Wow! I'm so pumped! 15 minute PR! I'll post my report later :)
*REPORT TIME!*
We got to St. George around 2:00 pm on Friday and went straight to the Expo. I dropped off my elite bottles (I felt so cool! I've never been an elite before!). I ran into my good friend Seth Wold and he gave me some good advice: "Go out fairly conservate and then kill it the second half. You can run a 5 minute negative split easy!". I thought that sounded like a pretty good plan and decided to add it to my list of goals which were:
- Sub 3 hour
- Top 15 women
- Never give up
- Negative split
- Race the last 6 miles
I woke up Saturday morning feeling "unusally" calm and hardly nervous at all. It was weird! I slept really good all week and I was feeling very ready to run a good race. Bryant and I picked up Emily at 4:45 am and we headed to the buses. I am so glad that I was able to ride to starting line with Em! She's such a good friend! At the starting line, it was COLD! I think it was about 34-35 degrees. We huddled by the garbage can bonfires and sang along to Katy Perry's "Roar". Emily and I are cool like that!! Then, before I knew it, it was time to start.
Miles 1-6: Right away a group of girls formed around me with the goal of running a 2:55. I thought, "Sweet! I'll hang with them". These girls were awesome and we talked about our families, training, etc. It really made the time go by a lot faster. I printed off a 2:55 pace chart and was wearing it on my wrist so I would check each mile split and tell them how we were doing. (6:46, 6:49, 6:31, 6:22, 6:31, 6:23)
Miles 7-13: A few girls dropped off the pace so it was just me, Merrilee Blackham, Jasmine Sessions, Missy Allred. Veyo felt like it was nothing! I'm really proud of how good of a hill runner I've become. Miles 10-12 are my least favorite miles of this marathon. They are slightly uphill and seem to go on FOREVER! Ugh. But once again, it was nice to have the girls to talk to and to pass the time with. We went through 13.1 at 1:28. I was feeling pretty good. (6:24, 7:17, 7:00, 6:51, 7:09, 6:48, 6:30)
Miles 14-20: At this point Merrilee and Jasmine picked up the pace and pulled ahead. I stayed with Missy because I felt that we were right on that 2:55 pace and it was feeling good. Not too hard and not too easy. I love these miles at SG! The canyon is beautiful and it's downhill. At mile 18, Missy said a prayer outloud thanking God that I was running with her! It was really cute. The hill at mile 19 felt really good but I could tell that Missy was starting to fall behind. She told me to go ahead so I did. (6:32, 6:17, 6:16, 6:24, 6:24, 6:52, 6:36).
Miles 21-26.2: Wow, I was feeling great. I didn't hit "the wall"...I didn't feel like I was going to die. This was a new feeling for me because I've crashed at every marathon around mile 20. I can thank my increase of mileage during my training! I decided it was go time and I thought, "Hell, I'm going to run under 2:55!" I grabbed my last bottle of Cytomax and took off. I passed 15 men and only 1 passed me (mile 24). I had no idea what overall woman I was but I didn't care because this race was about time. When I turned that last corner and saw the finishing stretch, I looked up at the clock and saw 2:51...holy crap! I was going to run a 2:52! I was so excited! I crossed the finish line with a big smile on my face and pointed up at the clock. The girl who finished infront of me said, "Good job. I was 10th...you were 11th. Better luck next year". OUCH...that hurt. First of all, what a rude thing to say right?! Second, I missed being in the top 10 by about 45 seconds. But I didn't let that ruin my moment. I just ran a marathon in 2:52:47!!!! I was so happy! Emily was waiting for me by the medals and was so proud of me! She told me she took 3rd and I was so happy for her! She ran a 2:40...amazing! (6:11, 6:39, 6:22, 6:21, 6:30, 6:30, (.2 at 6:18 pace))
The awards ceremony was a little bitter sweet. I wasn't on the top 10 podium...I didn't recieve a gift bag or cash. I took 3rd in my age division and got a nice plaque. But I can't think about that. I am so happy about my time. I am so happy that I accomplished all my goals! I ran a 4 minute negative split! I didn't give up and I raced the last 6 miles. This was the best race I've ever had. I'm so happy with everything! My training was awesome and my race was awesome. Couldn't ask for anything better! :)
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