St. George Marathon 2013!!
I ran my 8th and final marathon of 2013 this past Saturday.
The St. George Marathon
I can officially say that this is my favorite marathon. So well organized and the course is just amazing.It is definitely the perfect course for me and how I run.
The weather can be unpredictable- but it is usually warm down in St. George during the first weekend in October-which is when the race is held. This year we had perfect marathon weather.(I may use the word perfect a lot in this post)
It was actually very cold and windy at the start,but they had so many fires going up there, we were able to keep warm.As long as we didn’t move away from the fire ;). Still, I had 2 layers of gloves on and was unwilling to take them off…so there are no pictures at the start (or during the race).
The wind died down as the race got going-and it was a tailwind so not even really an issue. Since this was my 8th marathon in 6 months, I wasn’t looking to push it- let alone get a PR.
BUT- this race course is just too good to hold back!It’s really just hard to take it easy once you get past the halfwaymark and the downhill begins! My plans went out the window and I just went with how I felt… and I felt pretty great, so I picked it up a bit.
The whole race went by so fast- I can’t even remember how I felt at different parts of the race.Except the last 2.5 miles.I remember how I felt then. The downhill ends around then and heads into town for the final stretch.I checked my watch and I was at a 8:12 average pace.I knew that meant around a 3:35:XX finish.I also knew that my Boston qualifying time is UNDER 3:35.
My mental game has not been good during the last few miles ofmost all of the marathons I have ran this year. I have a tough time overcoming the fatigue and convincingmyself to just keep running. Still- I knew how close I was and I still felt good, considering. So I dug deep… really deep…and just ran.I hadn’t even considered going for a BQ time,but I now knew it was possible and I wanted it! Those last miles crawled by. I skipped the aid stations and popsicles being handed out by spectators.I was on a mission (to not collapse, mostly)-and I did it!
3:34:41!I got my Boston qualifying time by 18 seconds!
I would have cried if I had any fluid in my body ;), but I DID immediately call the husband because I knew thathe would understand how exciting this was… and how unexpected!
I was and am still so happy with how well this race wentand so happy with my time- especially on my 8th marathon of the year.
St. George also has the best marathon medals. Every one has it’s own unique design (polished sandstone, I believe).
The cute ladies I went there with also had amazing races! They both PR’d by around 7 minutes and have cut so muchtime off of their marathons this year- I am in awe of them!
Plus- they can run a crazy fast marathon and still look amazing. I haven’t mastered that part of racing yet :).
The Boston qualifying all worked out well for me, too.If I would have qualified with this time before the 2014 registration,I wouldn’t have made it in. 18 seconds under would not be enough.It may not be enough next year, either. Since this BQ time is good for Boston 2015, I will be 35 on race day.so I technically qualified by 5 minutes and 18 seconds.(35-39 BQ time is under 3:40).At least that’s how I interpreted it on their website. Feel free to tell me if I am wrong!
Anyway- that was the rambling, nonsensical, wordy recap of my last marathon of 2013!A great end to quite the adventure.It is now Tuesday and I feel great!Even hit up the gym this morning.
Now it’s time to start planning for 2014!