St George - this time around

Some of you might have looked our finish times up. Mine was 3:48:39 or something really close to that. Did I make my A goal? no. Did I make my B or C goals? no. Am I disappointed? somewhat, but not because I didn't make my goals. I'm disappointed that I was unable to run well because of the pain in my calf. I am, however, glad that my calf issues (strain, pull, whatever you want to call this injury) occurred on a horrible weather day. If my body was perfectly healthy and mother nature gave me a bad day, I might wonder how much faster I could have run.

It rained the entire race. It is the first time in the existence of St. George that it has rained. There was also a strong headwind the entire race. My shoes were waterlogged from mile 1. I knew at about mile 4 that my left calf muscle was not going to cooperate with me, so I took two Advil at mile 6. I knew I was still in the hunt for at least one of my goals, so I tried to keep Tara in my sight to judge my pace. After the hill at mile 7 and a slow mile 8, I gave up on my 3:30 goal and focused on keeping a decent pace. I saw an ambulance at mile 9 and seriously contemplated getting in to avoid the pain of what was to come. Tara easily got into a steady rhythm and somewhere between 9 and 10 I lost sight of her. I was off pace at miles 9-12 and I was thinking more about quitting. My calf was definitely flaring up and starting to cause me significant pain. The Advil never really kicked in. At the half, I was on pace for a 3:40 finish (my C goal), but I knew that I didn't have it in me to finish the second half as fast as I had already run. Again, I contemplated the DNF. By this point the rain was coming down in sheets, the wind was blowing harder than ever and we made the bend to start the major rolling downhills. I thought that my legs might feel a little better with the downhill and that it might be easier to keep pace.

I was wrong. The downhill sections were like sledgehammers on my legs. My right leg began to flare up as well, probably from compensating for the other leg. The pain was excruciating. I gave up on all my time goals and just decided to keep moving forward. I didn't think I would even finish. I thought I might go into a full cramp in either leg and need medical assistance. I had no idea how bad it was going to hurt. I was happy with my decision to give up my goals...I just wanted the pain to go away and still get my medal for finishing. I saw Amy at the tough uphill at mile 18. She looked like she was focused and Mark (who was running with her) slowed a bit to chat with me. I think they might have felt sorry for me because of my leg, but I was A-OK with my race plan from that point. I wasn't in the ambulance and only had 8 miles to go.

During the last 8 miles, I made a pit stop in a port-o which probably cost me a couple of minutes. I also made friends with a lady named Allison who had been walking when I caught her. She looked like she hurt as much as me, so invited her to jog with me. We ran together from 19-22 and distracted each other from the pain of the race. We also matched with our super cute pink and black outfits! don't know how I got through all of the pain to finish, especially in such a good mood. I enjoyed receiving cheers from the crowd starting at mile 23. I high-fived the kids in the street, even the littlest ones. The high school bands played songs that I cheered to. I finished with a smile on my face.

Please don't feel sorry for me and my time. I'm incredibly proud of a 3:48 finish with a potty break, strained leg muscles, strong headwind and rain. It was the most painful marathon day I have ever had, but I can definitely take some good away from the race. I now know a new pain threshold that my body can handle, that can only make me tougher in the future. 3:48 is a sub 9:00 pace average, something that many women dream of doing. I can't complain that 3:48 was my time on my most miserable, painful marathon day ever. I love that my body endured that race. I love that my mind outlasted my muscles, even with all of the negative thoughts. The last miserable marathon day for me was Austin 2005 (the hot year) and I ran a PW of 4:14. I beat my personal worst by 26 minutes and was in much more pain this year.

Thanks for all the support this summer throughout my training. My little blog-reading family is great, and I thank you for all of the well wishes that were sent.