2 days later...

Oh, and how do I feel today? This about sums it up...

Five and a half hours later...

Yes, I did it. I ran (or, more accurately, hobbled) the St. George Marathon. I can honestly say that was the hardest thing I've ever done. The last 10 miles were brutal. Everyone says it's because the downhills are killer on your legs. My legs were already dead, so the downhills didn't kill them, but I wasn't getting any joy or relief out of them either.

It started well, however. The first 8 miles or so were pain-free and I was running strong. I even made it up the dreaded Veyo hill without much difficutly. It's the biggest hill of the course, but not the only hill. And not the toughest, because it comes when your legs are still somewhat fresh. The toughest is the three-pronged hill at about mile 19 known as "Ledges". That was tough. Fortunately I had good friends who helped me get through miles 18-25.

I had two goals going into this race. I should have probably had 3. The two I had were 1) Finish. 2) Finish in 5 hours. Goal 1 was accomplished. Goal 2, not so much. I was at about mile 23 when I hit the 5 hour mark.

The third goal I should have had, which happened anyway, would have been to learn a lot so I can run the next marathon even better. This I did. Some of the lessons I learned:

- 25 miles a week is not enough running to do a marathon, even if the long runs are 20 miles of it.

- That course is HILLS, HILLS, and more HILLS. The hills I was running on in training weren't hill enough to compare or prepare me.

- Carbo-loading doesn't work, at least not so much for me.

- Two 20-mile training runs aren't enough. I'm going to need a 22 or 24, or maybe even 26 before the next marathon

All that said, I can now say that I am a marathoner, and that means a lot to me. I didn't finish in the time I wanted to, nor as strongly as I wanted to. I'm very very sore today, and probably will be for a few days to come. However, YES! I do plan on doing more marathons. If I had done this one to my satisfaction, I may have been okay with just the one, but I'm not. I'm going to train harder and be more prepared so I can kick this marathon's butt next year!

Oh, and my chip time was 5:35:36, start-to-finish.

St. George Marathon Trip

We just got back from our trip to St. George so that Zach could run the marathon. It was a fun trip. The drive down seemed to take forever and Luke screamed most of the way. We enjoyed the nice weather while we were there.

Yay for Zach!!! He ran his marathon. It may have taken him longer than he wanted it to but HE DID IT!! Next time we need to take someone with us so I don't have to deal with three kids and the crowds alone. It was a fun weekend and I'm glad we were able to go. Congratulations Zach on running your first marathon!! I love you and am very proud of your accomplishment.

Here goes nothin'

We're packed and this afternoon the family and I will make the 5-or-so hour trip to St. George in anticipation of my participating in the 31st annual St. George Marathon. The countdown timer on the sidebar there has finally ticked all the way down, and it's here.

The question I get from most people that comprehend the enormity of the task ahead is "Are you ready?" The short answer is "Probably." Internally, I feel like I could be more ready, but I'm out of time now. It's do or die time. This is it. I'm excited, nervous, scared, thrilled, and still somewhat incredulous that I'm actually going to DO this.

Race report coming sometime early next week. Stay tuned. I plan on taking pictures. :)

An evening at the park

Last night we had a picnic up at Granite Park because it was such a nice evening. Actually, it had been a really nice afternoon, but by the time evening rolled around, clouds had moved in and the wind had picked up. It was still relatively warm, but not as nice as it had been during the day. But I brought the camera and still got some decent pictures.

According to Haley....

Yesterday we celebrated Haley's 7th birthday. She had a birthday party with her friends. One of her friends gave her $10 so we had to go to Walmart and spend that money last night. When we were getting in the car to go home she informed me that I forgot to get her the Tinkerbell dominoes that she wanted. She informed me that Columbus Day was coming up soon and I could get those for her on Columbus Day. So according to Haley Columbus Day is a new gift giving holiday. I hope she's not to disappointed when she doesn't get anything on Columbus Day.

Blazing ridges

These pictures were taken about 2 miles up the road from our house, as Bells Canyon on the face of Lone Peak caught fire today. Tankers and helicopters buzzed overhead all evening. Spectators were aplently, as you can see from one of the pictures.

Running for 4 hours? Are you kidding??

Yes, on Saturday I was running for 4 hours. Actually, it was closer to 4:06 or so. 20 miles, in my last "long" run before the St George Marathon on October 6. I put "long" in quotes because this Saturday the plan is to do 16, so that's still kinda long, but not really when compared to 20. I was able to run with a few friends this weekend, which made it tons more enjoyable than 4 hours of shuffling otherwise would have been.

So, the marathon is in just under 3 weeks, but of course you can tell that from the little countdown timer to the left. For all those who peruse this blog and are also running the marathon, I'd like to meet you at the start! I will be at the third fire from the back (furthest from the starting line), on the road side. I've never done this before, but I hear the fires are in barrels or trash cans and there's two lines of them - one by the road and one further off the road (by the ditch?). So I'll be at the third fire from the back end by the road... if that makes any sense at all.

Just about everyone I know that's training for this race has had a setback of one kind or another over the course of the summer. I've had mine too, mostly due to laziness, but also due to a knee acting up and getting a flu bug at exactly the wrong time (read: the week I was supposed to do the first 20 miler!). But it's all coming together and I'm hoping to finish strong, and hopefully under 5 hours.

So, comment if you like so I'll know whether to look for you at the start. Here goes nothin'!

Sun Valley

Zach and I just got back yesterday from Sun Valley Idaho. Zach had a business trip and I got to tag along. Jill and Paul took the kids and from what we hear they were pretty good. I forgot to take the camera so we didn't get any pictures. On Sunday night we got to see Sasha Cohen ice skate. We also got to see Voice Male perform. We had fun but are glad to be back home. I've never before stayed in a hotel where they come and turn down the bed at night and leave some chocolate. I finally started reading the last Harry Potter book but every time I pick it up to read I don't get to far before I'm falling asleep. We did get out of the house on Labor Day and took some pictures but with this Sun Valley thing haven't had time to post about that. Maybe we'll let it slide and maybe we'll get something up here. I do think we have some cute pictures of Luke eating a pickle and a tomato. I'll have to find them and post them.

Haley's Homework

Haley brought home some math homework. She needs to know your favorite color. The choices are red (go Utes), yellow, green, or blue (go cougars). Please leave a comment choosing one of those colors and help her with her homework. Thanks!!