This was my 12th St. George marathon and it was CRAZY!!! We got off the bus and it was raining and never stopped. Maurine and I huddled together next to a fence clad in trash bags. We took off together and stayed together for 7 miles. I was struggling from the get go, as I did with TOU, my breathing was very labored from the get go, my heels and knees were sore, and the rain was relentless! I had on 2 shirts and a parka and a trash bag, the trash bag was leaky, so I chucked that, then the parka was soaked and chucked that and then I chucked my long sleeve shirt and ran in my polar fleece pants that were saoking wet and my short sleeve running shirt. The wind was blowing in my face and I was freezing. Maurine took off up Veyo and I walked and felt like crap. I kept plugging and sloshing along until about mile 12 1/2 and thought, okay, this is nuts I am so cold and miserable, I am going to DNF at 13 and be done with it.
At mile 13 I told the aid station I was dropping out and they put me in a warm car to wait for the next "wiennie bus". There was another fellow in the car shivering cold, he was about 25 and looked like death warmed over, he said he was running for his dad that was 73 years old and had passed away and was spreading his ashes along the way, he hadn't trained and was a mess, he was in a pair of short shorts and a singlet. I asked him if he wanted my polar fleece pants that I bought yesterday with Maurine ( we had matching Walmart pants we bought yesterday for the anticipated bad weather). He was so grateful! I was so happy to give the guy my pants, and felt like something good was coming out of this miserable day.
We got into the shuttle, it was packed with runners, we were sitting on each others laps. As we drove down the course super slow with runners all over the road, runners would hit on the window of the car begging us for a ride, it felt like some end of the world movie, it was pretty freaky. The shuttle driver said that there was not enough ambulances to pick up all the runners with hypothermia.
We got to the park and got dropped off, and after being in the warm van, I was SUPER cold and dripping wet looking for my husband, it was soooo pathetic.
My ipod stopped working after 3 songs, my phone was completely messed up, the face of my garmin fell off, and for the first time in 12 St. George Marathons, my clothes bag was not in the retrival area.
My hubby took me to In and Out for burgers, took me back to the condo, and I had a jetted hot bubble bath and then a fabulous massage and a nice long nap.
I felt good about dropping out, I think had I continued I could have had some serious problems, but now as I write this I am so glad I had the sense to drop and do a half marathon.
I am excited to read all your blogs. For those of you that finished the marathon you are AMAZING!!!! | 