slc marathon

april 19th, 7:00 am, slc marathon, 05:32:14

shall we just start out by saying: I'm not the fastest?
it was a beautiful day, perfect running weather. I'm the luckiest.
it had plenty of incline and decline, but nothing like the park city marathon.
I was averaging 10.5 minutes/mile for the first half, before the 5:00 pacer passed me.

around mile 15, my left IT band started aching. I prayed and prayed, "Heavenly Father, please please please make it stop. Please just make it stop so I can finish the next 11 miles." By the aide station at mile 16, I was feeling pretty defeated. I slowed down for water and walked for the next little bit. I finally stopped to stretch. By this time, I was begging, "please, Heavenly Father, please." When I started running again, my hip started hurting more than ever. Instantly, I felt so alone and started sobbing. The next moment happen just as instant, I was overwhelmed by his presence. I am here. It was silent. It was sacred. It was powerful. I sobbed a bit more. He didn't take the pain away, but He stayed with me.

I did the whole run three minutes, walk a minute deal. Then I started walking a lot more. Then I caught up with these two guys a mile 20-- Tommy and Brent, they were friends from high school living across the country from each other and would travel to run marathons together and catch up. The three of us talked, ran, walked, and finished the last 6 miles together. It was a lot less painful with those two!

in the end, my runkeeper app said I ran 26.99 miles in 05:33.
can you believe it?
nobody needs extra credit when you're already running a marathon.

I'm pretty proud of myself.
I'm also pretty sore everywhere, hobbling and waddling around.
all for a shiny medal, right?

I'm thankful for everyone who loved and supported and congratulated me.
xo!