Each Day Is a Gift

Legacy Center. Walked first 20 min with the Perry's and ran 20 min.  Guesstimate about 2.5miles.

Legacy Center, walked 1 ran 1 lap for 38 min.

New watch Garmin Vivoactive 3 arrived in the mail this afternoon.  Took it out for a test run around the small inner block.  Will be nice to have a GPS watch for Saturday's long run at the Sun Marathon down in SG.

AM.

2 miles on the treadmill to test drive the new Garmin Vivoactive3.  Watch recorded longer distance and faster pace than that on the treadmill.  It gave a command to calibrate the treadmill by imputing the mileage on the watch but still shows average pace to be a tad faster than what's on the treadmill.  But at least I figured out how to operate the thing for tomorrow's race.  Packed an overnight bag with running gears.  Weather forecast for starting temp at Veyo is 32F, finishing temp in Santa Clara around 52F. 

PM.

Packet pick up location was not confirmed until 2 days ago via email.  Plan was to get there (St. George Running Center) around 4:30 then grab early dinner.  We got there at 4:45 and found that it was not much of a packet pick up.  There was a print out of your names and bib numbers in alphabetical order.  You write your name and bib number on a piece of small note paper and hand it to the guy who pulls out the bibs which were stacked by numerical order.  Then he pulled out the corresponding chip and stick in on the back of the bib.  Then you take the bib to the guy next to him who gives you a shirt.  The shirts run a bit small so I exchange for a size up.  The shirts (and also the medals) are very generic with just the name of the race Sun Marathon, and no indication of the year of the race nor specific distances.  It just list all the distances, 26.2, 13.1, 10K, 5K.  This is so lame.  The whole bib pick up process took couple of minutes. 

Went over to nearby Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  Being Valentines Day there was a long wait.  We sat and waited and listened to loud country music for 90 min.  Needless to say we did not eat until well after 7:00pm. Had 3 dinner rolls while waiting for my main course of grilled salmon and baked sweet potato.

Drove to Haley's house in Diamond Valley and got there around 8:30pm.  It was dark and cold which made me worry that I might not have packed adequate warm gear for the race in the morning.  Retired to bed around 10pm. 

Haley let us stay at her house in Diamond Valley so we don't have to get up early for the bus ride.  Can never sleep well the night before the marathon.  Took a 5mg Melatonin at 9pm.  Up at 5. Breakfast of yogurt, banana, 1/2 Texas RdHouse dinner roll, water.  Dressed and ready to go at 5:45.  Waited for Haley and Alice who's also staying at Haley's. Hubby drove us to the start in Veyo Fairground.  There is no physical address so we just turned on Center St and followed the traffic cones.  I think we got there around 6:30 and they were just setting up the starting arch/mat.  There were already runners waiting in lines in front of the 4 portapotties.  It was pitch dark. 

The RD told hubby he had to move the car so I went looking for Haley and Alice who needed to drop off their jackets for Larry to take back to the house.  There was no mention or labeling of a drop bag truck.  I knew the temp was around 30 so I kept my black Boston jacket on which I removed and wrapped around me around mile 15.  The RD hollered saying 5 min. to start time and runners to line up.  I made one more quick pit stop at the PoP then headed to the starting mat.  Gary saw me and we exchanged a few words learning that he had stayed in Motel 6 last night.  Dang, he could've stayed with us easily.  The RD did a 10 count down and off the runners went.  I stood and waited for Hailey and Alice who are the sweepers so we could cross together.  There was a guy fidgeting with his watch so we waited for him.  It took us about a minute to cross.  We were walking for the first 1000 ft and I was so cold that I just needed to get running.  Soon that guy got his watch to work and ran ahead.  I stayed with Haley and Alice for the first couple miles. I started to pull away from them before the first aid station.

