St. George Marathon 2013

I wanted to write about the marathon before I forgot the details. It has been interesting training this year and also teaching I have had some tough training runs, some really easy ones, and some very slow and fast ones. So I didn't ever really train as hard as I would have liked to as far as speed goes because by the end of the week I was dead from teaching, but I guess all the teaching paid off because I got my personal best on the marathon this year. I really wanted to just beat my best time but I wasn't sure I could ever do that so I started of strong after sitting around in the freezing air and going to the bathroom none stop like always before a race but I hit the bushes instead of the porta potties which is way better. Anyways, Jamie and I stayed wrapped up in our blankets and warm clothes until the last minute. But honestly you couldn't have picked a better day to run it was a little chilly at first and we had a little wind but it was perfect. So like I said I started off at a pretty good pace Jamie and I didn't start together she totally could have ran with me but she didn't want to have a hard race and she had had a few things bugging her the last little while so she was a little worried also. So as I ran a good pace I started getting my cardio down and felt pretty good. I could feel the huge knot in my calf that Jamie tried to get out the night before with her elbow and holy cow that killed but I knew I would be able to just run through it. Later on I forgot about that when my left hamstring got tight, then I forgot about that when my quads were killing me. So basically my legs could tell I haven't trained to go that fast for that long. With five to six miles left I really didn't know if I could keep up the pace but I just fought through it. Truly marathons are such a mental race I could have walked way more and had them rub my legs down several times but I just kept pushing. I ususally have a great big smile close to the finish line, but by the look of my face you can tell I wasn't just feeling all great I was ready to be done. I did finish with a 3:18 which beats my best time by five minutes so I was super happy about it. Jamie did awesome two she beat last years time by two minutes and she wasn't even sore she totally should have pushed harder. I could barely walk the next day. It was so fun to have my boys there all three of them with Mindie and Maddie cheering me on. I had a lot of other friends there they barely missed me they didn't think I would be crossing at that time so I felt bad but it was still awesome to have them there. I really missed having my Mom there I love having her at the finish line cheering me on, but I was glad I had so many other great people there to support me. It does take a lot of time and really is a big accomplishment so it was a special day for me.