St. George Marathon 2009

St. George Marathon 2009 was fantastic. It was a beautiful day and we felt great. We survived (only lost a couple of stretchy gloves) and we even did pretty darn well! Emily & I ran in 3:36 and Matt ran 3:56. I am so proud of Matt. He is so awesome and I am so happy for him. Brian was the fastest at 3:34. I can't believe Em and I almost caught him! My darling sister Jill ran her first marathon and had a time of 4:29.

I felt really good during most of the race. The uphill was hard. Matt and I got massages 2 days before and I think that actually hurt our times. My glutes were so sore on the uphill, dang! Good thing Emily was there to keep me moving. By mile 23 I was so ready for it to be over. The crowds in St. George are fantastic. It's like being in a parade and everyone was cheering for us. Little kids held out their hands for us to high 5 them, bands were playing and everyone was yelling for us. That helped so much! I sprinted the last 25 yards and the crowded cheered even louder, it was great.

After the marathon is a different story. I am pretty sure I got dehydrated, because I felt so sick. The worst feeling was waiting in a long line for the porta-potty and just hoping I wouldn't barf on the lady in front of me. I laid down on the grass for a while and my sweet husband got me more water and I was OK after an hour.

All in all, I felt so great about my race and loved that I met my goal of qualifying for Boston. Not sure if I'll go this spring or next, but that is something I would love to do at least once.

Thanks so much to all my family and friends for the phone calls, texts and e-mails wishing my good-luck. You are the best and I love you all.