My oh my, what a race! I don't have my Garmin to plug in and am too lazy to try and find results online, so I will fill in info later. I had a few good people help me at key points of this race, and I am eternally grateful to them!!
Highlights: no ITB pain!! YAY!!! Teena taped my left calf that had been bothering me and between that and the well timed IB no/little calf pain! Seeing So many wonderful running friends and getting a nice long run in with 4000 of some of my closest running friends :)
Lowlights: race said there would be cliff shots at aid stations, but they only had bars and I didn't carry any gu's! Lesson learned. at 13 was saved by a guy I trailed at Payson Onion Days (we didn't make that connection until later) and so I only got one in. I did carry jelly beans and I ate those occasionally after that. HEAT - oh, SO hot!! Seriously hot, I would walk through water stops and drink about 3-4 glasses of water and 3-4 glasses of gatorade and never had sloshy stomach! I was always thirsty again in about a mile. SO HOT! My outer right upper thigh was in one big knot the last 6 miles, I considered stopping for icy hot but it just wasn't worth it. Kept moving...
I felt like I stayed strong until the end and as many were walking the last couple miles I kept running. Felt like I rarely got passed, but hung with the majority of the group and then passed many the last couple miles as I hung it out.
Nearly cried twice on the route. Once when I passed a guy carrying the American Flag on Veyo hill - know too many out fighting for our country and his story of his father dying while serving as a marine was too much. I told him "people like you make me proud to be an American!" Second time was that last .2 stretch when I saw my kids and hubby. I was just focused on finish - head down looking dead I'm sure! Heard my hubby voice "GO RACHEL!" with the camera up and my cute little ones peering through the fence at me with I love you on their hands (sign language).
More later....if you want it :) I'll get some more technical info - I really don't know where I lost it. Hit my 1/2 at 1:52 and figured a decent negative split which you should be able to hit in SGM would put me sub 3:40 (I think it was the heat). Not that I'm upset at my time at all - a PR! I'm proud of myself for staying strong and PRing and doing all that I have to be able to finish a GOOD race 3 months after having a baby!! I'm now looking forward to my race at OBX with Captian Quiet Pirate :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: Only read this if you have mounds of time to sit and indulge yourself in my world...or can't sleep. It's long and exhausting not unlike the race itself. Hopefully it is a bit entertaining though.
Okay, so I've wanted to get on and update my splits on this race. I didn't even look at them until I got home last night, they are quite interesting to me! So, since most of you read the highlights above, feel free to skip this update. It's more for me than anything anyway :) AP: 8:34 (Garmin was stopped at 26.24 miles, shortest marathon distance I've ever recorded.). 1- 8:42; started with Lowell these first couple miles and they felt comfortable...maybe too comfortable? meh, maybe it was a good thing. 2- 8:36; got a great run down of the course and Lowell left me with "your strong, you've got this!" 3- 8:05; got to see the "mile of runners in front of me and beautiful green valleys" Thanks Uncle Lowell!! It really was a beautiful part of the race. 4- 7:50; wow, interesting I really thought I was pretty evenly paced even after Lowell left me, must've been some good downhill. I was passing lots of folks, making sarcastic remarks, getting a few laughs and having a good time. 5- 7:58; second water stop - looks like I was walking for about 45 seconds through the water stop. It was hot enough I was already looking forward to a few glasses of liquid! 6- 7:47; with all the walking I did at the water stop I really wonder how fast I was running between these two miles to come up with such fast overall splits - crazy! 