St. George Marathon.

I promise that the purpose of my blog is not to focus on me, me, me. I just have to include a few stories about my races and then I'll move on to the more important and interesting things that the Bryan family does.
Another goal of mine was to do a marathon. I got my chance this year in the St. George Marathon that was on Oct. 6th. I was so excited to train for this race since I was ready to be a runner after spending so much time biking in the summer. I laced up my shoes for 4 weeks and got ready for the big 26.2 mile jaunt.
It was fun going into this race because I didn't have any expectations for myself. I just was out to run and get myself to the finish line. My good friends, Emily and Jana were on the road with me and that makes for a good time. We met early in the morning and rode the bus together. It's a little nerve racking doing the marathon backwards in the bus because it feels like forever...and that's not a good sign if you are going to turn around and do the same route by foot. Once we were to the start line the great atmosphere and the process of keeping warm and getting ready quickly took over our nerves. We positioned ourselves up front and then figured that we'd settle into our pace group later. I started running with the 3:20 pacer but figured that I'd drop back as the race went on. I truthfully enjoyed starting the race in the dark and watching the sun come up. Before I knew it we were hitting small towns and there were actually people there (bundled up) cheering us on! It's fun to hear the bands as you run past small crowds. It's also fun to read all the signs that people have put up along the way. I felt so great up until about mile 16. Then I started feeling one of my knees ache. This is where I saw Darren and Justin for the first time. I handed off my jacket but didn't stop because the momentum was definately in my favor at that point. I stopped for a second at mile 17 to get Icy Hot rubbed on my knee. The support throughout the race is awesome. There was fuel at all odd numbered miles that included vaseline, water, gatorade, fruit, Icy Hot, etc. They even rubbed the Icy Hot on for me! I was quickly on my way and the Icy Hot was really helping the knee ache. It was also at mile 17 that I realized that I had passed the 3:20 pacer. I was definately exceeding the pace I thought I would maintain but it felt good so I went with it. Why not?! At mile 20 a girl I had been running near most of the way started talking to me. That made the next few miles go by fast until I met up with Justin, who was so good to run me in. It's such a nice distraction! I was definately feeling tired at this point but my pace, according to J-Dog, wasn't slowing. I finished my first marathon with a time of 3:16:48. I got a quick massage on my calves and then joined Darren, Jill, Justin, Mark, Katie, Jackson, and Bowen at the finish line. We all enjoyed some complimentary snacks at the park.
I have to say that I was soo, soo, soo sore the next few days. I seriously almost didn't have range of motion in my legs! This is scarey to admit, but I loved it! I love feeling sore after a good hard workout. It's a "good sore"- if there is such thing. As I thought about this strange personality trait of mine I decided that the thing I love most about biking and running is the "high" I get after completing something hard. I hope to get this feeling again in April 2008 as I do the Boston Marathon.