Ogden Marathon

I ran my first marathon today. It was quite the experience--had to get up
at 4 to catch the bus at 5. Then we had to sit around in a cow pasture for
1.5 hours waiting for the 7 a.m. start. We sat around burn barrels that
helped keep us warm. I'm not gonna lie--when I looked at my watch and saw
that it was 5:30, dark, and cold and I had to wait to run, I just kept
thinking--"This is bullcrap. What am I doing?" But I actually ended up
having a good time visiting with some friends I made by the fire (David
Erickson and his son). And on the drive up on the bus I enjoyed talking to
Susan Richardson Chapman. I also want to make sure I remember Mark and Ann
Maeser who gave me a ride from the hotel to the buses in the morning.

I felt like the first 10 or so miles went pretty good, but then I slowed
down quite a bit. I saw two friends during the race--Melissa from Idaho
Falls who I hope to train with in the future, and Stephanie Clark Duff who
lives in Twin. A cute girl named Britney Thyfault and I ended up running
together for about the last 13 miles. It wasn't pretty, but we survived!
I have never pushed through pain for that long. It was quite the
experience. It was fun to have the kids and Ty waiting at the finish line.
Raleigh and Kysa ran across the finish line with me. We drove home and when
we got here I took a 4 hour nap.

My legs are extremely sore, but I don't feel like I'm injured. Just muscle
sore. My lower back is also sore to the touch, which I find kind of
strange, but it doesn't hurt unless I rub it.

Next marathon I will make sure to take ibuprofen before the race and have
some to take around hour 3. I think that would have helped. I did take
some aspirin and Tylenol that they had at the aid stations, but ibuprofen is
the best. I will also bring some bubble wrap to sit on that I can just
throw away. And I will make sure I train hard and complete all my long
runs! I'm sure that would have helped today. But honestly I felt fairly
good about it considering my training wasn't the best. I never cramped up
to the point where I couldn't run, and I mainly just walked at all the water
stations.

I would like to lose 10-15 pounds because I think it would make it a lot
easier not to be packing extra weight for 26.2 miles. Guess that's kind of
obvious, huh!