The Long Awaited Marathon Report

(I sat down and wrote my marathon journal a few days after it actually took place and while it was all still so fresh in my mind. I was waiting for pictures to come back before I posted the blog itself. I got the pictures about two weeks later and then I've just been too lazy to compress them and put them on the blog...and then I got to thinking that my report was too long for anyone to want to read anyway. Oh well...a month and a half later, I'm posting it regardless! Had I been smart, I would've kept a journal of my entire training experience--to show the complete change of heart and mind that took place throughout those many miles. Note to future marathoners: Keep a journal of your training--priceless!)

Some of the race day scenery...it was a beautiful course!

It’s nearly impossible to describe all that this marathon experience has taught me. Now that it’s over, I find myself still learning and pondering truths that became more apparent throughout the training process. I wonder if I will suffer from post-marathon withdrawal or not? It has been an experience like no other and I have learned truths about myself, and about God’s plan, that probably would’ve taken me years and several life experiences to learn otherwise. A truth that was shared with me a few weeks back is that running doesn’t define your character, it reveals it. I can’t tell you how true that really is! I didn’t gain any new strengths or character traits throughout this process—they were already there, but I was too blind to see them. Each mile seemed to peel off the layers of self-doubt, negativity, lack of faith and courage, and other obstacles that were obscuring my view of my true self. I wouldn’t go so far as describing myself as invincible at this point, but after this experience, I truly believe that with a lot of hard work and help from above, nothing is beyond our reach. Finishing this marathon has given me complete faith that if it’s important to us then it’s important to Heavenly Father. The only thing keeping us from accomplishing our heart’s desire is our own, personal, limiting beliefs and fears. This experience has taught me that there are no limits, that I can do hard things, and to rely on the Lord. It may not always be fun, easy or comfortable, but it can be done—of that I am certain!

When I first got the call from Danielle asking me to do the marathon, I was 99% sure my answer would be no. When I informed her of this, she kindly replied that I had about a week to think about it before I had to register. As the deadline to register approached, I really began analyzing why I didn’t want to run the race. I made list—typical type-A kind of list—of all the reasons why I didn’t want to run, and it was quite revealing! I discovered that most of those reasons were really just excuses and that my inherent laziness and fear of failure were controlling my decision. I knew I had to take action, to get back in control of my life, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it. I will be forever grateful to Danielle for having the courage to register for the race and then encouraging me to do the same.

Danielle moved away for the summer, so I did most of my training by myself. It was lonely and hot on those early summer mornings (some of my runs started at 4:30 a.m. just to try and beat the AZ heat). I’ll admit that I pretty much griped and complained through most of my training. When I got up to 12 miles, I almost threw in the towel. After my 12 mile run, I became very ill within minutes of finishing. For the next four hours, I experienced miserable abdominal cramping and frequent visits to the restroom. I’d never experienced anything quite like that before, even though I’ve had a sensitive GI tract for as long as I can remember. I thought it was the energy gel that I had tried or maybe something I had eaten the day before. I determined at this point that I would try to be more in tune with my body and the experience as a whole, so I ditched the iPod and began keeping food journals. I decided that if running hard and fast would make me feel sick, that I would slow my pace and try to enjoy the experience a little more. I believe that these actions are what allowed me to have the level of self-discovery that I experienced. Little did I know that every long run for the remainder of my training would land me in the exact same position—despite my best efforts to find and eliminate the problem. When I think about it now, it is amazing to me that I continued on…that I didn’t quit when the going got tough. But I knew I had made a commitment, to Danielle and to myself, and I couldn’t back out. So I kept on trekking, although admittedly, quite pessimistically.

The week of my 18 mile run, or about 5 weeks before the race, I was out on a short run with some friends and sprained my left ankle. The first thought that came into my mind, was, “Oh no! Not now! Not just weeks before my race!” I didn’t cry in front of them, but when I got home, the tears started flowing. I felt so helpless…and so frustrated! How could this happen? I’d been so diligent and dedicated in my training, I just couldn’t imagine not being able to finish. It was at this point that I realized I’d been taking this whole experience for granted. I really had come so far and my body, although plagued with illness after my long runs, was absolutely amazing. Just 7 months prior, I was struggling to even run three miles. (It was quite a humbling experience for me to try to run again after having a baby.) I discovered that I had been solely relying on myself and trusting in my flesh to get the job done. I hadn’t incorporated God into this experience or put my faith in Him to help me in this process! I was simply trying to do it all on my own. No wonder why it was so miserable! After my ankle sprain, and knowing that they generally take a good six weeks (if not longer) to heal, I knew that I could not do this without His help. My whole perspective changed. It was a gift to run and I was going to make the best of every run I had left! I considered it a blessing when I ran 3 miles just 9 days post-sprain. I had missed my 18 mile run, along with a few other shorter runs, and was worried I would lose a lot of ground physically. I just determined that I would do what I could do and trust Heavenly Father to do the rest. And, if I had to walk a considerable amount of the marathon, then that was ok, too. It truly became just about finishing at that point. It was incredible to watch my type-A tendencies just melt away at the end. I babied that ankle and did some cross-training on the stationary bike and it healed surprisingly fast.

