Very, very thoughtful of them! Thanks mom and dad!
Let's hope I can walk again someday. It's still too early to tell :) But for now I'm enjoying my 4 year old following me around walking funny and pretending to be mom. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
