I did it! After 5 months of training I finally got the chance to try out a marathon. It was a great experience and actually not as bad as I thought it woud be. My roommate Tawni and I headed up to Ogden, Utah friday night. They had a big expo there with lots of cool booths of fun running stuff, plus we had to pick up our number and running chip! The race started at 7:00 am and buses left at 5:00 to head up the canyon. We tried to go to bed early, but it didn't really happen with all the nervousness and not knowing what to early expect that next morning. So finally the day arrived. The morning went smoothly. It was pretty cold up at the top of the mountain, but fortunately they had bonfires all around to keep us warm. I kept thinking to myself how stupid I was for wanting to do this. Tawni and I kept made fun of all the "real" runners and their conversations throughout the morning until the race started.
7:oo came and we took our places on the starting line. A gun shot went off and it started. The first 3 miles were kinda slower because there were a few thousand people there, all running on a country road. It was a little packed, so you had to weave in and out as you passed people. Finally though people spread out and it was a really enjoyable first 13 miles. It definitely wasn't easy, but it was a fun run through the canyon. There were tons of hills and after a while I got sick of them and just wanted some flat ground. Unfornately, that didn't come till mile 23! We made the first half with a time of 2:02, so we were running faster than our final goal of 4:30. I was feeling great. From mile 14 to mile 15 there wasan incredible hill. It was a killer and we just ended up speed walking up some of it, so we wouldn't have to kill ourselves. It was funny to listen to the other running as they complained about the placement of the hill during the marathon and just yell how it sucked! After that though it was all down hill. I was fabulous. My legs felt a little weak, but it was just nice to be going down hill finally after having ran hills for the first half. The day became pretty hot. We were running on roads without shade and the sun was just super hot. The sponsors did a great job and there was water/powerade at every mile marker for most of the race. I started chugging that stuff after a while. I was so hot and I was sweating so much. Oh, thats another thing! Everybody smelled...so bad! As they passed you or you passed them you would get a little whif and it never smelled good. I guess that is just what happens when you have ran over 3 hours. From mile 17-22 was pretty nice with some steep downclines. At 18, Tawni hit a wall, but just kept running. I was feeling great though. My legs felt weak, but I still wasn't out of breathe. Unfortunately a little after mile 22 I wanted to die. I was done and I could no longer could feel my legs. It became even hotter outside and I just wanted to walk to last few miles, but Tawni was there to keep me running. I seriously didn't feel like I was going to be able to make it. At mile 26 I got my water and started trying to pick it up a little bit. We ran into the city and there were people cheering. It totally just makes you run faster. There was a girl running a little bit in front of us as we got a few blocks from the finish line, so we speed up to pass her. We passed her and then we finally crossed the finish line at 4:20! It was pretty cool because they called out your name as you crossed it. They totally butchered my last name, but that's expected. Afterwards my muscles just tightened up. I had to strength and could barely even sit down because I was scared that I was going to fall on my face! I also has no desire to eat, because I felt like nothing would actually make it down. I ate a couple apple wedges and drank a ton of water and then just layed down! It felt good.
So now I get to say that I ran a marathon. Kinda crazy, because I'm definetely not a runner, but it was a great experience and I learned how at times you just have to keep moving even when you don't think that you can. It was awesome and now I can be a little more prepared for the St. George Marathon.
