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.