2008 St. George Marathon!

Wow…where to begin.

This event was the culmination of so much planning, so much preparation, so much training…and now that it’s over, it was all worth it. Every sore muscle, every aching knee, every mile in the noonday sun.

It was worth it because Kristie and I put in the hours, ran our races and accomplished what we set out to accomplish. Kristie qualified for the Boston Marathon, and I finished the 26.2 mile course, without stopping once.

What Kristie did just blows my mind. This was her first marathon, but she trained so hard and ran it so well. She beat the required qualification time by 10 minutes, finishing in an awesome 3 hrs and 30 minutes (and that was after intentionally easing up for the last four miles because she knew she was in!) Now it’s time to buy tickets to Boston, ’cause heartbreak hill, here she comes. Mom McConnon and the rest of the fam can’t wait…we’re so excited to see you guys!

Some more details from the weekend and race:

On Friday I went to a half day of work sporting my running shoes, marathon mustache, and an awesome yellow headband. At 1pm I picked up Kristie from school and we met up with Kristie’s parents, who arrived in town to caravan down to St. George with us to watch the race (bless their hearts…traveling 642 miles to support us running 26!). At the last minute we decided to carpool with them, and we hit the road.

When we arrived in St. George four hours later we headed straight to the convention center to pick up our numbers, race chips and free shwag.

We got their all-you-can-eat pasta dinner (as if I actually needed more carbs in my body) where we happened to meet up with some of the Tanner’s friends from Boise. Then we jumped back in the car travelled up the course to Pine Valley, where Kristie’s awesome friend Madison and her wonderful family invited us to stay for the evening. Looking back, I can’t believe how lucky we were to receive such a hospitable and kind offer. Not only did we get to enjoy great company and lodging at their beautiful cabin, but we got to avoid having to take the otherwise mandatory 4:30 am bus from town to the starting line. Since we were already up in Pine Valley, we got to roll out of the house at 6:18, arrive at the starting line at 6:40 and start the race 5 minutes later at 6:45–which was especially nice because it was 43 degrees and raining. In fact, it ended up raining the entire race, for only the second time in the race’s forty-something year history.

Yes, those are women’s size medium running shorts.

Kristie and I both have a head full of memories from those 26.2 miles that I’m sure we’ll never forget. For me, it was quite possibly the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done. My left knee never quite healed from my 20 mile training run, so much of the race was slow and painful…but to fight through it felt so empowering. I kept hoping that somewhere, miles in front of me, Kristie was running full throttle and cruising through the finish line. To my elation, she was. When I finally got there myself, she was waiting for me, and we embraced for a moment, savoring the reality of what we’d each accomplished. It felt so good, despite the seizing muscles and exhaustion.

After a shower at Kathy and John’s, mom and dad Tanner treated us to a celebratory dinner to round out the day. It was so awesome to have them with us.

So now that this marathon is over I think I need a new hobby, cause I don’t think I’m a marathoner. I like the idea of triathalons…I’ll keep you posted.