Running St George Marathon:
Driving directly from work on Friday October 6, 2007, Cathryn and I left SLC about 3:00 PM into a rain, dust and windstorm that continued intermittently along the 4.5 hour drive. When we arrived in St George, the car didn’t look just wet, but it was covered in mud. Giving Caroline and Kevin a cell call to determine their location, we met at the running expo. There we picked up our race numbers and stayed a few minutes, looking at the various vendors displaying or selling their services or products. We decided to get dinner in St George at the Claim Jumper restaurant. It turned out to be over priced and not that great of food. Caroline said she was not feeling that great.
Everyone seemed interested in checking-in at the hotel and try to get some rest for the big day. We were in our rooms and in bed around 10:00 PM. The race started at 6:45 the next morning. I slept well, until my phone alarm went off at 4:00 AM, signaling the time to get going. Cathryn also got up in order to watch Collin and Carson in Caroline and Kevin’s room, which was next door.
At 4:30 AM Caroline, Kevin and I had breakfast together at our hotel, the Best Western Coral Hills. The free breakfast opened up early for the runners to get a bite before leaving. I ate a half English muffin that took 4 times in the toaster to even start to look brown and some orange juice. I wanted the whole muffin, but the other half fell on the floor when I was about to butter it.
After eating breakfast we stepped right onto the free hotel shuttle service at 5:30 and it left immediately for the short ride, only a couple of blocks, to a place near the race finish line, where the race buses were waiting. We easily got onto one of the race sponsored school buses, that filled up quickly with sleepy runners.
I sat down in front of Kevin and Caroline and an older lady chose to sit next to me. She wanted to talk about
her running and training for the marathon. To me it seemed to make the 26 mile trip to the starting line go by fast. She told me that a couple of years ago she had come to St George in order to watch her niece run the race and wondered if she could ever do a marathon. At that time she had never run before, except to play softball. She joined a running club and started training. Having done the Phoenix City Marathon and given it a “not impressed” rating, she was looking forward to the St George’s scenery on her second marathon.
As the bus began to approach the starting line, you could see spotlights in the clear star- lit sky, marking the event. Exiting the bus, the whole area was brightly lit from several work lights, like you see at construction projects during night work. The starting point is pretty remote area, a couple of miles south of the LDS meadow massacre site. On east side of road, a line of port-a-potties extended as far as you could see. The left side of the road had a motor home with several tables setup and a sound system playing music and providing information. An announcer gave some details of the race, facts like there were runners from every state in the nation, except Vermont. Also three runners were over 80 years old. Beyond the motor home there were dozens of small camp fires going near which runners sat or stood around to keep warm from the 39 degree temperature. There was no wind, which was a welcome change from the wind advisory of 35 mph that they had the day before. The port-a-potties lines continued to lengthen; now each unit had 10 or more people waiting in line.
Kevin and I decided to start the race with no warm-up clothes or gloves, just dressing as we wanted to finish. Caroline wanted to start with a wind-breaker and a pair of light gloves that Cathryn happened to have in the car for cool mornings drives. We put all the clothes we didn’t want to wear while running in bags that were identified with our race bib number and name. The bags were then piled up in a mound near the starting line for transportation to the finish area. Caroline’s plan was to stay somewhat warmer for the first couple of miles and leave her bag at one of the support mile markers along the way. As we made our way toward the bag drop and starting line, we noticed that the line of runners that occupied the width of the road and back several hundred feet behind the starting line were moving forward. I never heard any gun or starting bell to signal that the race had began. All three of us got in a mass of 6500 runners and started to shuffle along with everyone else. It was dark when starting, but I don’t remember worrying about tripping or any other problems. The start is very upbeat and exciting. I felt and thought, “Ok you trained hard all summer, now the time is here to make it happen.” After the crowd thinned out, we started to settle into a nice 11:30 mile pace. This pace felt quite comfortable to me and the sky started to lighten as the sun rose.
I started to warm up and for the entire race I was quite comfortable that I had chosen a long sleeve shirt to wear. The course was very well marked with signs at each mile that had balloons attached. The odd miles had port-a-potties and water. Some designated stops had food and first aid stations. The food consisted of peeled bananas, oranges wedges and sometimes energy bars or gels. Water and Gatorade were available, although I only drink water when running. I remember later in the race that Kevin and Caroline had the Gatorade and commented that it seemed watery. In comparison to TOU and Ogden marathons that I had run, I thought this one had the best on course support. I say that even though in route, with the anticipation of using a port-a-pottie, I found it had no TP. I was glad I looked first and after that I decided I could wait until the finish without a bathroom break.
There were lots of signs along the course that were creative and enjoyable to read. Providing encouragement and motivation for friends and family running, like a picture of a little girl and text below “dad run faster I’m waiting at the finish line for you”. Or, “3:20 gets you to Boston”. A couple of my favorites were “marathons don’t build character, they reveal it” and “the pain is only temporary, but the memories last a life time”. The whole race has seemed to blend into one event, with individual details blurred together. I never experienced any knee or joint pain on this race. Later in the race Caroline’s knee started bothering her when going down hill. When going up hill she was fine, but when we started down again the pain came back. I experienced this when running the Top of Utah marathon and it caused me stop running and walk to the finish. She was able to continue running, but our time dropped to about 14 minute miles going down hills. Our pace accelerated up the hills and decrease going down, quite the opposite of what you would expect. From miles 20 to 25 the course turns even steeper and becomes continuously down hill. Caroline was really hurting in this section. Kevin and Caroline started to hold hands as they ran.
To me, around mile 25, a touching and memorable moment of the race occurred. A passing runner noticed their joined hands and playfully asked, “Can I also get a free ride?” To which Kevin quickly replied, “This is not a free ride, it’s a partnership.” I was impressed to see their commitment and love for each other during this very stressful event. As we approached the finish line we saw and waved to Cathryn, Collin and Carson in the crowd on the sideline. Caroline’s sister and brother-in-law were also there taking pictures of us very close to the finish line.
We all crossed the finish line at exactly the same official time 5 hour 36 minutes and 24 seconds. You might notice the race time on clock above the finish line. It shows the time from the starting gun. Official times are calculated from the instant your timing chip, which is tied on your shoe, crosses the starting line and stops upon crossing the finish. Upon finishing we bowed our heads to have the marathon finisher awards placed around our necks by a race volunteer. I love this part. To me the best part of running a marathon is when you just finish. It feels so good to just stop running. I now have met my goal and can honestly say I have run a marathon. I am so glad I was able to do that with a part of family that have supported me. I hope there will be other races for me to run, but this one will always have a very special place in my heart and memory.
