St George 2015 Marathon

On October 3rd 2015 was my favorite marathon ever, the St. George Marathon! This was my very first marathon back in 2008 and I just love everything about this race. I have a story for each year I have ran it (this was my 6th St. George Marathon) but I will save that for another post. This was to be my 12th full marathon and the last race of my season. I had an injury after The Big Cottonwood Marathon 3 weeks before and didn’t know if I was going to be able to run my favorite race. It was a little nerve wracking for me because I wanted to run this race so bad and the thought of missing it this year almost brought me to tears.

A little update on that: I made a trip to the sports medicine doctor and he determined it was Peroneal Tendonitis. I had a huge flare up during the race and 4 days after the Big Cottonwood marathon. It was so painful. I could barely walk and could not pivot through my foot for over two weeks. I was pretty sure I was going to have to pull out of the race. It broke my heart.

With the the exercises my doctor gave me, and making every effort possible to not run and rest my leg, it slowly started feeling better. I tried a very short run about a week before the race and it was a little achy but actually felt OK. (Photo from my INSTAGRAM @TRIANDRUNGIRL here)  I was hopeful. I tried again the week of the race. 2 short runs. No pain! Yay! It was on. I was going to go try running my favorite marathon.

The best part was that my husband was running this year too! I was so excited to run with him! We decided that it would be a good idea to run the race together and that I wouldn’t go for my PR or BQ with an injury. That would be stupid. We ran once together before the same marathon last year but didn’t run it together. I was shooting for my Boston Qualifying time last year and Trevor ran with his sister. So this was our year to not worry about time and just run together.

We headed down to the expo and it felt like Christmas. I absolutely love the St. George Marathon, the city of St. George and being with my family there. We used to live there and I have the best memories of living and training there. My parents still live there too so its just so special that I can’t put it into words. Rachelle came down with us and came in to the expo with us. I love her so much. She is such an amazing friend. She also coached me this year and helped me grow so much as a runner and a person through it all. We had a blast visiting with her in the car and getting excited about the race.

The expo is always so fun and we always run into so many friends. I always try to enjoy it but not stay too long. Gotta save those legs for 26.2 in the morning! We saw our cute friend Monica there and met up with Trevor’s sister and her husband who was running too.

My mom always does a fabulous pasta dinner the night before the race and it’s perfect for race fuel the night before. Setting my alarm so early always hurts a little, but I know it’s worth it the next morning when it’s all said and done. We were out the door bright and early at 4:44am and caught the bus in just the right amount of time. We left with our dear family friend Brittany who stayed with us and grabbed the first bus we could get on. We met Rachelle and Trish, her brother and a few more friends up at the top of the start line.

We all got in line to use the port o potties one more time before the race started. We all saw lots of friends and got excited to get the race started. Rachelle said she would run with me and Trevor so that made me happy.

We met up with our darling friend Pam and visited with her at the top. This girl is amazing and has ran 44 Marathons and qualified for Boston over 30 times. She and I became social media friends fast and it was so good to meet her in real life that morning. 
We got separated from Trevor when we got in line and said we’d meet up with the 3:45 pacers if we got separated and start there. Rachelle and Brittany and I made our way there and we couldn’t find Trevor! I was worried! We decided to just start and look for him as we ran.

3-2-1…. The start sounded and we were off!! I was honestly worried about how my leg was going to feel but I pushed it out of my mind and let the happiness fill me as I soaked in the fact that I was running my 12th marathon on my favorite course! “Positive thoughts, positive vibes” I kept thinking as we ran and prayed my leg would feel good. And when I say prayed I don’t just mean I said it, I really prayed a lot before and during the race for strength.bi also promised that I would be smart and stop if I had any pain. Just run smart today.

Brittany and Rachelle and I were having a great first few miles and just enjoyed being on the course talking and running. We literally ran into many friends on the course and said hi and just enjoyed the whole first miles. I was looking for Trevor the whole time and was hoping we would find him. I was feeling great right up until the veyo hill at mile 7-8 and then my stomach started to cramp up and feel sick. Ugh. The same feeling I had at big cottonwood. I reminded myself to not push the pace too much and just enjoy it. This was not a PR race so just relax and run.

We made it up the hill, which everyone dreads, but I honestly don’t mind it. It makes me feel empowered running up that dang hill every year. And I had to stop and go to the bathroom. I was so mad. I hate stopping to pee during a race. But I had to. I went fast and caught up to the girls. We kept going. Still looking for Trevor. I ran into my darling friend Liz and we took took a very shaky selfie together. I love her! Made me so happy to see her!

