I decided for my benefit I NEEDED to have a better experience than my marathon in Santa Barbara. The stars weren't in my favor last November and I came away extremely depressed and disappointed. Yes, expectations were high, but I beat myself up with the "what if's. I quickly realized it wasn't normal considering I just did a MAJOR accomplishment! After several pep talks with my friends, family and myself, I came to be "okay" with not qualifying for Boston. A few months went by and a lot of my running pals lost the itch to run such a long, demanding race. It was then I realized if I wanted to do another marathon, I was in it alone. February rolled around and I wanted a reason to run, in other words find a race. I came across Salt Lake Marathon and had heard so many great things about the course. My immediate thought was to call my dearest oldest friend Courtney. Afterall, she was the one 3 years ago that expressed her desire in running a marathon. She agreed to think about it, and called me back within 5 minutes to say, "let's do it!" Not even thinking I got online paid, and registered for another marathon. Most training logs give you 16 weeks to train, however, it was only 9 weeks away. Looking back at both training segments, 9 weeks was more than enough. I was definitely burned out the first time and over trained. I was ready to tackle my dream one more time.
With one marathon under my belt, I fully expected the next one to be better than the first. Well, it was in some ways, but in other ways it was traumatic, at least in my perspective. I was mentally prepared to hit that wall at mile 18 and knew it would be a mind game for the rest of the race. I was hydrated, fueled properly, and ate fairly good going into the race. My body was prepared physically for the challenge and I went into the race feeling great.
Along with the full marathon, there was also a half marathon that started at the same startline as us. I knew there was one split in the course, but truthfully I never thought it would be confusing. Wrong. About mile 4 we split off from the 1/2 and went through a park. All I remember is a sea of yellow bibs everywhere. I think there were at least 15 half marathon runners to every 1 marathoner (we had green bibs). We ran about a mile in and out of a park and came to another intersection of yellow (1/2 marathon) runners. Not even thinking, (who needs to think I was in a race!) as cows do, I went with the herd. To the right. That is where my mistake began. I was supposed to vere left. I quickly realized I lost Courtney, but we had an agreement that if her or myself fell behind to just keep going.
Right before our 7am start!
I ran for a few miles and distinctly remember looking frantically for green bibs. There were none in sight. I saw a few red shirts in sight so I relaxed a little because those were the color shirts that we were given at the expo. The half marathoners were given yellow shirts. Not feeling confident that I was going the right way I asked a few people at the water station if I was going the right way. I was given the thumbs up and they replied, yes just keep going you are doing great! A few more miles passed and I noticed only road markers for the half and a sign that read mile 22 next to it. My immediate thought was, that is just mean, who would post such a thing if we were only at mile 11?! Again, I asked a few people if this was the full marathon route, again thumbs up and yes, you are going the right way. Still, weary about it, I continued on the course.
Luckily, I had my garmin on and as I came to mile 13.5 on my watch we were heading to the finish line. I knew I wasn't even close to being finished so AGAIN, I came across a guy in a red shirt and said are you running the full?? He said no, we broke off from them miles back. He continued on to tell me that he ran it last year and that if I turned around avoiding the finish I still would be able to meet back up with the runners. He advised me to not just be the first place woman, since there was a prize. I chuckled and thought, yeah there is no way... My stomach dropped, again my Boston dream was gone. How in the world was I going to catch back up? I seriously wanted to break down and cry. How would I finish without cheating?? At this point they were on a completely different course. I wasn't about to run more miles than necessary. It now made sense why I was reading mile marker 20 and on early in the race. Eventually the full marathoners fed into the course I was running just later on.
At that moment I knew I could still do the race, it just wouldn't be the exact one. Mentally I had to pull it together if I was going to finish. I immediately turned around and started running back to try and fix the mileage. I must have looked like a complete idiot running against runners. I was wearing long purple socks, and must have stuck out like a sore thumb! I literally felt like I was running against traffic in rush hour. Dodging people left and right I continued running down the median on State Street. I thought for sure I would get stopped and yelled at for running the wrong way, but only received a few glares and weird looks. I continued on, stopping at all the same aid stations. Around mile 16 (on my watch) I witnessed the first marathon guy running with the police entourage in tow. It was quite a sight.
After a few miles into my against traffic running I began to ask people what mile mark they were on (since they had garmins as well). Once I FINALLY reached 19.7 on my watch I was able to turn around and be back on the correct mileage. I also recognized a few runners I had been running with in the start of the race. Phew. A sense of relief came over me when I was able to finally turn back around and run in the right direction. I ended up running 7.5 miles on a different path, but luckily still finished at 26.2 in the end. Despite my traumatic experience, it still was worth it in the end. After looking back at the race, I definitely learned something about myself. At the point I had to turn around it was a mental game the rest of the course. I struggled at times, mentally and kept telling myself that I didn't work this hard to give up! I didn't end up bettering my time, but was happy under the circumstances I was able to complete it under 4 hours, with a 3:59:12. And the best part of it all was my sweet husband suprised me at the finish line by flying in the night before.
Courtney ran her first in 4:10:02!
We celebrated an evening with old friends at the cheesecake factory. Jenny, Allison, and Shawna. (not pictured, she had already left:(
Sore, sleep deprived, and 4 missing toe nails, I think I am hanging up the marathon bug, at least for a while. I have learned that each race is a different experience and mental game. I am happy to say that I feel a sense of accomplishment and now I have not one but TWO races under my belt! And if, I say...."if" there is another one in my future I definitely would have a different approach to training and my race. I guess that is the beauty of experience and knowledge. Right now I can't even begin to think about running, I can barely walk down my stairs let alone sit without struggling to get up!
It wouldn't be Easter without heading over to Grandma and Grandpa Clouse's for a feast along with all of the cousins.
The little ones sought after plastic eggs that were spread throughout the yard, while the "bigger" kids had fun horse playing.
