RACE REPORT

Woohooo! The race is over- I can finally relax-no more ball of nerves. Here is the lowdown of how it went.

Short version: Ran a 3:03:15 (6:59 pace), finished 7th girl overall-first in age group

Long version with all the hairy details:WARNING:Very long..

PRE-RACE DETAILS:

-Left for Utah at 1 on Thursday. Took FOREVER-many stops-wrong turn-pulled over-(just a warning) blah blah blah..Finally arrived at my parents at 8:30.

-Drove to Logan Friday afternoon. Enjoyed a prerace dinner at Olive Garden. Picked up packet etc.

-Laid everything out so I would be ready in the morning. *This time I remembered my underwear-last time I ran Top of Utah I woke up at 1 in the morning and panicked that I forgot my underwear (LOL)-my sweetie drove to Walmart and picked some up for me...

-Slept crappy due to our room being a sweltering 82 degrees and Cache waking 2-3x. The 4:10 alarm seemed far too early. Gagged down my bananna and bagel-didn't feel much like eating due to the gremlin nerves jumping around in my belly.

-The ride on the bus seemed long..(26.2 miles long to be exact) Talked to the girl next to me which helped calm my nerves. We listened to the lady in front of us talk about how she travels around the world running a marathon a month. Next month she is running the Greece marathon-where the "first"marathon took place. (what a rough life she has)

-Was the first bus to arrive at the course. 1 hr 15 minutes until race time.(I know..surprise, surprise!!-I'm usually late-not today!)

-Took a pop stop (pop=poop or pee stop-LOL-this is running jargon I didn't know until this trip)Then I sat in the warm heated tent-felt so good as it was 40 degrees up top.

-Waited in line for one last pop stop-quite a line with 2300 people running-It seemed like they were all in line too. Coated my legs with muscle mist-Threw my clothes on the bus, and was ready to go..

RACE details

-Was relieved when the gun finally went off-(standing there freezing and anticipating the start is the worst). First mile was 6:33 and it felt slow-I knew this was a good sign.

-Took the next couple miles to get into a steady rythm/pace. First Gu at mile 9 (I swear by these)

-Running down the canyon was beautiful- I relaxed and cruised to my tunes and looked at the pretty leaves. I especially loved the tail wind near the end of the canyon (these were my fastest miles)

This pic was taken around mile 13

-First half split. 1:29-woohoo-about 2 minutes ahead of schedule and still feelin good.

-BYU runner Sara Frey (who went on to place second) caught up with me and we ran together 7 or 8 miles-passing a couple girls.

-Was frustrated as my watch showed the course was .2 too long. It kept beeping .2 miles before every mile marker.. frustrating-oh well-others complained of the same thing.

-Was excited to see my hubby at mile 14-This is the first place for spectators to cheer. They had created a chute type of thing to run through and it got me excited/nervous all over again.

-Took another gu at 15 and the next couple miles were a blurr as I just kept trying to hold my pace as the course flattened out. Kept waiting for the wall to start hitting me-but I was still feeling great.

-Mile 17-18 Saw the fam again (my parents and sis were there also this time)-Still feeling good. Kept trying to catch up with Julie (who placed 6th)- Still trying to hold my 6:45 pace.

-Mile 19-blasted hill. Wasn't too bad-but I lost my pace.

-Mile 20-Was happy to see the fam again and took another gu-miles 21-22 still feeling pretty good considering.

-Miles 23-25- Definitely the hardest miles of the race. Legs were starting to feel fatigued. Muscles-quads started burning. I knew if I stopped to stretch I would have a hard time starting again so I didn't stop. I did think about getting some nachos as I passed the maveric though. At this point my pace started dropping-but I was still excited bc I knew I was on pace to beat my goal time. At this point Julie took off and I got passed by MaryAnne S who was cruising..oh well.. I just kept telling myself that I was almost done and to to try and stay strong.

-Mile 25-turned on mainstreet-was fun to have the spectators cheering. Saw fam again-hubby handed me a water bottle to take more gu-but I freaked bc my hands couldn't open it. He ran with me for a sec and helped me-what a sweetie.

Feelin the burn about now-this was at 25.5 miles.

-Last mile seemed really long..Words can't describe how excited I was to see the finish line when I turned the last corner. With legs on fire I ran as hard as I could toward it. 3:03:15. (6:59 pace and a p.r. by almost 12 minutes!) Woo hoo! I was so excited.

-Seeing the fam at the finish brought tears to my eyes as it was emotional-almost spiritual. It was neat to have them there after finishing something so hard. It was so great to have their support.

-I found out I was seventh place overall (last year my time would have been second place-oh well) and I found out I was 1st in my age group.

-I have decided that marathons are addicting. There is nothing harder yet more thrilling/satisfying to me than finishing a marathon. I love challenging myself mentally and physically to push a little harder and test my limits. It always seems like there is a little more to give and I like taking on the challenge. Yes-it is difficult-but so worth it.
AFTERMATH

-Got a much needed leg massage, and after awards ceremony went out with the fam to Firehouse Pizzeria (Perry worked there in college as a cute cook)-oh so yummy

-Also enjoyed some blue mint aggie icecream-creamiest yummiest icecream ever-oh how I miss that stuff.

-Got the kids some aggie attire and all in all had a great time and experience in Logan.

-Now if only my legs would stop being so sore...

-St. George marathon-I just may have to give you a try... If you will let me in.

