We are taking a break from the month’s theme today to bring a brief story of the Marathon.
The Good
- I finished.
- I finished faster than I did 11 years ago (5:18:46.6 officially this time) and at a pretty good pace (I ran the last .2 at the pace I thought I’d be running the whole thing at).
- I finished with energy. I at least felt like I had energy to run more, but my legs hurt too much to actually run (see “Ugly” below).
- I got lots of birthday wishes (I got one of my birthday quilt squares done, the one that says “For my 30th Birthday” on it and pinned it to my back). A lot of people wished me a happy birthday as they passed me. At the aid station around mile 19 all the volunteers even sang to me – “Happy biiirthday #149——, Happy birthday to youuuu!”
- My ankle didn’t bother me. Pretty good for injuring it so bad I couldn’t walk just over a month ago.
- The blue jump suits to keep warm at the start. If they’d been orange we would’ve looked like convicts, but they kept us warm.
- Around mile 22 there was a guy cheering on the side of the road. He called out that they told him there was just four more miles for us to go and that they said that meant we were almost done. I gave him a smile and he laughed back.
- A group of guys passed me singing the Primary song, “For some must push & some must pull…”
- As we started down the mountains, a woman near me looked out at the lights in the valley and said they were so far away. I commented back that at least we aren’t doing it with a handcart, she added whiney kids, I added a big dress and bad shoes, and we also weren’t freezing and eating bad food.
This picture was taken on the 23rd, my birthday. This is up at the starting line. We are running down to the valley way back there in the distance. - There was a woman as I rounded a corner on mile 22 holding a sign that said “Your Awesome Go” and it made me smile. I’m sure she meant to write “You’re Awesome Go.”42D
- I was surprised to see Becky Bragg at the end. She said her husband was running too and hadn’t finished yet. (I beat the bishop!) It was fun to see them.
- Text message from Amanda: You look horrible! But keep running! Yay you!
- Text message from Josh: Good luck today
- Things that didn’t hurt at the end – my head, my stomach, my lower back.
- Ice cold wash cloth at the end. That was pure genius.
The Bad
- I would’ve had to basically win my division to qualify for Boston.
- Yes, Brett, altitude made a difference.42D
- Anything with an incline became hard around mile 11. At mile 15 I gave up running anything with an incline. And going down stairs today has been real hard (and apparently quite funny) if I wanted to do it on my feet.
The Ugly
- My calves started to kill me…
- and then my hips…
- and then my knees.
- My arms hurt.
- My upper back was killing me.
- I got light headed for several miles.
- My nose tingled.
- My hands tingled.
- My chest hurt.
- I got a blister on my little toe that pretty much is the size of my little toe.
- I kicked my left ankle so much with my inability to run straight that I tore the skin off it.
I hurt. I can barely go up and down the stairs. And I’m sure my sanity is still being questioned, but I’m probably going to do all this again. Having it with my birthday makes it special. I’m really glad my dad did this with me.
My Dad and I:
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
Links to some news articles about the marathon:
? Deseret News Marathon: Running to glory (link)
? Runners give us reason to endure rough race (link)
? Deseret News Marathon: Chirlee outruns injury, field to win race (link)
? Deseret News Marathon: Utah women dominate race (link)
? Marathon duo defying the odds (link)
? Many reasons to run today (link)
? Utahns celebrate Pioneer Day (link)
And of course the parade:
? Days of ’47 Parade — Thousands flock to celebration (link)
And a link to the results.
You amaze me. Seriously.
An update on how I am doing.
Tomorrow will have been a week. Saturday night my leg muscles still hurt to the touch. Just barely putting my hand on them would hurt. My calves were tight and sore when I got off the airplane yesterday, but otherwise my muscles are all doing pretty good now.
My hips and knee have been slower to recover. It doesn’t feel like I’ve injured my knee again, just that it took more of a pounding than it had shock absorbers for. It’s a bit sore still. My hips are tight and sore. They were getting better, but yesterday morning my right hip got pulled a bit suddenly and it’s a bit more sore now again.
I’ll start running again next week. 🙂
I’ve been meaning to mention this. I bought a Timex Ironman Indiglo 30-lap watch with the gift card I got when I left Mt. Mahogany. I figured that would be a significant thing that would remind me of them as well. I used it to keep track of my mile splits for the marathon (and during training).
So here are my mile splits:
1- 9:11.81 (the first about 30 seconds of that was just getting to the starting line after they said go)
2- 8:43.41; 17:55.22
3- 9:02.25; 26:57.47
4- 9:28.93; 36:26.40
5- 10:03.84; 46:30.24
6- 10:05.10; 56:35.34
7- 12:01.51; 1:08:36
8- 11:36.00; 1:20:12
9- 10:43.31; 1:30.56
10- 10:34.52; 1:41:30
11- 10:18.22; 1:51:48
12- 11:04.88; 2:02:53
13- 11:29.66; 2:14:23
14- 15:52.53; 2:30:15 (the winner finished while I ran this mile)
15- 11:25.42; 2:41:41
16- 13:36.99; 2:55:18
17- 13:11.66; 3:08:30
18- 13:55.22; 3:22:25
19- 14:12.55; 3:36:37
20- 17:40.91; 3:54:18 (I did some math at the end of this mile and realized that if I kept up that pace, I had about two more hours to go, and I didn’t want to be out there that long. I needed to be done before then, so I decided to do more running and work on running as fast as my legs could. Just not on anything with an incline.)
21- 12:47.93; 4:07:06
22- 14:19.53; 4:21.26
23- 13:06.22; 4:34.32
24- 13:09.55; 4:47:41
25- 16:27.16; 5:04:09
26- 12:20.42; 5:16:29 (My dad finished during this mile, seven minutes ahead of me. If I’d known he was that close, I would’ve shuffled faster.)
26.2- 2:17; 5:18:46.6
Part of me thinks it’s crazy that it took me 2 minutes to run that last block and a half. But then I extend that out to a mile, and that’s the pace I thought I’d run the whole thing at. So I finished as strong as I thought I would. I just had a bit of problem there in the middle. 🙂
I enjoyed reading about your experience.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
I view marathons like pilots view plane landing. They say that any landing you can walk away from is a good one. I think any marathon you can walk away from is a good one!
Congratulations on a GOOD marathon!!! Way to go!!!
A gallery of professional photos taken of my dad and I during the race. The first set are around mile 6 or so. The second set are at the finish line. The difference cracks me up.
Also, why do I point my right finger when I run?
http://www.zazoosh.com/members/viewGallery/918
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