7- 7:45; I remember seeing the water stop and saying "it's already been 2 miles?" The girl next to me said "that's a good thing!". Again walked through the stop drinking. First place I looked for gu and didn't see it - figured it would be at the next one. 8- 9:17; Oh Veyo - So, it honestly wasn't as bad as I had anticipated or as horrible as it looks from the bottom. I got a HUGE boost from seeing an old YW leader that had moved who I admired and loved at the bottom of the hill. I wanted to stop and hug her, but by the time I realized it was her I was past her and my legs wouldn't stop to turn back. She did snap a pic of me though. Seriously! Another person at the right time in the right place for me. On the way down that last hill the cows were mooing like crazy. A fellow runner and I were gabbing about how we'd never had cows cheer for us before and making other fun remarks about the herd for miles coming down the hill. Great fun. I am honestly impressed that my time was so close to a 9mm. Those who know me, know how much I love hills and I just took an even pace on this one. At the bottom as we started up a guy next to me had perfect metronome foot falls to follow. I told him I wanted to stick with him, his timing was perfect pace for the hill. This is also where I passed American flag guy. One person running with him had John Denver blasting on a speaker on his belt. Fun to have a bit of music. At the top of Veyo was when I finally felt the sunshine on my shoulders - thoughts again shifted back to John Dener, with a smile on my face I crested the hill and saw the horizon "Uncle Lowell told me only 4 miles to the end of the horizon"..... 9- 8:50; those rollers/flat take more out of you than you'd realize. It was hot, also another walk through water stop here...more and more fluids each time. ASKED for gu this time...I was told "2 miles down" okay, I can hang on another 2 for it... 10- 9:01; somewhere along here Tyler S said "nice job Rachel" I was grateful for the encouragement! I couldn't believe I was passing him though, he's such a fast runner. 11- 9:07; rollers roll on, but it looks like my effort was pretty consistent. Interesting again that this was another walk through water stop, but my mile was still respectable. Again, no gu. I'm now getting worried. However, after this stop I see KELLIE with Tyler - I was SO inspired by her, I could hardly believe she was running so well. We'd leap frog for the rest of the race from here on out. I now knew why I'd passed Tyler...he was taking care of Kellie. It was nice to have them around during those miles. Kellie - you are AMAZING!!! 12- 8:54; nearing the end of the horizon and starting to feel hot and yucky and I'm not even 1/2 way - shoot! 13- 8:32; Wonderful soul with RAPID shirt from Payson saves my butt by giving me a gu. He even opened it for me. During this mile I ran with him and talked about Payson and his shirt (Runners Against Pornography......). You know you NEED a gu when it tastes absolutely wonderful and you think you want more and don't even really want the water to wash it down because it tastes SO good!! Hit my 1/2 at 1:52 ish and figured with a good negative split (which I was told it was near impossible NOT to) I could hit my 3:40 BQ goal - woot woot! The downhill this mile was nice too.... 14- 8:54; don't know how this one was so high. I remember feeling pretty good and just running along enjoying the beautiful red rocks as we came down the canyon...hmmm? 15- 8:11; maybe the water stop was the end of 14, but another walk through water stop. I dumped a glass on my head here - this was the first time, but definitely NOT the last! 16- 8:14 another mile just plodding along. I think I ran into Julie around here. She had been to more POP's than one person deserves and was struggling. We both exchanged our 'are we done yet?' feelings and leap frogged from here to the end. She was another person there at the right time when I needed them. Having someone I knew to pull and push along with was exactly what I needed!!! Thanks Julie, you really helped me a ton!
17- 8:20; another walk through water stop drinking like MAD, taking as many glasses as I can get and chugging them down. I seriously wonder what splits would've been like had I NOT walked through the entire water stop drinking. However, it was hot enough I knew I need it! I took some of the jelly beans I'd been packing as well at this point. I was in desperate need of an energy boost.
