St. George Marathon Completed!!!!

My awesome husband Ryan, Brinlee and I after the race. He was the best support!!
Brinlee, Me and Grandpa Arden!!!
Me, Brinlee and Grammy Carolyn after the race
Amy, Jennifer, and Me after we all completed the Marathon!! Way to go everyone!!

We just got back from a whirlwind of a weekend literally!! After all of my training the BIG day finally came, and I might say went very quickly. Ryan, Brinlee and I went to Las Vegas on Thursday and got to spend the weekend with his parents. They were so excited to have us come and to share this great experience with me. They did such a great job of making it so special and very memorable for me. If I ever chose to do another marathon it would be hard to beat!!

We arrived in St. George Friday afternoon and went to check in. After check in we went to actually drive the course to see just what I had gotten myself into. It was a definite reality to check to see just how long 26.2 miles is. At this point I started to get a little anxiety, but knew that I had trained my body for this and was ready. When I signed up for the race I put my finish time at 5 hours, because I knew that I could handle that. Then about 3 weeks ago I started to look at the marathon mommies blog and found that that was actually slow and moved my time to 4:15, but secretly wanted 4 hours. I started to pump my partner up for the better time, and hoped for the best. We were bussed to the top of a mountain to the starting line. I got up at 4:00 am and was on the bus at 4:30. It took about 1/2 hour to get to the starting line and the race started at 6:45 am. The marathon was very well put on with fires at the top to keep us warm until we started and lots of Gatorade, water and ben gay stations along the way. I was inpressed by the beauty of the mountains and the people in the small towns along the way who got up bright and early to cheer us on as we passed by. I ran with my race buddy Amy until about mile 14 when she said go ahead and get the time you want. I ran and ran and kept running. I was so excited to see Ryan, Brinlee and his mom and dad at mile 25.5. It was a definite moral booster. 25 had to be the longest mile ever because people kept saying just 1 more mile. After I saw them I turned the corner to the finish line and was overwhelmed with gratitude for my healthy body. I sprinted to the finish line and finished with a 4:09 time!!!!!! I was so grateful and happy to have beat my time by 6 minutes. I averaged 9:27 miles, and feel really blessed to have been a part of this great event. It was very challenging and very rewarding at the same time. Thank you to everyone for all of your support!!!