Marathons are for crazy people! Day of my St. George Marathon

This weekend went by so fast it almost feels like a dream.  It has been a dream of mine to someday run the St. George Marathon.  A very crazy elusive dream, but some where deep down I always wanted to do this.  I can't explain why anyone would want to torture themselves in this manner.  The pounding on your knees, the endless hours of training, and the hot summer days.  At times the training did seem ludicrous.  Planting bananas and water bottles around town to refuel on is a bit odd.  Marathoners also have to get special lubricant to reduce chaffing, seriously what is that all about.  I think the reason I never thought I'd run this race is that It is a lottery.  You just have to be lucky enough to get picked to race in it.  It is a popular Marathon becaseu you can qualify for boston.  It is a a lower elevation so runners who train in a high elevation come to St. George and do really well.  Plus the course is fantastic, and is really organized.  I've registered for this race three times, and whay they say is true the third time is a charm.  I tried to get into the Marathon five years ago before I had Jence, when I didn't get in I went for the Ogden Marathon.  Sure enough baby number four appeared in the picture right in the middle of my training.  I ran Ogden Pregnant, but lets just say it always left me feeling a little bit unsatisfied since I had an extra bundle to carry along the way which did weigh me down a bit.  Then I went for it last year 2013 after I had Jence.  I didn't get in I wasn't too disappointed, I felt like maybe it would never happen.  So spring of 2014 came around and I really honestly wasn't expecting to get in.  I registered knowing it would be this year or never because we would be starting to try for our last child soon. I knew I wouldn't want to try to get back into Marathon condition from scratch after having a baby all over again.  Fate smiled on me and I actually got in!  One thing I've realized is that it was super hard to train for a marathon pregnant, but it's supper hard to train for a marathon period.  Some how in my mind I told myself "it won't be so bad this time, your not battling morning sickness, your not creating a life inside your womb.  This will be way easier".  Reality check it was just as hard.  No I didn't feel sick all of the time, but it was crazy trying to figure out how to work in long 3-4 hour runs with our busy four kids running a million different places.  Summer is hot therefore you can either run super early in the morning before the sun is up or in the evening just before it goes down.  Both of those times of days are not convenient for a mom who is exhausted at night, and not a morning person.  Somehow I did it.  I think it interfered with the family life a little bit.  I'm writing this down so that if I ever get it in my head to do this again Dan can simply sit me down and tell me to read this.  LISA DON'T DO IT.   You will regret all the many many hours you invested in pounding the pavement instead of snuggling on the couch watching a movie with your husband.  Now that that's been said I'm really glad I did run this race, I can check it off my life's bucket list.  It was an amazing experience but let's just say I'm relieved that it's over. 

 We drove to St. George on Thursday night.  We got in around 1:00 in the morning.  Dan was awesome and drove all night long.  He was so supportive to me through this whole thing.  The next day we went and picked up my packet, and bib number.  I was so nervous.  I didn't know what to expect.  I didn't feel totally confidant in my training.  I did train don't get me wrong.  I just felt like I could have trained more.  Then afterwards we headed back to the house and went swimming.  Dan's parents joined up with us at the pool and we enjoyed what was probably our last swim of the year.  The we ordered out dinner and Dan like a champ ventured into the over crowded Olive Garden to get our meals.  There were 6,000 runners all looking to load up on carbs for the night.  Dan ended up waiting an hour and a half. That was after calling in our order an hour before.  He was boiling inside but he said he was still trying to be nice.  He said the lady helping him looked really stressed out. Then it was time for bed.  I really didn't sleep too well.  I'll post the actual day of the race on the next post.