Everyone says that once you run one marathon, you'll be addicted and want to run more and more. Maybe we'll change our minds at a later date, but Coty and I are pretty content with just running this one.
Coty's bus got in at 5:30 on Friday night, and Grandpa and Grandma picked him up and came to Logan to meet us. Our friends, Ryan and Nikki Ostler (who were also running the marathon), drove the course with us so that we would know what we could expect. We then picked up our packets which included our shirts, bib numbers, timing chips, etc. And then headed out for a late pasta dinner.
After a sleep-less night (mine was anyway...I think Coty was able to get some sleep), we awoke at 4:00am in order to catch our bus. We ended up at the start line around 6:00 where we hung out in the warming tents stretching and relaxing for approx. an hour before the race started. We lined up in our supposed finish times and Coty was a bit modest when we chose to stand in the 3:30-4:00 area. He ended up spending a little time trying to pass everyone.
Coty will have to tell his next 26.2 miles of tales...he had aches and pains (including some hamstring issues), but needless to say he did AMAZING! He placed 1st in his division, which was 15-19 yr old males, and 39th overall. He ended up with a time of 3:08 (which is an average pace of 7:14 minute miles for 26.2 miles)...absolutely incredible! And his time was so good, he qualified to run the Boston Marathon. WAY TO GO COTY! He walked away with a great trophy and a $50. check. I think they left off a zero...it should have been $500!
As for my 26.2 miles...all-in-all it was good. Relatively speaking I felt pretty good. The first 17 miles are in a canyon that has slight rolling hills. To be honest, I thought that was going to be easy, but I guess there are no free handouts in running 26.2 miles! The canyon was beautiful and was full of changing leaves, so that made the time go by a little faster. I was already hurting by mile 17 when Mark and fan club met up with me. Mark ran and chatted with me for a couple of minutes and gave me the update on Coty, Ryan, and Nikki. Seeing them gave me an extra boost. About mile 19 I got this overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. It was all I could do to keep moving. I didn't dare look down at my watch to see my pace because I didn't want to be discouraged. I just kept telling myself to stay running. I took a Roctane GU which gave me a huge pick-me-up. A little past mile 21, Mark, Mom, Dad, and kids surprised me which was awesome. The first thing I saw was Sophie running toward me to give me a 'five'! Just the faces I wanted to see, and just what I needed to gather myself physically and mentally to finish out the race. Ryan and Nikki met me around 25.8 miles and ran with me until the final turn, when you see the finish line in your sights. As soon as I saw that, I just took the last amount of anything I had left and pushed as hard as I could for the finish. What an amazing feeling of accomplishment! I finished in 4:42, which was a 10:35 pace. I ran, sometimes very slowly, the entire way (with the exception of water stops).
I feel great about accomplishing a marathon, and pushing through when times were tough. It's an interesting test of your will. It's as much mental as physical, and I guess you have to be mental to want to run 26.2 miles in the first place!
2 comments:
When we drove to Logan after picking up Coty in Brigham City, I was wondering aloud which Canyon it was going to be from, I ruled out the far one, but Larry said that has to be the one- 26 miles is a whole city away!! How can anyone run that far!Anyone that can have a baby and then run a miles- but 2 babies and then run 26.2 WOW I'm so impressed. And Coty almost didn't, almost as a favor to Cori- "Oh come on and run with me, you're the runner after all!" And funny when we saw him at the end all we asked was "Did you make your Boston Marathon time?" We had realized when he passed us at mile 17 that was possible, he was at good time then. Coty just mentioned it kind of as an afterthought, after he talked to his mom, "I think I may have come in first in my division, but then I could have read it wrong" Our humble Coty!! We are so proud both of you, you gave us a very fun fun experience. Thanks!
I think Kari is next running the 5k on October 4th. So after that we need someone to do something exciting. Anyone up for skydiving? Who knew we were such an adventurous family.
Good job to both the runners and thanks to everyone for taking good care of my son while he was running. It was nice to know he had lots of family support. By the way, I don't think I could run a mile even if there was a pack of wild dogs chasing me, much less just for fun.
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