We were approaching mile 12 and my leg was feeling ok but not my tummy. Ugh. I stopped again to use the facilities. I was mad my tummy was upset. But I kept going. As I came out of the bathrooms I saw Rachelle and TREVOR!! She had found him and they waited for me. Yay we were all finally together! We sent Brittany on ahead. She was feeling great and I told her to go get her PR. She wanted a 3:45.

The 3 of us were so happy we found each other and kept running and chatting. We just took it one mile at a time and had some great conversations. Thats the thing about running a marathon with someone, it really bonds you. We all felt really strong running together. We stayed consistent and kept fueling right and drinking plenty of water. St. George is always a course that gets hot so it’s best to stay hydrated.

As we approached mile 18 “the wall” at the ledges, Trevor was starting to feel it a little bit, as were all of us but we slowed down a little. Realistically I knew I was capable and hoping for a 3:45-3:50 but at this point we were about a 3:55. A sub 4 would have been great for me today still and a great PR for Trevor. I was so proud of him.

We kept steady and again we were just enjoying the miles. The scenery and the runners and everything is just breathtaking at this race and I wanted to enjoy it all. As we passed the last few rollers at miles 21-23 we started our decent into downtown St. George. This is the part that makes me so excited because the energy is amazing. There are so many spectators out cheering and ringing cowbells and handing out Popsicles and cheering their hearts out for all the runners.

We grabbed some Popsicles and ice cold towels and water and just kept pushing. At this point we were behind our sub 4 goal but knew we were still going to get Trevor a huge PR. We were approaching the end and looking for our family and friends at the finish line always makes my heart race.

Trevor and I ran into the finish together and I could not wipe the stupid smile off my face. It was a fantastic moment and memory I will never forget. We crossed at 4:06 and Trevor got a 19 minute PR. I was so happy for him!

It it was a perfect moment. Getting to run a marathon with my husband and cross the finish line with him. After all of my years running races this was one of my favorite moments of all time.

When we cross the finish line it’s all kind of a blur of emotions. So happy it’s done, tired, sore, elation and HUNGER. I was sick to my stomach almost the entire run and had only 1 GU the entire race. Not like me but I felt if I ate anything it would just come right back up. Glad we enjoyed it and didn’t push too hard. My nutrition was lousy due to my upset tummy. So grateful it held up. I ran into my friend Lindsey and Pam who both ran amazing races and it was good to give them a hug and congratulate each other. Finish lines are always the best.

We grabbed some food, found our bother in law Jeff (who ran a 2:42, he’s incredibly fast! Amazing) and Trevor’s sister Emmy and Brittany and my mom and took a photo. A family that runs together, stays together 😉 Brittany got a PR of 3:45, I was so happy for her! It was a good day.

We headed home and my mom made all of us some omelets and bacon. Perfect recovery food to me that day. We showered and got cleaned up and turned on the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference.

Then I was off to meet some amazing blogger/Instagrammer friends of mine. We planned a meet up at Swig that afternoon to refuel with some sugar cookies and dirty diet cokes. Perfect!
Maury, Katie, Me, Ash, Candice

My leg was feeling pretty dang good and I was so happy it wasn’t worse. With this being my last race of the season though, I decided it would be time for a little break from running after this race. It has been a good year and this was my 4th full marathon in one year so I’m ok with letting my body heal and taking a little break.

We we went out for pizza for dinner that night with the family and then the exhaustion of it all set in. We all slept really well that night. The next morning we had a wonderful conference morning breakfast and enjoyed watching the first session with my parents and our boys.

I felt rested and renewed spiritually and physically after that. My favorite message was “Ponderize” from Elder Durrant to help remind us to study our scriptures more thoroughly. If you want to learn more about LDS General Conference and what we believe in, I invite you to click here. Then we headed home from our happy weekend and glad we both made it through such a great accomplishment from the day before. 26.2 miles in one stretch is a serious feat for anyone. Marathons are hard and amazing!

Hope this was a great race recap for anyone who is wanting to run the St. George Marathon. It’s amazing and is ranked among the top 10 marathons for various reasons on various polls. “Like No Other”. To find out more or to sign up for the lottery, CLICK HERE. 

Did you run the St. George Marathon this year too? It was such an amazing year with so many people running it.
Have you ran it before? Did you like it?
What is your favorite marathon or favorite marathon memory and why?

xoxo-Heather