Saturday I ran my first marathon. Here's a little summary of how the weekend went:
Friday afternoon we drove to Logan. When we got there we drove the last 8 miles of the race so I could know a little of what to expect at the end. Later we had a big spaghetti dinner with Miranda's (Marshall's sister) family. We slept at Marshall's Aunt's house that night. Saturday morning at 5:00 Marshall drove me to the bus stop. It was 55 degrees in Logan. From there I took a bus to the starting line at Hardware Ranch which is up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I was so nervous the whole way up. I don't know the exact temperature at the starting line but it felt freezing and I could see my breath. My toes were literally numb while I was waiting for the race to start.
The race started at 7:05. I was excited to start running so I could warm up. At mile 2 I finally got feeling back in my toes. I was so tired and cold the first few miles. I just tried to stay focused and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
I got into a good groove from about mile 5 until I hit the half way mark. It had been mostly downhill so I ran a faster pace than normal since I had the downhill helping me. Miles 14 through 18 went by fast and I was looking forward to meeting up with Marshall. Luckily his Aunt and Uncle suggested someone run with me the last few miles of the race. That was the best advice!
At mile 19 I started to get a cramp in my calf. I had never had this before in all my training so it freaked me out. I kept trying to stretch it out while running. Marshall met up with me at mile 21 and by then I started to have leg cramps in both my legs. It was bad. I had a hard time keeping up a good pace. He told me how to stretch it out while running and also I decided to eat a banana at the next aide station and within another mile all my leg cramps had gone away! Marshall really had to push me the last few miles. (Thanks Miranda for watching my kids so Marshall could run with me!) I was so tired but he got me through it and ran with me to the end. My official time was 4 hours and 2 minutes. I couldn't have been more happy.
I had 2 goals for the race. First goal was to run the whole race, no walking and second goal was to finish as close to 4 hours as I could. So I'm glad I was able to meet both goals. Thanks to everyone for your support!
Friday afternoon we drove to Logan. When we got there we drove the last 8 miles of the race so I could know a little of what to expect at the end. Later we had a big spaghetti dinner with Miranda's (Marshall's sister) family. We slept at Marshall's Aunt's house that night. Saturday morning at 5:00 Marshall drove me to the bus stop. It was 55 degrees in Logan. From there I took a bus to the starting line at Hardware Ranch which is up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I was so nervous the whole way up. I don't know the exact temperature at the starting line but it felt freezing and I could see my breath. My toes were literally numb while I was waiting for the race to start.
The race started at 7:05. I was excited to start running so I could warm up. At mile 2 I finally got feeling back in my toes. I was so tired and cold the first few miles. I just tried to stay focused and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
I got into a good groove from about mile 5 until I hit the half way mark. It had been mostly downhill so I ran a faster pace than normal since I had the downhill helping me. Miles 14 through 18 went by fast and I was looking forward to meeting up with Marshall. Luckily his Aunt and Uncle suggested someone run with me the last few miles of the race. That was the best advice!
At mile 19 I started to get a cramp in my calf. I had never had this before in all my training so it freaked me out. I kept trying to stretch it out while running. Marshall met up with me at mile 21 and by then I started to have leg cramps in both my legs. It was bad. I had a hard time keeping up a good pace. He told me how to stretch it out while running and also I decided to eat a banana at the next aide station and within another mile all my leg cramps had gone away! Marshall really had to push me the last few miles. (Thanks Miranda for watching my kids so Marshall could run with me!) I was so tired but he got me through it and ran with me to the end. My official time was 4 hours and 2 minutes. I couldn't have been more happy.
I had 2 goals for the race. First goal was to run the whole race, no walking and second goal was to finish as close to 4 hours as I could. So I'm glad I was able to meet both goals. Thanks to everyone for your support!
This is right as I'm meeting up with Marshall at mile 21.
This is after the race. I couldn't stand to have my shoes on anymore!