18- 8:51; this was an inspiring hill for me. A guy pacing his wife/girlfriend was right next to me and I drew off his coaching. He was an excellent pacer for her. Funny, but at the bottom of the hill he said "okay, lets make this an 8:50" I thought, yeah...sounds good! Look at the split: 8:51! Thanks stranger!! I did say out loud "I want to stick with you guys, this guy is a great coach" So, I wasn't anonymously drawing off his strength/coaching. "If it's getting tough shorten up the stride, pump the arms" I did it...then a magical thing happened, the woman was falling a bit behind and the guy reached back and held out his hand. She took his hand and he pulled her up. Oh man! Seriously, a beautiful, amazing inspiring thing!! Crested the hill with a water stop... 19- 8:55; another grab, drink, grab, drink, walk through water stop, with a cup on the head to finish it off. They had misters after this stop and I stayed on the 'wrong' side of the road for a bit extra to be able to run through them -oh, it was simply amazing!!!! Cold and took my breath away, but amazing. I had heard that it was all downhill from here - HA! 20- 8:39; obviously some good downhill. When I hit the 20 mile mark I was at 2:50. I knew that to finish in my BQ time I'd have to run 8:10's or faster, knowing how I was feeling I didn't think that was possible. Maybe if I pushed I could hit a PR....maybe. Passed Mark (Huans32) and was afraid he was injured. I didn't think there was ANY way I'd catch him!! Was glad to see he had a good attitude and said "I'm good, I'll finish" 21- 8:10; obviously more good downhill, but I SWEAR there was more up than down here! Every time we'd go downhill I'd just see another roller to climb over. The first hill I saw after the 18 miler I said out loud "liar liar pants on fire!" - that was aimed toward the great coach who at the top of the hill told the woman "it's all downhill from here". I kept wondering when all this wonderful downhill was going to come! 22- 9:05; I'm SURE the water stop was in this mile, but I really was feeling the heat as well. I loved having Julie around, because she said to me "in just a bit we'll come down into town and the crowd there will give you a great boost!" Gave me something to look forward to. 23- 8:54; plugging along and another water walk. Right afterward as we were coming into town I pulled out the jelly beans for one last boost. Julie asked me here: "do you think we can still make 3:50?" I emphatically said no....I was done. There was one point around here where someone said "WOW! You are all amazing athletes." Kind of got me, I was...I AM...an athlete. Not something I've been called or even called myself before. Helped me pick up my head and carry on. Lots of people walking inspired me to keep my feet moving. Felt like I was running about a 15 minute mile.... 24- 8:27; how in the world I pulled out a mile that fast I'll never know - must've been those magic beans :) 25- 8:55; water walk oh blessed water walk!! There was a point here towards the end I would just talk myself into running to the next water stop and then I could get my break and drink. It was SO hot and I was SO thirsty, but I knew I wanted to RUN a marathon not walk it. I'd done enough of them walking in pain. I had no pain that would make me walk, (well, compared to horrid ITB pain!) so I had to keep running.... 26- 8:55; wash cloths to dump over my head and wash the face - amazing! At the last water stop I'd thrown a glass in my face as well as over my head and when the water started running in my mouth I nearly gagged. It was saltier than the ocean - YUCK! So, it felt good to wipe my face off. .2- 8:40; It was around the start of this last push I saw my family. It was the first time I'd HEARD my hubby cheering for me and the first time I'd seen him actually watching for me and holding the camera up. "GO RACHEL!" I wouldn't have even seen them on the side had my hubby not yelled, I only recognized his voice. Then seeing my kids with their faces pressed against the fence with I Love You's on their hands (sign language) gave me that last and final teary push to the end. I honestly was amazed when I saw the clock was at 3:48ish as I got near enough to read it. I thought for sure I was closer to 4 hours (again, I'm not good at looking at my Garmin). I knew I was about 4-5 min back on the clock. So, I'd done it - I'd gotten a PR!! Slick was there after I drug myself out of the misters and after a good reunion I was off to get a popsicle that looked SO amazingly wonderful. I didn't eat it all...it mostly melted, but the cold was nice. Also, the lemon wash cloths at the finish were nice too. I was disappointed there wasn't water right available and that I had to track it down. Oh well, it was all good - I was done!!! Had a wonderful visit with lots of folks afterward and even got to drag the baby around the finishers corral a bit. Got some good comments too "I hate people like you" from a guy that finished 4:13ish "but I can't say that looking at that cute baby!" Amazing day, and amazing race - felt almost better than the first!! Thanks for hanging with me this long if you read this far. You deserve a medal! :)
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