Mile 4 was a steep downhill and U-turn/a switch back at the bottom of the hill.  The scenery was beautiful.  I snapped a few pictures with my phone.  I utilized the 4:1 ration whenever possible.  I came across Debbie Cannon and Rhonda around mile 5 and ran together till around mile 14.  I had to stop at the PortaP at mile 5, 9, 13.  The mile markers were sparodic and consistently off by 0.19-0.22 mile compare to my brand new Garmin Vivoactive 3 GPS.  The course is very hilly and at times winding on a 2 lane highway where the speed limit is 65mph.  So it's a bit scary with oncoming traffic, from mile 11 on the traffic got heavier.  I took a gu at mile at 7, 11, 15, 19 and 23.  Good thing I carried 3 gu with me because they only had gu at two aid stations.  I started feeling some pain in my left groin so my pace slowed a bit and Debbie and Rhonda ran ahead around mile 14. 

I came upon Debbie (again) and John Bozung around mile 17 and I walked with them for the next two miles.  John was having some deep muscle pain and asked for ibuprophen at the aid stations but they didnt have any.  So I gave him the only 2 ibuprofen I carried.  I had taken an Aleve around mile 15 so I should be good.  I took a total of 3 salt caps. and drank water and powerade at each of the 12 aid stations.  The race website states: "fully supported course with aid station every 2 or less miles with water, powerade, cups, volunteers.  Some aid station may have muscle cream, gu or fruits."  Well, from mile 7 on it was the same two teenage boys with the same water/powerade.  I wouldn't call it a fully supported course.  There was a sheriff vehicle circuling back and forth to make sure the back of the packers were okay.  I passed couple of runners around mile 19ish and saw that one of them, a lady, was holding her left eye.  Lowell called just as I entered the aid station around mile 19 and said he was going to check on his division award then would come back on the course to look for me.  Mile 21 was a steady uphill.  As I turned the corner into the town of Ivins, he called again and asking of my location.  He was driving and must've missed the road he's supposed to turn on.  Anyhow we talked on the phone for the entire long uphill climb of mile 23.  I could see some pacers milling around the aid station.  Roy Veater ran back to greet me saying Ruthie is waiting for me.  Well, I ran past Ruthie with a brief hello and she didn't run with me.  I guess they were just waiting for Alice the sweeper.  Anyhow, Lowell finally drove up around mile 24.5 and he stopped to use the portapottie at the last aid station on the corner of the road.  The last mile is a gradual downhill and Lowell said he would park at the finish and ran back on the course to meet me.  

My legs felt like lead.  I had to take more walk breaks.  Crossed the finish with my Garmin registering 5:51:54.  The timing guy asked if I want to know my time and said it was 5:52:47.  He asked what my watch shows and I told him it's 5:51:54 and he said go with that, go with your watch.  They only have one timing mat for start and finish of all four distance races so the marathon was going by gun time.  The lady that I passed came in 6 min after me.  She must've fallen since both her knees were bleeding and her left eye also showed dried blood and some bruising.  The RD took the wood cube (used as make shift podium) for her to sit on.  There was no wash cloth or first aid kit to attend to her.  She was very mad and not laughing when the RD looked up her time and joked to say "20 to 24 age group".  She is clearly an older lady.  She at age 71 is the oldest woman in the Full and me second oldest.  She would've beat me if she hadn't fallen.  Anyway, they gave us our medals (finishers and place) which does not have the year or the distance on it nor on the ribbon.  I have never run a marathon with such generic medal.  In fact, they have a surplus of these medals in the boxes which lead me to think that they must've ordered a whole bunch last year or in its first year and just reuse them.  I understand this is the third year of this running.  I'm not sure if I'll do this again next year.  

I'm glad that I got marathon #82 done. Other than a bit cold at the start and a little breezy headwind in the later miles, it was perfect sunny running weather.  I am also glad that I didn't get hit by oncoming car or fell on the gnarly shoulders of the road. The best part was after the race, we drove to the Larsen's (my son-in-law's parent's house) in Washington.  My daughter, her husband and my four grandkids flew in from Houston to St.  George that morning arriving about the same time.  We visited for 3 hours before driving back home.  Perfect weekend! :)