Before the marathon, I had visions of writing a race report that started out as "I finally qualified for Boston!" However, after seeing my finishing time, you can tell that did not happen. But, I'm happy to have finished yet another grueling 26.2. I always love coming to St. George for the marathon. Just being with friends and getting away from the pressures of every day life is very enjoyable for me. This was my sixth St. George marathon, and it was definitely the coldest and rainiest one as well. I never thought I'd need a poncho for the whole race. Before the race started, I met Kim from the blog! I recognized her from her cute pictures she posts. It was her first marathon. She looked good when I saw her afterwards!
I started out with Tracy 1. She looked strong and we split up around mile 3. She went on to do her best marathon--a 3:43! She has trained very well all year long. I ran a lot of the race with Jasro. He started out with Johnny. I guess Johnny was having problems with his shorts--they kept falling off! So, he took care of that and Jasro went on ahead. My legs cramped up pretty bad around mile 14. Oh boy, that meant 12 more miles of running with leg pain. I gave the best I could from that point on. Around mile 20 or 21, Jasro ran by and said, "This is what we wait all year long for." I grunted pretty loud. What a thought! I trained all year for this race and felt pretty lousy. Yet I look forward to it every year and keep coming back for more! At mile 25, Renae came up behind me and said, "One more mile!" She gave me the encouragement I needed to finish. It felt great to be done. I was drenched and couldn't wait to take a shower and put dry clothes on. My friend Sadie got picked up by the ambulance at mile 13. She had hypothermia. My running coach had hypothermia as well. Crazy for St. George! I feel better now after a hot bath and a hot meal. Now a nap is in order!!!! I am so proud of all my running buddies. They are the best friends to run with. We all feel blessed to run and run with such amazing people!
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