Two weeks later, Danielle had returned from Dallas and we attempted our 20 mile run together. We got to about mile 15 and were hurting pretty bad. My foot was aching and I was certain that the brace I was wearing was causing other compensation injuries. I am thankful for Danielle’s wisdom to stop for the day and to try again the following week. Although it was hard to stop at the time, it was the best decision. That next week, we completed our 20 mile run, and although it was VERY difficult, it wasn’t nearly as painful. At about mile 15, my GI symptoms flared up and at mile 17, I was physically exhausted. That last three miles took a lot of mental power. (They say that once you’ve done the training, long distance running is 90% mental.) Upon finishing my 20-miler I almost felt discouraged, wondering if I could really run 6 more miles on race day. I knew that completing the marathon would be a huge victory physically, but could I do it mentally? As time passed, and the illness and pain subsided, I began feeling a huge sense of accomplishment. Whatever pain or discomfort I felt was quickly replaced by the joy and satisfaction of completing my goal. I knew that come race day, those last six miles would be hard, and would most likely hurt, but that the reward would be greater than any discomfort I felt. I determined that if there came a time in the race where I began to struggle, physically or mentally, that I would turn to God for relief and strength. I had a few hymns picked out that I would sing in my head if I came to that moment in the race. They would be my silent pleas for strength.

Race day finally arrived, and I think I was pretty much in denial that it was really happening on the entire bus ride up the mountain. Although, the nauseous feeling that accompanied me on that bus ride was definitely real—no denying that! When we arrived, it was 39 degrees and all I had on were my shorts and a light, long sleeve shirt. A sweet woman let me use an extra beanie she had with her, and I am certain that is why I didn’t freeze. Danielle and I had determined a strategy (based on a book I had read three weeks before the race) that our first 5 miles would be our slowest miles of the race. We also were going to stop at each water station for a drink and a short walk (1-2 minutes)—mostly to insure that we were staying well hydrated and to give our legs a short break. Our main goal was just to finish, but we gave ourselves a second, generous goal of finishing under 5 hours. We decided to start out with the 5:30 hour pace group and work our way up as the race continued. When we started, it was still dark and my feet were numb. It didn’t take long, however, before I felt warmed up. It was hard to stay back, because we felt like we were barely moving and the race energy and excitement was contagious. We wanted to go, go, go but we stuck with our game plan. At mile three, we stopped for a quick restroom break and took off our warm clothes. Shortly after that we caught up to the 5 hour pace group. At mile 7, we saw our biggest fans (our husbands, Jordan and Brian, with homemade signs) and that brought a lot of joy to us. I remember seeing them and thinking, “Wow! I’ve already gone 7 miles!” I don’t even think my heart rate had sped up at that moment, I felt so great! Looking ahead at that moment was quite impressive, as I watched the sea of runners climb Voley Hill…a huge climb from mile 7 to mile 11. It was quite impressive to see everyone working their way up. When we actually started climbing, it didn’t feel as steep as it had looked watching the runners in front of us climb it, but I’m sure that it was just as steep, if not more. When we reached the top, I said, “Well, I finally broke a sweat!” But I was still feeling really good and I was on cloud nine for having bested that hill. I kept thinking back to the killer hill in my half-marathon three years prior and how it got the best of me then; I was not going to let that happen this time. At mile 9, I started feeling an upset stomach coming on so I stopped and waited in line for a port-a-john. The line was long and we watched as our 5 hour pace group passed us. We were there for quite a while and were a little worried as we watched them pass but we made it our goal to catch back up to them. We were further delayed when Danielle injured her knee at mile 11. She bravely attempted to keep going, but was soon overcome with too much pain. She begged me to go on without her and it was a hard thing to do. I just couldn’t bear the thought of her coming this far and not being able to finish what she started due to a freak injury! As I started up again, I uttered a quick prayer for her. You can’t imagine my joy when I heard someone shout her name and I heard her familiar panting coming up behind me! When she reached me, I asked how her knee was doing and she said, “It hurts, but we’ve got to catch those balloons!” Talk about tough! That girl has a mental strength and determination like none other. We had to work a little to catch our pace group, but we caught them at mile 14. Just a ½ mile later, my GI symptoms hit again and I instructed Danielle to continue without me—I knew this time was going to be bad. She didn’t want to leave and asked me to try to catch up. About 10 minutes later, I was on the road again and was determined to try and catch her. At mile 16, I passed Brian and Jordan again and they told me that she was only a few minutes ahead. This encouraged me and I started running hard to catch her. I ran eight minute mile splits—my fastest pace even at 6:40—until I saw her about 200 yards ahead. I slowed my pace and tried to run just a little faster than she was, knowing I would catch her in time. At mile 21, she was only 20-30 yards ahead of me, and I called out to her 2 times, but she didn’t hear me (she was rocking out to her iPod) and she kept going. At this point, I was pretty exhausted, because I’d worked so hard to catch her, and I couldn’t skip another water station. It was REALLY discouraging to be so close and not catch her, but I actually just ended up laughing at the predicament. At that point, I decided that I would just run my own race and not worry about catching her. Looking back, I think running that second half by myself gave me a lot of opportunity to commune with God and to prove to myself that I could accomplish my goal…no matter what obstacle came up. There were some tough hills that I had to mentally power through—it was tempting to walk on a few of them, but I never did. (Miles 17-23 were rolling hills…lots of ups and downs…St. George is NOT all downhill!) I never ended up having to sing a hymn, but my mind did turn to McRae and to my Young Women. I just knew I had to do this for them—to power through and to be a living testimony that all things are possible. At mile 23, I couldn’t ignore the cramping in my calves anymore, and I stopped at the aid station to have them rubbed out by the medics and they applied some cream. I remember thinking, “I’m tired, but I can do a 5k. That’s all there is left…just a 5k.” As I got to mile 23.5, I was hit with my fourth and final GI attack and had to walk to the next port-a-john a ½ mile away. At this point, I was in the city, and the bushes weren’t an option. I started to panic, wondering if I could make it. It was comforting to have my husband right there walking with me and talking to me…it took my mind off of my predicament. He told me that my parents were at mile 24.5 and that gave me a lot of determination to keep going. After my stop at mile 24’s restroom, I was back at it. It was so refreshing to see my parents there, cheering me on. That high five from my dad was just what I needed. When I passed mile 25, I said aloud to myself, “I’m gonna make it.” The reality had just set in and I felt the tears well up in my eyes. At 25.2 I saw the clock at 4:51 and knew I had to run a 9 minute mile to make my goal of 5 hours or less. That would be asking a lot out of me at this point in the race, but I was determined to try. Three-tenths of the way into that last mile, I felt as if my legs would give out, but I had to keep going. I knew I could make it—the discomfort was only temporary. About ½ way into that last mile, I remembered that I had started after the clock did, and so my chip time would be less than 5 hours. I was tempted to slow down and so I did for a little bit, but I knew I could give it my all for those last three-tenths of the mile. When I crossed the finish line, the clock read 5:00:30. My real finish time was 4:51:43 (11:07 pace). I certainly didn’t set any records that will be talked about in years to come (or even this year, for that matter…hahaha) but I set my own record straight that day. I set a record in my heart and mind that I am capable of whatever I am willing to work towards. I proved to myself that all things are possible with hard work and some help from above. Limiting beliefs are simply a lack of faith. I’ve heard people say before that anyone can run a marathon, and I never believed it until now. I could not believe all the different types of runners I saw cross the finish line that day! It’s true—anyone can do it! The medal around my neck was nice, but the hugs from Danielle, Brian and my parents were the real icing on the cake!

