As my running progressed over the last few years the idea of actually completing a marathon became more and more of a possibility. So, a year ago when I started making my list of challenges for my 50th year it was with excitement and fear that I added marathon to the list.
When I charted out all my challenges it took quite a bit of planning and consideration into training and how I would prepare for all the races and try to keep injury free. With these things in mind it really only left October or November for a marathon. When I started looking for one to enter I quickly discovered that there are few to no marathons in Calgary at that time of the year and any I could find were on Sundays. I have made the personal decision to not run on Sunday. For me that is a day to go to church and set aside for my Heavenly Father. I miss a lot of Sundays for work so I have committed to not miss for any other reasons especially racing. Anyways, after hours of searching the internet I found a small little race in a remote southern Utah town called Escalante Utah. Jody and I had planned to go away in the fall so we decided to incorporate the marathon into our trip. My sister Karen offered to come and stay with the kids and we planned a 17 day get away.
Itinerary:
Fly to Las Vegas
Night in Las Vegas
Drive to Escalante Utah
Night in Escalante
Marathon
Drive back to Las Vegas
6 night in Las Vegas
Fly to Houston Texas
Drive to Galveston Texas
2 nights in Galveston
7 day cruise with ports in Roaton Honduras, Belize City, Cozumel Mexico
About a month before the marathon I started to struggle with sore feet. I never have sore feet. I also had a sore IT band. Thanks to chiro, and massage I was able to continue to run. My IT band completely recovered but my left heel never did and I just learned to run with it sore. After running for about an hour and a half it would just go numb. ( I know not ideal but it was better than the pain)
I was working with a training plan and I was truly obsessive over it.
I could not have done this with out the support of so many people. Most importantly my husband. He never complained when I had to spend my day off on my long run, when I had to leave everything up to him so I could hit the gym. He always had the food that I liked to eat in the house (sweet potatoes, salmon, Red River cereal). My kids were amazing, supporting me, asking about my runs, not complaining. Family and friends showed their support, asking how I was doing, cheering me on, telling me I could do it, sending me recipes, answering questions. My chiropractor kept me healthy and never rolled his eyes (at least to my face) when I was in yet again.
Finally the day came for Jody and I to leave for our trip. Jody was so excited for the trip and for me to run the marathon. In the days leading up to the race he left me an inspirational note and gift each day. In the airport and in Las Vegas he was telling everyone ( I mean everyone) that I was going to go run a marathon. I finally had to ask him to stop because it was making me more and more anxious.
The Friday night before the race they had a race pack pick up and pasta dinner. Both Jody and I went. The food was all homemade and delicious. I thought for sure I would be the person from the farthest away but there were people from Mexico, Germany and Holland.
On the bus I was surrounded by 4 guys.
Guy 1 a 20 something super eager runner who asked a million questions
Guy 2 an older (my age) guy who had run the course before
Guy 3&4 20's meat heads
This was the conversation going on around me.
Guy 2 described in graffic detail how hard every inch of the course was and each struggle he had
Guy 1 peppered him with question, "what should I do at this point, how much did your legs hurt here, how hard was this compared to your other races," on and on about how hard the course was.
Guy 3&4 talking trash. Guy 3 "ya we aren't very competitive we are just here to have fun. My friend here was a state champion runner in college"
Guy 4 to Guy 3 "What was your time at the ....marathon, oh you beat 'Joe' wasn't he the winner of the marathon the year before?"
Guy 3&4 kept going on and on pretending they didn't care and were just out to have fun but then totally taking trash about how good they were
Guy 1 was trying to pysch us all out
Guy 2 was letting Guy 1,3,4 pysch him out
I put my head phones in and cranked my music but all I had was my running music and I didn't want to listen to that so I tried my best not to listen to them but it was a bit like watching an accident, you just can't turn away.
The best part, passing dudes 3&4 and beating all 4 of them!
Finally the bus got to the start line and I could get away from my new "friends".
The race was pretty small, there were only about 75 people in it. It was a nice relaxed start with a real gun to start the race. As I was in the starting corral I teared up to think that I was really doing this. How much my life has changed in the last few year. How much I have changed.
My I would be ok goal: finish the race.
My I would be happy goal: 5 hours.
My, I would be over the moon goal: 4.5 hours.
I had the 5 hour finish pace written on my arm.
On my other arm I had a quote written.
Start to Mile 12 (6300 feet to 5275 feet) mostly downhill
The highlight was passing dudes 3 &4 from the bus then stopping to use the outhouse. Once out of the outhouse passing them again.
I felt really good during this section. I was running well and keeping a good pace. The time was going by fast and I wasn't hurting. I found two guys that were running a good pace and stayed right behind them. We ran like that for about an hour when they finally asked me if I wanted to join them. I did and it really helped the miles to go by.
So, all the downhill we had just done we now were going back up in half the distance. This section was a killer. It was all uphill! Here is a paragraph from the course description of this part, "Course highlights include the mile-long Hogsback, where the road runs along a rock spine that drops off precipitously on both sides, the rock canyons near Calf Creek Falls, the extraordinary S-curve that announces the longest uphill stretch, the Boynton and Head of the Rocks scenic overlooks, No matter where you are on the course, though, you will enjoy unparalleled vistas."
As difficult as this part was it was made up for in beauty. The thing I like about running is you get to slow down and take the time to look at what is around you. This is a beautiful part of the world.
This part was hard as the day was getting hot and it was out in the open. The hills really shredded my legs and I had to run walk. Every time I walked a guy would pass me. Then when I ran I would pass him. This went on several time and then I got tired of it so I just took off and left him in the dust.
PS my finish time was 4:34 and to my surprise a few weeks later I got a second medal in the mail for winning my age category.