Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

The Saint George Marathon. All of the elements were there for a great race today. Cool weather, a tail wind and a fast course. For me personally, It seemed everything was going wrong before the race even started. I contemplated dropping out of the race the day before coming down to St. George because my throat was on fire. I couldn't stop coughing and I felt wiped out. I decided to do it anyway since we paid for the hotel, had the entry and a gracious babysitter. The silly cold was the least of my problems today.

Steve and I left for St. George on Friday after we dropped off the kids at my sister's house. We had a great drive down and headed straight to the Expo as we arrived into town. I dropped off my water bottles and stopped for the  pasta dinner since we were given comps. The food was good and we enjoyed a stress free night.

We stayed in a hotel nearby (thanks Rye) and tried to get some sleep. I had a rough night of coughing and feeling hot, but was able to get a few hours of sleep before morning. I woke up at 4:00am and felt somewhat rested and calm. I got ready and strapped on a 2:53 and a 2:54 pace band and headed out the door to catch the bus. It was go big or go home, despite how I was feeling.

Our bus made it to the top and I was one of the first women in the elite corral. The fire was nice. I sat next to Mark P and visited until the start. I ran a couple strides and felt good. I was surprised my throat stopped hurting and wondered if the cold air was helping. It seemed a lot of people had caught something this week, too.

As we lined up to the start, there were a TON of fast women. I heard them all talk about going 2:50's and knew I was in a good crowd to go out with. I lined up with Jasmine and Stephanie (a girl we ran with at HC from Washington) and off we went!

Miles 1-6 (6:38, 6:52, 6:35, 6:24, 6:36, 6:20) These miles felt effortless. It was dark so it was hard to gage pace. It felt slow, so I was surprised to see the 10k time at 40:38, however, I was close to pace. It seemed the first two miles were flat, then some down hill for the next couple of miles. Nothing too jarring. I could hear groups of other ladies talking, but I wasn't quiet as comfortable carrying on conversations and laughing either. A few words here and there is all I offered. I really wanted to focus and not let the upper crowd get too far away (aside from the top 4) but it didn't matter, it was so dark and there were tons of people all around. There was no way to assess any sort of placing at this point. Maybe top 20ish? 

Miles 7-12, hill miles (6:30, 7:54, 7:08, 7:10, 7:18, 7:25) My first drink was at mile 7. I really screwed up the whole "elite bottle thing." For some reason, I could never get it right. I could never find my bottle and had to turn around to get things that had dropped off of it. All my fault. The gester was kind, but something I won't use again because It's just easier to grab a random cup in passing.

As I approached mile 8, I remember seeing Veyo and felt shocked. I had no idea it was going to be that big. I was nervous. I was about half way up the hill when I unexpectedly fell UP the hill. I fell flat on my face and laid there like a dead person. I hit mostly my right knee, but my shoulder and head took some of the hit as well. A few people stopped and tried to help me, but I motioned them on. I was too scared to look at any of the damage because I knew it would discourage me. I limped for a minute, then picked it up a bit to get to the top. The pain was bad but not horrible. At least my darn ankle wasn't hurt! My plan was to get to the next aid station to re-evaluate the plan. With each mile, it felt better, but my pace was suffering and my breathing was completely frantic. I couldn't seem to calm it down. I was panicking and everything felt off. People were passing me right and left at this point.

Miles 13-18 (6:50, 6:44, 6:27, 6:33, 6:40, 6:39) Some downhill finally! I took a 5 hour just before the halfway and started to feel my pain dissipate. Although I crossed the halfway mark at 1:30:4X, a few minutes off my plan, I decided to just keep following my pace band. So I tore off one, and focused on the other. I felt I could easily negative split at this point. My legs felt good, but they had taken a beating from the up hills. Now looking back, I did not adequately train for uphills at all and my legs paid for it. 

Miles 19-24 (7:09, 7:01, 6:31, 7:00, 7:14, 7:39) I've heard others talk about wheels coming off. I think I get what they are talking about. While I wasn't dying here, the pain was definitely returning and my right side was stiffening up. Despite the large amount off downhill in these miles, my body was struggling. Allie had sent me a kind message the night before with inspirational quotes. I was reminded of Hal Higdon's words of digging deep beyond my limits. I kept digging and felt that despite how I was feeling, I was mentally still in it. I kept doing the math and knew that if I could pull off 7:00 miles for my last two miles, I could still get 2:55, so I went for it. At mile 23, that plan went south. I approached the aid station and stopped at the table to find my drink. As soon as my legs went still, all the pain came back and my body felt like jello. "They" always say to never stop because it's hard to go again. Yup. For the life of me, despite the best mental tricks in the world, my legs said no and would not go.

Miles 25,26, and .2. These were the crazy miles, literally. (11:15, 11:57, 8:38 for .2!) See? These were also a blur that lasted FOREVER. I watched the time slip away and felt so sad. I had some helpers who had seen the blood on my body and took it upon themselves to personally walk me through those last two miles. Two officers and one middle aged woman who kept putting jelly beans and popsicles in my mouth (bless her heart.) I won't forget another officer who was riding to the side of us. He suddenly crashes or falls off, I can't remember, and in response to all the gasps he announces, "Well, motorcycles aren't made to go that slow!" LOL!  My legs were doing all sorts of cramping as I approached the finish line. Here's a visual  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKhkvSRQZYo.

Afterwards I wasn't acting quite like myself. I hope none of you saw me. Let's just say I suddenly turned a tiny bit paranoid:) My husband was there and a great support throughout. After I caught my breath and came back to reality, I really struggled with the results, because in my head I had thought I had PR'd:) I also thought I was at the Chicago Marathon, but that's another story:)

It's been a rough recovery all the way around. Aside from marathon soreness, my knee is stiff and swollen. I have the flu, lost my voice and woke up with dime sized cold sore on my lip. I'm quite the sight and need to be locked up in my basement for a few days:)

Hopefully when I re-emerge, I won't have a hump on my back and I can start to shuffle again. I don't feel my time is bad. I referred to myself as a bad marathoner, but infact was referring to my execution. I can't seem to get it right for the life of me. I am only sad that my body was not able to tolerate the stress at the end and deliver the time I had worked so hard and hoped to achieve. There will be another, I'm sure. In a positive light, it's a PR for the year.

I am so grateful for all of the support I have received in training, leading up to the race, and especially afterwards. Thanks to Andy and Kam for showing up for Tempo Tuesday's each week. Also, to Andy for the Smart Pace Bands. It was so helpful in my training to pace for Walter's American Flyer's Race Pacer's group to get some long downhill runs and use a pace band. Thanks to Allie for encouraging me by giving me great insight and mentorship. I especially appreciated her words after the race about her personal "come back" after similar hardships in the marathon. Thank you all for your continued support!

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter