So, my 3rd St. George Marathon is over and...........I am happy and feeling very satisfied about it. My motive today was to run with my good friend Heidi W who was running her first marathon and wanted to qualify for Boston. Last year I ran this is 3:30 and so for some reason I thought trying to run it in 3:40 would be a cake walk. It wasn't until about 2 days ago that I actually thought "Kellie, you best start mentally preparing because despite the pace, you are running a marathon Saturday:)". So, for the last 2 days I started stressing out if I would be able to help Heidi, how I would feel, etc. Let me start by saying that this was the funnest marathon I have yet to run. Tyler and I got up early and went and picked up Heidi C. before then meeting up with Rich, JaNae, Kyle, Heidi W, Brandon and Rachel to get on the bus to head to the start line. We thought we would have oodles of time one we got up top but Tyler, Rich and Rachel headed off into the "Elite Corral" and the rest of us went and got in line for the porta potties. We sat there for almost 20 minutes and so by the time we were done and headed to the fire, we literally had maybe 10 minutes before the siren sounded. Heidi W and I took off and were having so much fun the miles just ticked away. Before I knew it, we were at the bottom of Veyo and had averaged a 7:42 pace. We headed up veyo and even past mile 9 and only lost a few seconds on our overall pace. Things were going okay until we hit mile 10 and from 10-11 both of us struggled a bit. Then, we got to about 13 and were having a blast. This was really a fun part of the marathon! The crowds were great and the weather was PERFECT!! We were heading along and got to about mile 20 and Heidi started to cramp. We were at mile 20 and I knew I needed to hang with her. Despite those very common struggles that accompany the tail end of a marathon added together with the pressure and mental distress that a 1st marathon can bring, she did amazingly well and we came in at 3:34. Heidi's watch actually showed 3:33 so I am not sure what happened there and I had stopped my watch somehow, someway at mile 15 and lost 2 miles so I couldn't even use my watch as a reference :). I had so much fun today and am thankful that I could help Heidi qualify and enjoy myself at the same time. It has been a fun year of training and I am looking for a bit of time off before picking it right back up again!! So fun seeing so many fellow bloggers also at the convention last night and at today's event!! Although I am not the most diligent blogger lately, I feel so grateful for this blog and the friends that I have met, the relationships I have established and our running abilities that bring us together!! I am off to bed now. Night :) | 