Wright Family Newspaper: St. George Marathon

Craig and me, I'm not sure where

Kev at the finish line.

Well we did it, Craig, Kevin and I finished the St. George Marathon. There was no doubt about Craig and Kevin's abilities, however mine were surely tested. Did you hear it rained, yes it rained the whole way. We left our hotel room about 4:30 am after a night of unrestful rest and there was a warm drizzle, not too bad though. We climbed on our busses and were bussed a very, very long ways to the start line where it was raining, not pouring, not drizzling, just plain rain and wind. What is the deal with the events I enter, I think I jinx the weather, see my Vikingman Race Report. They were handing out trash bags at the start line and I actually wore mine for probably 7 or 8 miles.

The good news: It wasn't hot.

The bad news: It never stopped raining, it shorted out my ipod, ruined my digital camera, and I lost my sunglasses (I think I lost them, they were on top of my head, pulling my trash bag over my head and didn't notice it until too late to look for them.)

I started with a pace group and was having a good ole time, we were running about 1-2 minutes under goal pace and it felt good, I think we were banking time for Veyo, which came and went remarkably well. These were "happy miles". I first hit problems about mile 13. I was about 25 minutes under my best half marathon pace and we were soon to hit mile 14, Craig's favorite part of the course, it is a gorgeous area.

The good news: It's all downhill for about 3 miles.

The bad news: It's a steep downhill with a wicked camber to the road, where I should have been flying, I was slowing way down and lost the pace group.

The first timers clinic and my wise husband both said, hold back on the top and let it fly after Veyo, I was just running too fast and feeling good, I should have listened. Next time I will go out slower and hopefully make up time on the second half.

The bad news: My left IT band was bothering me and my right shin was hurtin' a lot, and there were more than a few miles left.

The good news: The aid stations had Icy Hot, I have never used it before, but I now swear by it and by the wonderful volunteers who massaged it into my knees.

At about mile 18 there is another uphill and it actually felt good to be running uphill, most of the back of the packers like me were walking, but uphill felt so good I ran it, though not fast, and I kept running, after we dropped into St. George I ran the last three miles back on pace, just wanting to be done. I kept picturing those miles flying by and getting back to the hotel to sit in the warm jacuzzi and have a cold Diet Coke.

I finished before the cut-off time (my only goal). It was a great experience and yes I would do it again. I would train more, and work on speed.

Craig stuck it out with me the whole time, he carried a running belt and handed me sport beans, M&M's, and ibuprofen. He took good care of me, I know it is hard to be on a course for so long when you can finish fast. Kev finished 3:30, pretty fast considering his training consisted of running the Salt Lake Marathon and the Provo Marathon. Kev came and found us about two miles before the finish, just checking to make sure his mom was still alive. At about mile 18 there was a sign Kev had put up, it said "Run faster mom, I can't hold up the finish line much longer!" Tried to get a picture, but no luck with the camera. Thanks, Kev.

We finished up the weekend meeting Kerri, Kendall and the boys at the cabin.

Kerri cooked for us, thanks Ker, it was great, I got spoiled with Kerri cooking while I just got to play with the boys.