Where to start, new beginning - two years ago I was done with running marathons, except for the end of an IM. Then, out of the blue, my oldest daughter Jenna and her Husband decided they wanted to run STG. I said ok, I will do it with you. My training was not the typical marathon training, much more cross training than running, saving those legs for race day, only ran one 18 miler and a 20 miler as long runs. Kid in a candy store, could have told my daughter anything, she would have said ok. We took the 4 a.m. bus, kids hoping to win a prize, Jeremy won a gauranteed entery into next year's Stg marathon. That being said, guess I will be running it again next year.
Sitting around a bonfire for 2 and a half hours was fun, did I say fun, well it was fun. The cold wind from the North concerned me that we may have a storm, it turned out to be perfect weather for the race. I ran into Kim and Tom prerace, sweetest couple on the blog, talked to Devine Miss M at the close drop truck, and said hi to QP via Devine. Thanks for worrying about me QP. I knew Devine was going to have a very good race, she did.
Decisions, decisions, could not decide where to line up for the race. This may sound not so good, we started up front being slow runners as I had to arrive at Snow Canyon Blvd in 6 hrs and 13 min, gun time, I was worried about not making the cutoff. I told Jenna and Jeremey we had to start faster the first 4 miles to not clog up other runners, we ran sub 10 min miles and did our best to keep out of the way. After the first 4 miles, had a 36 minute cushion for the cutoff time and did not need to be concerned. At about mile 4, Tom and Kim passed me, Kim commnented that my stride looked painful, it really was not too bad.
I passed Jenna in the dark, she caught me at mile 7, passed her again, she caught me at mile 8, found out later, she stopped for nature calls. I really enjoyed being in the race, race day magic did help. I ran in the dirt about 50% of the race and the left side in a narrow strip, ran fast and walked up the hills. I walked all of diagonal street because of the slant, and then jogged and walked in from there. The announcer called by name my daugher and her husband cheered, we had all finished. It was such a good feeling, not just finishing, but running and training with my kids.
I could go on about the details, I was just so darn happy to be running another marathon, enjoyed it all, just loved it. My time was slow, maybe not even worthy of posting on this fast running blog, but, so what, my good blogging buddies are here. I waited for a few days to post, as the slowest time is last mentioned, that is just fine with me.
Yes, I am going to give it another shot next year, there is fun at the back of the pack, no PRs, but just the same, never give up.
Stay Kool, B of BS Rools out
1,000 commando points to Sylvie for tending our two grandboys while we ran. She was great with the kids making huts, etc.
Note to add, as I was running a lady pulled along side and said look up, bird birds were circling overhead, maybe I really did look bad, no road kill that day. I kinda miss runners talking, some many now run with music.
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