I started the race a little peeved: BYU lost their football game the night before, and I was up late watching them lose. I woke up bright and early: 4:15 AM. I dressed, put on my bib, ate some breakfast, and waited for my wife to drop me off at the buses. I met up with Cori's older sister, Christen, and we rode the long, perilous bus ride to the starting line. We got out 26.2 miles later and were welcomed with a little wind. It was chilly at the starting line, but they had plenty of fires around to stay warm. This race is unbelievably well run. It was very organized and it seemed that everyone was at ease at the starting line, all 7800 runners. The most hectic part of the whole process was throwing our drop bags into the U-Haul truck before the start of the race.
I had three goals coming into this race: a very ambitious primary goal; a more realistic secondary goal; and a don't die tertiary goal. I accomplished the tertiary goal. Looking back, I probably made a few mistakes, as this was just my first marathon. I started the race and felt great. Of course, who doesn't feel great the first few miles of a marathon. I was used to running 15-18 miles, so what is 5? I still had secondary, or even primary, goal in mind, so I took off at a pretty good pace, at least good for me. I felt great. 13.1 miles later I hit the halfway point at 2:05, exactly a 9:30 minute per mile pace.
Along the way I saw stunning views of the red cliffs, Snow Canyon, and other beautiful sites along the way. I left my phone with Cori so she could track me along the way, so I wasn't able to get any pictures in the early portions of the race. If you would like to see what it looks like, just google "St. George Marathon pictures"; I'm sure you'll find plenty.
I forgot to mention Veyo Hill. This Hill has been in my nightmares for the past couple months. It hits you in the face around mile 7. It scared me. The only good thing about Veyo Hill is before you hit it, you get to the town of Veyo. This is a tiny little town outside of St. George, but it was awesome to run through. Everybody in town, it seems, was out on the road cheering on the runners. It was louder in Veyo than it was a the actual finish line. This gave me a false impression that I was doing awesome! I put a smile on my face and picked up the pace. I hit Veyo Hill and it wasn't even as bad as I thought. I ran almost the whole way up, walking for about 1 minute on the way up. I even caught up to Cori's sister on Veyo Hill and left her in the dust!! (Admittedly, she caught me about 8 miles later and ended up beating me by 20 minutes, but I beat her up Veyo Hill!!).
If I thought Veyo Hill was bad, I hadn't seen anything yet. Veyo Hill at mile 7 was nothing compared to the other hills we got to around mile 15. I remember running by a guy who said, "This is a really easy course to run a negative split." I almost laughed out loud. (A negative split is when you run the second half of a race faster than the first half). Well, if I would have run a negative split, I would have hit my primary goal, not barely accomplishing my tertiary goal.
The first arrow that you see is Veyo Hill. The second arrow that you see is the spot where I turned into The Walking Dead.
I got to mile 15 and I still felt strong. I was feeling I might be able to run a respectable time. Mile 17 came and went and I still felt great. Can I say something about the aid stations here? They were awesome! The aid stations came around about every 2 miles, starting at mile 3. They had about anything you could ever want: water, Gatorade, Heed drink, Vaseline on a stick, volunteers with icy hot, fruit, you name it, they probably had it. Also, along the way, there were some very friendly spectators with cans of Coke and cookies. Amazing! As we got closer to the finish, the icy hot volunteers became more prominent (I took advantage starting at about mile 20). There was licorice, otter pops, bagels, cold towels, and other wonderful things. It was awesome.
Anyway, mile 18 came and yet. Still feeling ok. Then came mile 19. My calves really started getting tight here. I took advantage of the icy hot volunteers and they instantly felt better, for about 10 steps. Then they felt really tight again. Mile 20 came and I was getting worse. I slowed down a bit and starting walking more, but I still felt like I could push through this. Mile 22 came and then came The Walking Dead. This is me. I felt like Death had called for me, tied me up, and was dragging me around the course. It hurt to run, it hurt to walk, but it hurt even more to try to start walking after a run. I didn't care. I employed a run-walk-run cycle. About this time, the course starts to come into town. I usually don't like walking in front of volunteers, but I left my pride around mile 20. I was far passed trying to hold onto dignity. Around mile 23 I saw a couple familiar faces: my brother Nathan and his wife, Tonya. I promptly told them this was the worst day of my life! They told me I looked great. I was wondering if they thought I was someone else. Nathan asked if I wanted him to run with me and I said YES. He ran the rest of the race with me, forcing me to run, not letting me walk much, and talking to me to take my mind off the worst physical pain I have ever felt, literally. I have never felt such pain. About a mile later I saw my family: my wife and two sons, my parents, and an uncle and aunt who I didn't know was going to be there. It was good to see them and I got a little boost from them. I also saw Cori's parents and sister on the side, cheering me on. I was very grateful for the family that I had to give me support to finish this thing.
The last couple miles of this marathon really showed me something. It showed me that no matter what happens in life, you just have to keep pushing forward. Quitting was not an option; it really never crossed my mind. I knew it was going to be difficult, but nothing could prepare me for what I experienced, unless you ripped my legs off, beat me with them, and then sewed them back on and told me to run a few miles on them. That's exactly how I felt the last few miles of this race. But I finished! Here are a few pictures that people took. I am sorry for the way I look: this was right after my legs were sewn back onto my torso.
Throughout this marathon, there were many times where I felt defeated. I felt like I was done. Despite feeling done, I knew I couldn't quit. I knew that no matter how much pain I was in, I had to finish. I had to do this. I couldn't quit.
"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, hat you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."
-Maya Angelou
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