The days leading up to the race I did everything the same. I loaded up on the same carbs I've been eating for my long runs. I drank a TON of water. I didn't add anything new or different and I tried to rest and relax. I was so anxious on Sunday afternoon that I decided to make Kelly some cinnamon rolls {mostly to give me something to do}. She had mentioned that she wanted some for her after run treat so I thought it would give me something to do other than think about the race.
The morning of the race I woke up at 4:10am, surprisingly I had fallen asleep at 10:30 the night before and slept like a rock. {which is amazing the night before a race}. I woke up feeling good. Nervous, but good. Jason and Tanner had to get up to go put up the Labor Day flags so they got up about 4:45am. I got up and started getting ready. I taped up both of my IT bands. I taped up my foot. I made myself eat breakfast. I started drinking water. I was anxious and nervous.
We picked up Kelly and drove up to the race. We got there too early so we just sat in the van {it was sprinkling} and waited for a few minutes. We both wanted to use the porta potties {well, not really but we figured we'd better}. We posed for a picture and tried not to think about the next 3 hours. It was a VERY humid morning. The temperature was in the 70's but it was 90% humidity when we started the race!
We decided to do a little warm up, I know that the first few miles are always the hardest for me, but I also knew that 13.1 was going to be a LONG way on my legs, so we didn't go far.
Before we knew it, it was time to start. Ready or Not, here we go.
I struggled a little the first mile or two {I always do}, but by the time I got to Jason at the 2.5 miles mark I was starting to hit my stride. I was feeling pretty good and my legs were just a little achy, nothing too serious. {one of these days, I'm going to be able to run without those dang braces on my legs}.
Between the 3-6 mile marks, I felt like I really found my stride. I was at a great pace. I was feeling good. There were a few miles that I don't really even remember running them. I was right on track and even came in early at the 6 mile mark and surprised Jason. He was supposed to switch out one of my water bottles and he wasn't even ready for me. I stopped and got a new bottle, had him take a picture and was off again. I was feeling GREAT!!
At about 6.5 miles, you go into the forrest preserve and run on a trail for the next 3.5 miles. I knew that once I got over the hills on the trails the worst part of the run would be over. I just tried to keep my pace pretty steady. I wasn't trying to beat any records at this point, I just wanted to stay at my pace. I passed Kelly at one point and couldn't believe the luck that we would see each other at the ONE point in the race that overlaps. When I came out of the preserve at the 10 mile mark, I was feeling great. I was sore, my knee was hurting {not a ton, but enough that I was feeling it} but I was feeling great....until I got to 11 miles. At 11 miles I hit THE WALL. I was done. For some reason, those last few miles seemed like 13 more. I was exhausted, my legs hurt, my hips were sore, my shoulders were up too much, I was just done.
I knew the day before {Sunday} as I sat and listened to our sacrament meeting talks that they were written directly for me. Our concluding speaker even talked about long distance running and training for long races. The topic was "Endure to the End". I knew that Heavenly Father was speaking directly to me. I was in mile 11 of a 13.1 mile race and I was DONE. I kept repeating over and over in my mind, You are NOT going to quit now, you are NOT done, you are going to keep going, this is NOT the end and you are going to endure to the end. Trust your training. Trust your body. Trust you Father in Heaven. Trust that you have done everything you could do to prepare and train for this race and now you have to give your all to make it to the end. Those last 2.1 miles were HARD. Harder than the previous 11. Harder than almost any of my training miles. Just HARD. I tried to run as much of those last 2 miles as I could. There were a few times that I literally felt like I could not run another step...I would walk for 30 seconds and then start running again....that last tenth of a mile was a killer. Thankfully my friends were there to cheer me on {thanks Abby, Sonya and Kristie}.
Jason almost missed me at the finish line. I was 12 minutes faster than last year and he wasn't looking for me yet....did you see that...I was 12 MINUTES FASTER than last year!!
I crossed the finish line at 2:48:15 and man was I proud! {and EXHAUSTED}
Somewhere in my head I had wanted to finish in 2:45, but given my IT issues and the humidity that morning,
I was SO PROUD of my time!
I was struggling to even keep walking at this point. I needed to keep moving because I was afraid if I stopped, I would freeze up and not be able to move. I got my medal and walked over to find Jason and Kelly. {poor Kelly}....she had thrown up 4 times during the race. She had tried some new shot blocks and they made her sick....then because she had nothing in her stomach she decided to have the gel, which made her even more sick. She only finished 12-13 minutes before me. {she should have finished 30 minutes before me}. I'm so sorry Kelly!
I finally sat down for a few minutes and had some water to drink and got some ice for my knee. I wasn't sure I could get back up...but eventually I did!
I'm so grateful that Jason came with us, that he walked around and took pictures of us and that he is one of my biggest fans. He puts up with my training schedule, brings me water, rolls my legs {and likes it WAY too much}, massages my sore IT bands and cheers me on in everything I do. Thanks for being there for me.
I can't believe I did it....AGAIN! I'm so grateful it's over. I'm sore and still don't feel great {3 days later}...but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! I can't believe the high it gives me to be able to run 13.1 miles and conquer something that I NEVER thought I would be able to do. I love the way it makes me feel. I love the high it gives me. I love the confidence I've gained from running! It has changed how I feel about myself and I have learned that I CAN DO HARD THINGS!
I CAN, BECAUSE I HAVE! TWICE!
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