St George!

We took a quick family trip to southern Utah for the 35th St George Marathon - basically from one end of Utah down to the other!
With the hot forecast in Utah's Dixie, we got a rental car for the trip, as our van seems to have "issues" on long, hot drives.


The only rental car in the class we reserved was a new Nissan Cube - it is a funky square car, which gets plenty of looks on the freeway.


It drove fairly nice & got good gas mileage - but I wouldn't buy one.

The hotel reservation I had for a non-smoking room with two beds turned out to be one bed in a smoking room!! So we found an overpriced room that marginally worked at a dive hotel on the Boulevard. At least they had cable and AC, but the old AC unit woke us up all night, and the Wi-Fi only worked if you were standing outside your room.
But we were not there for the hotel - so we tolerated it for one night, and focused on the race. The pre-race expo and dinner were nice. We drove around town a bit, and then watched BYU beat USU before going to bed.
It was warm already at 4 am when I walked 5 blocks from our hotel to the finish area, where I boarded a bus and was shuttled to the start line, along with about 6,000 other runners. The whole event is a logistical marvel, as it has become the 15th largest marathon in the country, with runners from all over the world.

The start line, about 2,000+ feet in elevation higher, was cooler - maybe in the low 50's. I relaxed, prepared and waited in the pre-dawn light over an hour for the 6:45 start time.
After the national anthem, the wheelchair racers started, then 5 minutes later, the runners gun went off, and the stationary mass of people slowly gained momentum and eventually crossed the chip-timed start line close to running speed.


As the sun came up, the beauty of the mountains meeting the red rock desert was revealed, only to be interrupted by the notorious mile and a half "Veyo hill" between miles 7-9. I backed off my pace and cleared the hill just fine, then picked it back up on some gentle rollers prior to the big descents.
I crossed the halfway point at 1:45, just as I had planned. I wanted to run a reverse split, slightly faster second half, to come in at 3:30, or even 3:25. By now there was a noticeable breeze in our face - not noticeably debilitating, but just enough that you realized some relief by drafting a bit behind another runner, as long as their pace matched yours.


As the course dropped past beautiful Snow Canyon, and then into St George, the valley heat came up to meet us. I had hydrated well at every aid station from the start, consumed over 200 calories per hour, but the heat took its toll on many runners. For some it hastened the dreaded Wall, resulting in long stretches of walking. For me it just meant a headache, some minor tightness or cramping in my calves, and my pace slowed from a 7:45 to about an 8:10.

There are many hand made posters and signs along the way for encouragement and humor. I wish I could remember them all - such as, "Toenails are overrated", or "Pain is temporary, pride is forever", or "Kia Kaha", or "Run, Forrest, Run",


or this silly one around mile 26, where the course runs right by a mortuary!

So I distracted myself by reading signs and watching spectators in attempts to ignore the late race discomfort, stretched as needed, dumped water on my head every mile, and just forced my legs to "bring it on home".


I was very happy to see Keri, the boys and Clobber at the finish chute, as I crossed the line with a 3:33:36!


I took a half hour to re-hydrate, eat & recover, then joined the fam as we cheered other friends on at the finish - such as a friend who used to be in our ward,


our neighbor couple (first-timers)


and Landon's 15 year old friend, Mason (first timer!!).

It was an awesome event, course and atmosphere, involving hundreds, if not thousands of community volunteers.
We listened to conference as we drove home, glad to be back in our own beds.
My legs and body are a bit sore and tired today, but I am getting around fine with no apparent injury or pain :-) Thanks for the fun trip!