I don't remember if it was due to all the fun tracking friends at Chicago and New York or what, but I decided to go for it. Partially because the thought did scare me, and it's been a long time since I signed up for the big scary goal, so to speak. We all know that I tried for Chicago and didn't get in, so I went with my backup plan, which was St. George.
Early training started out okay ... and then I got sick in early July and training was never the same.
(Training hasn't been the same since 2021. I'm starting to wonder if it ever will be.)
If I had to guess, I got in maybe 6 or 7 double digit runs throughout the whole training cycle. The longest I got up to was 16 (17, maybe?). The only thing that would save my ass would be, once again, just knowing I can do hard shit - it just hurts a lot worse undertrained.
I booked our hotel in St. George starting Thursday since I thought the 5K B was running was Friday morning - it was Friday night. Oops. It did make things a lot less stressful on Friday, though, with the expo and everything.
As I said in my IG stories - we'll see if this is a true statement by Saturday afternoon.
After the expo, it was mainly resting and eating (... and pooping - nervous colon was acting on overdrive this day) until it was time for B to do his 5K ... which was going to be in the mid-90s, thanks to the temps being slightly unseasonably warmer.
Start line. I was on cheer duty and unfortunately only mostly got video.
We know B doesn't do well in heat, but he had some water with him and knew to take it easy. Wasn't his fastest 5K by any means and the heat did get to him a little, but he finished, so hooray for that.
Then, off to Denny's for some pre-race breakfast-for-dinner and some to go scrambled eggs so I could in theory have some food for my ass-early wakeup call.
Race Day
The alarm came nice and early. I got dressed and prepped my pack. I attempted to eat my reheated scrambled eggs, but maybe only got down a bite or two. I also took some dramamine for the bus ride ... just in case.
My bus time was 5:15 so we left the hotel around 4:55ish in order for B to drop me off. I got on the bus and went up to the chilly and windy start line, 26.2 miles away.
I stayed in my hoodie as long as I could - up until the 15 minute prior mark, when morning clothes had to be dropped off - with the space blanket they gave me wrapped around my knees. I mostly sat by myself, but eventually huddled around one of the campfires and briefly chatted with a few other runners. I dropped off my bag by 6:40 - keeping my space blanket - and decided to try a porta potty stop pre-race. I didn't have to go much, but I went some, and that made me feel better.
They had a small drone show to start which actually did the race countdown and at 7am, the gun went off. I crossed about 8 minutes later.
The first few miles clicked by pretty steadily. I kept to my practice strategy of water every half mile and a swig of Skratch at the mile markers/beeps. I started eating two miles in, with a maple candy, and at 3, a bite of pickle chicken ... rotating those two every mile. (I think it was two in.)
5K mark: 34:51
Sometime early on.
I was a little surprised at how well the early miles felt. It was a gradual downhill, any breeze was (mostly) behind us, it was cool but not cold, and I just steadily made my way down the course.
So steadily, B barely beat me to Veyo.
10K: 1:06:23
Veyo was about 7 miles in and I was able to get a nice high five from the hubs before I started the hellish climb out of town. That I've ridden before, but completely forgot about.
... those would be uphill runners. Photo courtesy B.
It's funny to say at mile 8/9, but the post-Veyo hill really was the beginning of the end for me. Up until this point, I had been walk/running, but definitely mostly running, and the lungs were doing fine and the HR definitely manageable. I still kept to my 20 breath walk breaks going up Veyo ... but if I were to do this again, I wouldn't. I would only run once my HR truly got back recovered again. I think everything got elevated and then it never really wanted to come down.
This hill is like a mile and a half and then the next ... four?ish miles are like straight rollers.
Half-Marathon: 2:31:33
You'd see the star balloons a decent way off, so it was nice to know you were coming on a mile marker. Also, I saw this and was happy to be halfway done but also a little like, still another fucking 13.1?
I think it was some point after this that we got the super fun 6% downhill grade - I am very grateful I'm a decent downhill runner as the gravity on any substantial hill meant I was running - walking was too awkward; the legs were just going to run instead.
It was also starting to get quite warm at this point, though I was happy with the pace I was maintaining. I kept to the side of the road, running on the painted lines to keep my feet from overheating.
Speaking of my feet ... I was feeling like maybe I was developing some blisters on my bunions (spoiler: I did), but there's nothing to do but keep moving, so that's what I did.
I forget exactly what mile marker this was near - sometime between 17 and 18, I think? - but it was where the wheels really started falling off.
The race had a misting station at the crest of this little hill ... but it didn't really do much. I refilled my Skratch bottle sometime around mile 16 I think and added ice to it when I got that at 19 or 20. The ice bag I got went in my hat for a second, at the back of my neck, down my shorts ... before I put one cube under the hat, saved one for each hand, and put the rest in my bottle.
Unfortunately, I couldn't get ice again. I tried at 22 or 23ish, but the aid stations were out.
I saw B again at 24, I think, and I drank some of the icy cold water that he had. Around 24 was also where I lost my sub-12 pace, unfortunately, unable to keep running much more than a handful of feet before needing to walk, due to heat and feet.
I had the perfect amount of maple candies and pickle chicken, finishing up the last of each in their respective mile (24/25). I probably could have filled my pack a touch fuller in the morning, as I ran out of water at like mile 24.5, but I had enough Skratch to still get me through (and still a few ounces left at the finish).
It was hard, horrible, and brutal - but I did it. And I didn't need to stop for IcyHot (... never used it before; wasn't going to start then) or walk backwards down the hills, like I saw some people doing.
Overall Stats:
Time: 5:21:12
131/197 division (F40-44)
1171/1802 gender
3101/4600 overall
First official race at a distance means an automatic ringing of the PR bell!
Wee, medal. I think B's 5K medal is actually a touch bigger ...
Dead and DONE.
All in all, not too horribly terrible for being undertrained. Despite being labeled as a downhill course, St. George is deceptively hard and terrible ... which everyone I know who's done it previously decided to tell me in commiseration post-race.
I feel extraordinarily lucky that I was able to manage stairs okay both up and down the day(s) after the race. I even did a stick/puck session in Vegas Sunday night with friends ... though I was a lot slower and the foot blisters were not my friends. The massage I got Monday was probably the worst thing for my recovery as I'm pretty sure the therapist bruised my damn spine as that hurt for like a week after.
****
So now I've run a marathon ... I do believe that it did technically hurt worse than an Ironman, especially given the comparative effort/time. Running is very stupid ... but I'll still probably do another one eventually. In like another 10 years.
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