Salt Lake City Marathon.

 After 4 months of training, the day finally came. All the hours all the miles comes down to one morning....

I came across a quote that rings so true, and anyone who has trained for a marathon will agree: A marathon is hundreds of miles. The finish is the last 26.2

I had a few goals for this race. Ultimate was to qualify for boston. That meant I needed to run under a 3:35. My next goal was to run a 3:30. And if I was feeling amazing a 3:28

I can't tell you how nervous/excited I was! I felt like it was my day. I felt good, injury free all training (which is huge for me) and the weather was perfect!

There was a lot of down hill the first 6 miles, with some steep uphill as well, which made for keeping on pace really tricky. I think I averaged about a 7:45 through the first 6 miles. 

And I was happy, can't you tell?!?

The next 5 miles or so were slight down hill, and then more up hill than I had expected. This course on paper was quite deceiving. Mile 18 was pretty much down hill, and gave me a boost of energy. It helped that some little kids handed me an otter pop, and I am a FAN! Marathons should carry those:) At this point I was at a 7:55 pace for the 18 miles and well ahead of my qualifying time!

Mile 21 came, and about half of it was up hill. And that is when I lost some gas. I didn't really hit "the wall" this marathon, I just couldn't keep the speed I wanted. Didn't have the leg turn over.

This is at about mile 24. Can you say DONE?!?!

Once I hit the last mile, I kicked in all that I had left in me to get me across that finish line.

I was loosing time those last 4 miles, and there was no way I was letting that Boston qualifying time slip through my fingers.

I can't even begin to describe how I felt crossing that finish line! I did it! I accomplished my goal. My official time was 3:33:15

I had the best cheerleaders, cheering me on at a few points during the race. It was fun to see them, and gave me energy to run harder.

Of course after a few hours, and looking at my splits, I started to pick apart my race. Things I could have done different. How I could have shaved minutes off. The hills threw me off, but I can analyze all day. I've learned a lot this time around about racing, and I can't wait to be running the streets of Boston next April!!