Learn To Laugh: Racing Season 2010

As soon as it got warm enough for me to run outside I started increasing my miles faster than I expected. The farthest race I had done other than the Ragnar Relay was a 10k so I decided to challenge myself. I suddenly got the crazy idea that I should run run a marathon and the idea never left. I was daydreaming about it every time I ran. CRAZY, I know!

I thought I should start out with a half marathon in the spring and then do the marathon in the summer. Thanksgiving Point had it's first 1/2 marathon and the course was throughout the gardens, golf course, and then through part of town. The course was beautiful and the weather was perfect for the race. My friend and his dad ran it too and all our spouses and kids met at the 9 mile mark to cheer us on. The kids handed out goo to the runners and I totally missed them. I saw Damon but not the kids cause I was looking for them on the wrong side. Dang it.

I felt great the first 12 miles, even through the steep hills I wasn't expecting, then took a sip of water. What was I thinking? My stomach is super sensitive when I run and it cramped up so bad. I practically could've crawled faster that last mile. I was hunched over and this sweet old man linked my arm in his and ran with me across the finish line. I'm not gonna lie, my pride kicked in cause my family was watching and I was a little embarrassed, but it was very nice of him. I decided then and there I was not capable of running a full marathon. I ended up finishing in 2:01. Not bad considering the difficult course and my stomach feeling like death, but I was still disappointed.

So, back to the marathon that I decided I couldn't run. First though, I need to explain why the marathon was so important to me in the first place. Growing up I hated running and was terrible at every type of sport. I loved dance and thought that was all I was capable of, which, don't get me wrong, I loved to dance and miss it alot. After having Bailee I lost the baby weight quickly but then thinking I was still a teenager, ate carelessly and put on weight. I didn't realize my weight gain until I had nose surgery and they weighed me before operating. I was devastated and wasn't able to work out for months because of the surgery. Well, to make the story shorter, I worked my butt off (literally) and lost 26 lbs and have kept it off since. I began loving a physical challenge. I wanted to to prove to that child version of me that I can be whatever I chose to be. And I WANTED to work hard for it. I knew the last thing I would've thought myself to be capable of was a marathon. So, that's what I decided to do. Now, like I mentioned, after the 1/2 I changed my mind. But me being my stubborn self changed my mind again and signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon in June. I loved the training, especially the long miles. Just me, my thoughts, and my ipod. I bought a new pair of shoes that my feet didn't agree with and that resulted in my feet being injured the rest of training. I later learned that 90% of marathoners train or run the the marathon injured. That goes to show that we're all stubborn, and frankly, not too bright. Even more difficult for me though, was training myself in the things I didn't consider before. Training my system to stomach goo, food, and water while running. Training myself to hold a certain posture so my back wouldn't give out during the last miles which is pretty common. And training myself to focus on my breathing the entire time which was vital to helping my stomach cramps from revving up again. I studied alot about common marathon challenges and everything mentioned the dreaded last 6 miles. Hallucinating, losing the ability to hold your running form, puking, the dreaded stomach cramps, back injuries, and basically, you name it. I was freaking out a little and asked my friend, Amanda, to step in at mile 20 and run the last 6 miles with me. She's quite a chatterbox and I thought that it would be very helpful to have talk my ear off.
So, the night before I didn't sleep 1 second. Not one. I just laid there all night with the song "Airplane" playing over and over in my head. I've never looked forward to hearing my alarm so much. I headed out at about 3:30AM and holy smokes that bus ride up to the start took forever. 26 miles is so far! Of course the race started 15 minutes late and all I could think was, "what the heck are you doing up here, you insane lady?! You can't do this. What were you thinking?" I looked around to see if there were any buses still there that would bring me back down the canyon. Nope. But as soon as the gun fired I couldn't stop grinning for quite a while cause I was really doing it.
My plan was to not time myself, to slow my pace during downhills so my stomach cramps wouldn't start up, not be mad at myself if I had to walk sometimes, run according to how I felt, and LOVE the experience. I definitely LOVED the experience!

I found this pic online. It's the start of the race and I'm on the far right. Light pink sweater and black capri's.

Then the rains came tumbling down. I ditched my sweater at mile 6 right before the downpour started. It was coming down so hard it was difficult to see. However, when it cleared up it was beautiful. Look at what I got to enjoy!

So, my sweet hubby and kids wanted to cheer me on. Damon figured he would wait at the bottom of the canyon to cheer, then be able to cheer at another spot before meeting me at the finish line. Little did he know that the bottom of the canyon was mile 21. Poor guy. Got there 2 hours before I finished. Amanda's family met up with them later though so they ended up having fun anyway. I felt fantastic and was loving the race. Just soaking in the whole thing. I spotted Amanda at mile 20 and we shared a quick little hug, still running of course. At mile 21 I spotted my family and right in front of them an old lady nearly ran me over with her car. Near disaster. Luckily I lived and could see my cute fam screaming for me. After running for so long there is nothing like seeing those faces to keep you going. At mile 22 I suddenly felt everything I read about. I reached a whole new level of pain I had never felt before while running. The finish line seemed nonexistent and I felt like I was going so slow. OK, I was. Just before the finish I had to run over an overpass which I had a few choice words for...but I eventually crossed the finish line with a time of 4:21. Not fast, but I was happy with the fact I never had to walk and really loved the challenge. Can't wait to do it again. I would love to do one each year. It felt good to do something like that just for me.

The marathon took so much time to train for that I promised Damon I wouldn't race any more in the season. It was nice to have a break for a couple weeks and then just run for fun after that. The kids ran the Steel Days fun run with me cheering them on. Trey took 2ND in his age group. I was so proud of Bailee for running her little heart out and for being proud of herself. Love it.

At the start of the school year Bailee's school did a 5k and fun run as their fundraiser. I decided to run the race. Have to support the kids, right? To my surprise I won the race for the women, which was a first for me. Unfortunately there was no clock at the end so I don't know my time. Doesn't really matter. Fun to have these experiences.