After the race, I had my usual 4 hours of illness. Talk about anti-climactic! But, as the illness cleared up and the soreness fades away, the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment gets sweeter and sweeter. I find myself looking at life’s obstacles and challenges in a whole new way. “If I can put in the work and complete a marathon, I can do ________ too.” (Fill in the blank with whatever task seems insurmountable.) Suddenly, accomplishing that next goal or fulfilling this new calling in church or raising good children in a tough world not only seems a possibility, but a reality! Never in my life has the scripture in Philippians 4:13 rung more true—“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The cutest fans on the course!


Voley Hill--this picture is small and kind of hard to see how steep this hill is...but the sea of runners climbing it was quite impressive to look at.


Mile 17--Brian's telling me that Danielle is just a few minutes ahead and I am really taking advantage of this downhill slope!


Mile 23.5--just before my final bout of illness.


These guys carried these flags the entire way. Talk about inspiring! I saw some amazing, humbling and inspiring things along the course.


My last sprint towards the finish. I don't look like I'm in too much pain, right? he he he


Just after the race with my #1 fan--the true, unsung hero! I couldn't have done this without him! And see...I really wasn't that beat up at the end!


We used Skyler as a prop--since he and McRae are basically the same age. We left our buddy behind with the grandparents. We missed him and I wanted to capture how old my baby was when I accomplished this feat! Thanks Skylee! You make a good substitute!


I ended up with this gnarly blister and a bloody toenail at the end, but I'm happy to say that I didn't lose any toenails. My muscles were slightly sore for a few days afterward but my joints felt great! I'm tellin' ya, walking at aid stations is the way to go!

POST EDIT: Some have asked if I would run another one. And my answer is yes...but only with a few exceptions. First and foremost, I'd have to find a solution to my "runner's trots" (my name for my GI condition). That took more out of me than the training did! Secondly, while the St. George Marathon was fantastic, I'm not sure I would do that one again for a few reasons. First of all, it is on conference weekend, and I basically missed all of conference due to the race and travel. Secondly, you have to train through the summer...and living in AZ makes that tough. Lastly, the timing would have to be right--there's definitely a time and a place to do it, and doing one in the near future is out of the question. I'm involved in too many other important tasks, and they are simply just more important than a marathon at present.