Marathon Training - Part 1

In 2005, I decided it was time to push myself to the limits. I had been awaking at the very early hour of 6am every morning (except Sundays) to run 6 miles. It was challenging, invigorating, and I was in the best physical shape of my life. I was also running my partner ragged, bless her heart.

I knew it was time, it was time a change. When I was in high school, there was a girl who told me that she wanted to run a marathon before she turned 18. I thought to myself, why in the world would anyone run 26.2 miles VOLUNTARILY!!!! She must me crazy. Well my turn came in 2005. I was in my prime, ready to take on the world (or something).

A girl friend from my ward and I started talking. We were going to do the St. George Marathon... crazy or not. We met up with a group of about 5 men and women and began our sweat and tears. We shared many a good moments and many a not so great moments in our 1000 miles of training together. We sweat together, we hurt together, and we prayed we could go the 22nd mile together.

I remember a particular morning on a training run, we had been up since about 415am and were on our 19th mile (with still 2 more to go). We wondered what we were doing to our poor bodies, why in the world were we doing this? We kept our eye on the goal and played a "game." The "I am grateful for..." game. We were grateful for our shoes, for our legs, for the shade, for the previous 19 miles we had already run. We were grateful we had water and sunscreen and hats and sunglasses. It was a not so pretty moment as we were grateful for various things. However, as we realized how grateful we were at a time when we were so tired, weak, and just ready to be done, we were able to carry on.

After all the sweat, tears, soreness, and two very expensive pairs of shoes later, we headed up to St. George for race day. It was exhilarating. The course was beautiful, the morning was beautiful, every one was excited and full of energy. Of course it wasn't all roses, one of the members of our group got the "flu" and was sick the night before and that morning, but she persevered. All that hard work was not going to waste on her.

We began the race, all pumped and ready to go. We had all the energy and excitement in the world, this was what we had trained for. The wind was blowing to keep us cool, we had water and gatorade, ipods (well something like that), and each other. It was invigorating. The first 7 miles, I hit my best time ever!!! It was all downhill (kind of).

And then came our first hill.... (dun dun dun). It was uphill for what seemed like eternity, really it was just a mile (JUST a mile HA!!). I felt like I was going to pass out, but this is what I had been waiting for, I still had 19 miles to go, I couldn't poop out now. So persevered we did. We said our "gratefuls" and up we went. Well you know that what goes up must come down and boy were we grateful for the downhill after that uphill. It was easy sailing. I thought "OH, this is easy..." and we continued on.

As we ran, we thought about the people who were waiting at each point to cheer us on, boy were we grateful for them. They boosted our energy, increased our confidence, and renewed our vigor to carry on. As we saw our husbands, they cheered and put smiles on our faces. Then came the halfway mark, 13.1 miles. Boy the countdown could now begin, we knew there was an end in our sight.

And then.... the wall. Everyone hits the wall. It could be mile 10, 15, 18, 21, 25, mine came at about mile 22. I thought to myself, there is no way I can make this. I can't do this, it is just too hard. There is a car right behind me that I could just wave my hand and he would pick me up and take me to the finish line, simple as that. Then I thought to myself, seriously? Seriously? You spent all that time preparing and training and eating right and all that TIME? And you are going to give up? Are you crazy? YES!!!! LOL. So I told my running partner and she said, "You can do it." I put my ear phones on and up ahead was the crowd.

They were everywhere, there were so many people cheering us on, little kids putting their hands out so that we could slap their hands. They were cheering for me, they were rooting for me. I knew that I could do it then. I said a prayer (one of MANY during that race) and off I went with renewed (well kind of) energy and mentality to continue with the race. I wasn't about to give up. I am not a quitter and if the one person in my group could go on after puking all night, then I sure as heck could. So I carried on. I ran my little heart out.

My friend and I saw the finish line up ahead. We looked at each other, grabbed one another's hand and raced for the finish line. 26.2 miles. We did it and we did it together. I know that I could not have done it without her. We knew the sweat and pain and heartache and soreness like no one else. We knew all the hours and money and time and sleep we gave up to accomplish this goal. And finish we did. It was another exhilarating moment, a real sense of accomplishment.

The marathon was complete and we had accomplished our goal.