26.2

Yesterday was my first and last marathon. It was horrible. Why do people do this more than once?

Let's start at the beginning.

My sisters Kaelee and Melissa and my cousin Travis and I all went up to Central Friday night to sleep at my aunt's, who conveniently lives 1/2 mile from the starting line of the St. George Marathon. It was awesome not having to worry about getting up at 3 am and riding a bus up to the starting line then waiting for the race to start. We got there and got settled and had a great night's sleep (I speak for myself, apparently the others didn't sleep so well). In the morning we got dressed and ate and headed out the door to the starting line. It was not 40 degrees like last year's start. It was 57 degrees. That probably should have been a clue that this was going to be a HOT race. And it was.

Anyway, the race started and we were off, along with 7,400 other crazies. Everything was great, except for the tiny pebble in my right shoe. I should have stopped and taken it out, but I thought it was okay. Not true. That pebble grew with each passing mile and by the finish it was a full on rock. Besides that, everything else was fine. Melissa and Travis had taken off at the start so Kaelee and I were running together. We were ahead of pace and feeling good. When we got to the Veyo hill (mile 7) we came across Melissa and could tell she was struggling. (She had been battling a sore throat for the past few days.) I pushed myself up the hill at a pretty good pace and thought they would be right behind me. They weren't, so I went on. I was doing fine, I daresay I was doing pretty awesome, until about mile 17. At this point I knew I hadn't refueled enough. I had only taken one Gu, an orange slice, and some Gatorade. But my stomach had started to seriously cramp, plus I was feeling pretty nauseous. So I decided rather than risk throwing up (or something else equally unpleasant), I would just not eat or drink anything else. Hmm, mistake?

At this point Kaelee caught up to me, stayed with me for about 30 seconds, then was gone. She was looking really good. A mile or so later I had slowed down a ton and my friend Camee caught up to me and said Melissa was just behind us. Melissa and I ran together for just a few minutes, then I pulled ahead. But after a few more minutes I made a beeline for the nearest port-a-potty. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew I needed to make it in there. After I came out I stopped at the aid station for some Icy Hot to be rubbed all over my burning legs (heaven!).

I got back on the road and was okay-ish until mile 20. And then, out of nowhere, there was this wall. And I hit it. Hard. And I stopped to walk. Which is not something I had planned on doing during this marathon. But there it was. I was walking and not even thinking about running again. I quickly let go of my goal time (3:50) and just concentrated on finishing this thing, which was starting to look very questionable. Over the next five miles I alternated walking and . . . jogging? No, let's call it shuffling. I walked and shuffled down the streets of St. George. There were spectators lined up all along the sides of the roads, which was pretty awesome. However, note to spectators: please try to steer clear of phrases like; "You're almost there!" or "Only two more miles!" You might get punched in the face. Just FYI.

So I'm going along until mile 25, where I reach for a cup of Gatorade and collapse. My legs just buckled and I went down on the side of the road, where I figured I would stay. And I did stay there for about ten minutes till I decided, okay, let's just make it this last mile. I'm serious when I say it's a miracle I got up and got going. And from there I walked until the last 1/4 mile, where I knew my family would be waiting and cheering and taking pictures so I totally faked it and ran it in to the finish. Official finish time: 4:17:09.

Kaelee had an awesome race and finished in 3:52:56. Travis did as well and finished in 3:39:34. When I was running into the finish and my mom asked if Melissa was right behind me, I was shocked. I figured she had passed me when I stopped to use the bathroom and hit up the Icy Hot. I knew this wasn't good, which was confirmed a little while later when her husband got a call from a volunteer at mile 25 and said Melissa was on the verge of passing out and he needed to come quick. (It was so, so hot.) I felt sick for her. But, after trying to recover for an hour and a half, then getting in their car to drive home, then deciding she wanted to finish anyway, she came across the finish line at 5:32:00. Way to go, family!

So, the day didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned. I am disappointed, not that I didn't get my goal time, but that I had trained so hard for so long and didn't perform the race that I wanted to perform. But I am proud that I accomplished this amazing feat. I could lie and say I can't wait to do it again, I'm going to try to PR, blah blah blah. Truth is, I'm going to stick to shorter races where the training isn't so time consuming and where I actually get to have fun!

Night before, so naive.
Me, Kaelee, Melissa

Getting cozy on my bottom bunk. Melissa took the queen sized bed, Kaelee took the double. I guess the rookie gets stuck with the bunk bed.

5:45 a.m., ready to roll (again, look how naive I am).

Ready to go after applying our cute, glittery tattoos.

After 26 miles, barely picking my feet up.

I'm not positive I beat that old lady, but let's just say I did:)

Greatest fans ever.

Finally making it through the finish.

I bawled like a baby.

Getting my legs rubbed out and thinking life's okay again.

Kaelee and I concerned about Melissa.

Running in with Melissa.

She was a little emotional, but she finished strong!

Almost to the finish (again).

The kiddos came to support me, like always.

Travis, Kaelee, Melissa, Me

My biggest support; couldn't have done this without him. Seriously.