Splits were 6:33, 6:45, 6:43, 6:43, 6:54, 6:57, 6:55, 6:37, 6:44, 6:50, 6:46, 6:33, 6:28, 6:27, 6:27, 6:45, 6:40, 6:43, 7:03, 7:28, 7:01, 7:15, 7:47, 7:39, 7:40,7:39, .46=3:16-my garmin showed the course as being .26 too long.

BALL OF NERVES!!!

Ok-I am definitely a ball of nerves right now. The time has come.. This Saturday I am running the top of Utah marathon and I am a mix of emotions. On one hand I am really excited, yet anxious and nervous. I wonder Have I trained hard enough? I am scared of the pain I am bound to feel, but know the triumph that comes with crossing the finish line after pounding the pavement for 26.2 miles. It has been 6 years since I have ran a marathon-will I remember how? I am stoked for the race-but at the same time excited for it to be over considering it has consumed much of my thoughts the past couple weeks.
Everything is in order.. The motel is booked, I have my gu's, blister bandaids, anti-schafing crap, running attire, garmin forerunner, new shoes, and oh yes my treasured i-pod-(a definite must for me so I can zone out). All is set-- now I just need my legs to do the running. Hopefully they will work for me! Ok..I am putting it out there (bc I know I will more likely achieve it if I do). For this race I will be happy with a PR-my previous best is 3:14:45-but my ultimate goal is to run under 3:10 (7:10-7:15 pace). Hopefully I can achieve this on Saturday.
I will leave you with two of my favorite running quotes (bc I'm a nerd like that)
"Pain is only temporary, pride is forever" (not sure who its by)
"What the mind can conceive and believe-it can achieve" Napolean Hill
(The pic below is me finishing the same race 6 years ago..)

CATCHING UP

Ok--so it has been far too long since I have blogged. I have been lazy, busy, and just plum haven't felt like blogging....So, today is the day for me to get caught up on what I have been meaning to post. Is it just me or has summer gone by waaaayy to fast?!! I thought I would finish posting some of our summer activities from the past couple weeks..So, here goes...(warning: definite overload of pictures)


LABOR DAY-


For Labor day we went camping to Mancos (big surprise) It was so relaxing to hang out with my hubby and Aaron and Kassi and Chelsey and Scott and their kids. (yeaaay!-people came with us for once-love it!) Anyway-we had a good ole time.

Logan got a hold of Harley's sunglasses and would hardly take them off the whole time..Even in the trailer...Maybe someone should tell her they are upside down..Chilin like villlains Couldn't help but post this one
Perry and I went on a 4-wheel ride where we saw gorgeous views like this...(and the picture doesn't do it justice) I also took Logan on a little ride where she completely crashed out..
Of course I had to take some cute shots of the kids and family. Cute bridge by the river.. Found the perfect spot for a family picture... Right by this fence....Too bad Perry would be a no-go on that one. stinker Some of the rest of the crowd that was there. Don't you love Logan's AWESOME bed head?
TRIP TO UTAH- Perry went to D.C. again for work so you guessed it.. I went to Utah...While in Utah we went boating to Utah Lake and Logan and Hallie got on the tube with Lauri and me. Logan wasn't going to have anything to do with it until Hallie-(the daredevil she is) wanted to get on...Logan wasn't about to be outdone by her younger cousin-so she decided to have a go at it too.
Met up with a couple of my besties from high school at Liberty park-where the kiddos enjoyed playing in the water fountain park. It was good to catch up and chat like old times.. Also ran into Colby Frasier at the park-(A friend that ran track/x-country with Tara and I-how random is that?) I also made the ten-o clock news by channel 5 asking me a random question. Crazy day at Liberty park..but oh so fun..
Annica, me, Tara and the kids. Went to the new waterpark/pool in Payson. It was really nice and perfect for kids.
At the tail end of the week we went to the Howell reunion in Heber. We stayed in the church- owned cabins for a night. It was good to see all of my cousins/aunts/uncles who I never get to see. It was crazy to see how big all of their kids are getting.

Sherri, Matt, Lauri and Trevor and some of the kids hangin out.

The next day we did a ropes course. It was pretty fun. One of them had a big tree to climb, a rope to walk across and then a zip line at the end. I hate heights-but it was fun...especially the zip line.

Here we are waiting to climb the big tree.

Even the kids did some of the ropes courses.

Cache crashed..so I laid him on a pile of wood chips. Oh so comfortable.

Had to post this one because he looks like a cute little man.. (He was content sitting there picking up wood chips)

We ended the day by going on a paddle boat ride at the lake. Soo pretty...

CONNIE MAC

We didn't get to go to very many games this year because we both went out of town-but we were able to go to two or three. We also enjoyed the frito pies, icecream, nachos-you know that even as nasty as ballpark food is-you can't get enough of it.. (at least thats how I am) I must be hungry because food is on the mind.

My cute boys... A couple of weeks ago we also had the opportunity of eating dessert with Elder Neil L Andersen and Elder Gonzales. (They were in town to speak at Stake Conference). It was a neat experience. They were both very kind and wanted to know about us and see pictures of our kids. At the end of the night Elder Andersen bore his testimony with such conviction and the spirit was soo strong... It has been a long time since I have felt the spirit that strong... Anyway-there is no doubt in my mind that these men truly are called of God and through the experiences they have had they truly do know that Christ lives and this is the true church.

Ok-so I think that about wraps it up..Temporarily caught up....Until next time...