St. George Marathon 2015

Okay. So this year the marathon was awesome. My husband and I decided that this year we really wanted a great finish. I'd spent the last year re-building my base: running lots of miles, hill repeats, intervals. I wanted to be the strongest I've been. I knew that for a strong finish, we'd need strong training. We started adding intervals into our long runs. I've never done it before. I was amazed that even after LOTS of miles, my body responded to speed work. On our 21-mile training run I was beat. My body hurt and I hadn't taken any pain medication. We always ran our last mile home hard. When we hit 20 miles I knew it was time to go and I didn't want to but I started to push the pace. I left my husband and ended up having to wait for him. The human body is incredible!

On marathon morning, I knew we'd done everything we should have. I had been hesitant to say our goal finish out loud. I knew I had to be accountable to other people if I didn't get my goal finish. Reluctantly, I told the people who asked: 3 hours and 45 minutes. I knew we could do it. Anyway, we started farther back in the starting shoot than we should have and we spent about three miles weaving through runners trying to settle into our pace. We needed to maintain a 8:30 pace to come in on target. By about mile five, we were pacing about 90 seconds ahead of our goal. Veyo hill is at mile seven. We'd never talked strategy for that hill. We decided to go as long as we could until we knew we needed a break and then power walk until we recovered. I recovered a little quicker than my husband but we finished the hill still about 60 seconds ahead. The next four-ish miles are rolling hills but we powered up them and stayed stong. I'll admit that by the time we got to mile 12, I was ready for some flat sections and a few downhills. Fifteen miles in I was still feeling good and we were still just ahead of our goal. Seventeen my husband was starting to feel the mileage and we slowed just a bit. Around 18 1/2 miles in, there's a small hill. I powered up but my husband was starting to struggle. When he got up to me, he told me to just go and get my finish. We discussed our options and he told me to run my race. He'd stay as strong as he could but he knew I had a little more gas than he did. We stayed together until about mile 21. At that point we were about one minute behind our gosl finish  We came around a curve and my legs said go. My sweet, beautiful husband could feel me pulling away and yelled, "Go get it babe!"  I took off. I watched my Garmin closely. I was running mostly sub-8 minute miles in the last five miles of the marathon! I could feel my body breaking down. Literally. My quads started talking, first hinting that maybe I should slow down, then getting louder and louder. As they questioned my sanity, I kept getting closer to the finish. As I got closer, I realized I was making up time. 22. 23. 24, Diagonal street. Lots of people sending me their energy. My quads weren't talking anymore. They were starting to scream. I tuned them out. I had a mile and a half to go. 25. I can do this!  I only have to hold on. Tabernacle. Main street. Now I'm looking for my family. I know they are somewhere on this street. 300 South is just ahead and a boy shouts, "Mom!"  It's my 11-year old and he's finally seen me. I wave as I round the final corner. There it is: the finish line!  I'm there, almost. Now, it's only three and a half blocks from the last turn to the finish line. Easy, right? WRONG!!! I kick it up for the home stretch. My breathing is labored from the exertion. Seriously, those three and a half blocks are SO long!  Finally, finally!  The finish line. I looked down at my Garmin: 3 hours 42 seconds. Now, really truly, I was thrilled. But, my Boston qualifying time is 3:40. I was 2 minutes and 12 seconds over qualifying! I'd be lying if I said I haven't played the "if only" game. But it doesn't get me anywhere. It also doesn't take away my finish, that was three minutes faster than my goal. My amazing husband finished only four minutes behind me.  He did something he hasn't done before.  He ignored the discomfort and dug deep and held onto his pace to finish strong. I am so proud of him!

So this year I achieved my goal and we worked so hard to get there. I'm really pleased with our finishes. Hard work really does pay off. 

Thanks for checking in with me again. I hope you are setting goals and doing what you can to achieve them. Good luck with your goals and dreams and check back again soon.