I got to St. George yesterday around 3:20 and hung out with my family. My parents and Sister live there. We hit up Texas roadhouse for dinner and I ate a gob of rolls and honey butter. I've been eating very clean all summer, so the last few days have been weird for me partaking of so much carbalicious things! I slept well and woke up at 4:05, dressed, ate, drank, immodium AD -out the door! I met a friend (Kristen Thorne) at the bus loading. We rode up and talked the whole way. It went by quick. Laughing with Kristen seemed to calm my fears and anxiety.
It felt warm at the start. Kristen who has run St. George several times said she didn't remember it feeling this warm at the start ever. It worried her, and then it started worrying me a bit. Time to start lining up in the corrals. Gun fires, and were off! It was pretty dark. Kristen and I went out with the intention of not going to fast the first half. We must not have been paying attention, because now that I look back at my splits, I think I went out to fast for this course. It was a good time plugging along with her. Mckenzie and Tylers were just behind us for the first 6 miles. At the bottom of Veyo there is a band, and it seriously cracked me up. Funniest thing I've ever seen. Then the signs on the side of the road: "what doesn't kill you will only make you veyo"....haha, and" toenails are overrated." Veyo was very hard. But I dedicated this mile and the 2 after to a dear friend who has struggled a bit the last few months. I promised her I would pick away at the hill just as she is picking away at hard things. On the hill I said a small prayer for her. It made the marathon all worth it. Once we were to the top, things were still hard as it was slight incline. I ran with Kristen until the half. Shortly after we passed the half (which was @ 1:29 something) I remembered something Tyler had said to me a little earlier on. He said, hey Lily, see that volcano looking mountain over there? When you see a 2nd one, that's the cue to pick it up. Shortly after the half point, I looked up and saw the 2nd volcano type mountain. I reached into my shirt and pulled out my headphones, turned my ipod on. Immediately hearing the familiar music that I run to spawned a whole new running game for me. Suddenly I found my familiar rhythm footfall and began to pick off runners. This went on for several miles. The beautiful panoramic views during these miles were just amazing. I did notice headwind during this time as well.
Although hot, I still felt somewhat strong. Until......dreaded mile 22. My fuel never sat right with me the whole race. I felt like my stomach was sloshing around way to much. I drank more this marathon compared to my last one, and I am not so sure I like it. In fact, my stomach just isn't used to that. I don't drink or eat anything during my training runs. During mile 19 I took a powerbar gel with caffeine. By mile 22 it had kicked in and it was making me ill. I could not get a handle on it either. Then suddenly I started becoming very aware of the heat. Oh the heat! I was horrible! I was sweating so bad, my legs were tensing up, I started feeling VERY dizzy. Mile 23.5 I vomited a little on the side of the road. I turned around and started my run again. not even 10 seconds later I stopped and puked again. This was horrible! I have never puked in a race, EVER. Seriously, at this point, the only thing that kept me going were two things that kept going through my head: something Kristen T. said to me as she passed by me when I started to bonk. She said: "hang on Lily, it's only 3 more miles. You can do it." the 2nd thing I kept thinking of was my sweet family at the end. How they would be so disappointed if I were to walk over to the curb I was now eyeballing to sit and park my rear. I couldn't do it, so I kept going. Then at mile 24 it started.....me doing the walk/run thing. I would walk for 10-15 seconds, then pick it up and run as long as I could again. Sadly I have to admit I did this for 2 miles. I was crying and delirious. The last halfish mile an angel came. Jossee! She had been pacing friends into the finish line. She ran next to me and drilled into my head that I could not stop and walk again! I was so emotional and crying and kept repeating aloud that I can't do this. And abruptly Jossee corrected and said YOU CAN DO IT LILY. She repeated it until I began to repeat it. And suddenly, it was if I deity stepped in seriously, because then I did believe it. And I ran and picked up the pace until the finish line. I don't have any answers to this because I was toast 2 miles back. I lost all my emotions as I crossed that finish line. I cried and collapsed on the 2 volunteers. The volunteers were awesome. I was so ill. The literally put my arms around there shoulders and walked me clear into the runners coral. This is when something else emotional happened. A man who I recognized came up to me (a runner) I cannot remember his name. He grabbed my weak hand and placed a $100 gift card in it. He said I want you to have this Lily, you are so inspiring. Whhaaaa? me??? he obviously came in before me. Why me? What have I done to inspire this man? I was such a wreck I started crying again, shoulders shaking. I looked up and he was crying to. This race was hard. Whoever said this course was easier to PR on wasn't thinking. I think it's the Veyo hill that does runners in.
I should mention that I was violently ill for about 6 hours after wards. I had a low grade fever until about 8 pm. I also want to mention that as soon as I felt better, I ate a giant animal style double double and a shake from in-n- out burger. :)
Splits: 6:56 7:04 6:40 6:34 6:48 6:36 6:32 7:46 7:18 7:18 7:31 7:21 6:54 7:03 6:31 6:23 6:42 6:56 7:34 7:19 7:05 7:28 7:39 7:52 8:42 8:35 A picture is worth a thousand words eh? (picture taken from the St. George spectrum)
| 
