Des News Marathon

Three weeks ago I ran the Deseret News Marathon. This had to be the toughest 26.2 miles of my life. First of all I woke up at 2:30 to catch the bus that takes the runners to the starting line. After arriving at the top of Big Mountain I had to wait an hour until the start of the marathon. My thoughts were racing during this time I was wondering if I had put in enough training or if I was even going to finish this run. Finally the race began and I knew I would soon face the reality of my training. The first couple of miles were extremely hard. My legs were definitely feeling the downhill pounding and then around mile 6 we had to trudge uphill. By mile 8 I was feeling very discouraged. At this point I told myself that I needed to change my attitude or I would never finish the marathon. I started to tell my self that I feel great, I feel strong, I feel confident and I can do this. I repeated this to myself for miles and it made a difference in my confidence. The last 7 to 8 miles I found myself unable to run. This was so disheartening because I knew that I would not make my goal time. So after miles of dodging parade spectators and vehicles I finally made it to the finish line and received my medal. Crossing the line I grudgingly told myself that I would never run the Desert News Marathon again.

This race was hard for me. There is no faking a marathon and I know I can do better then I did. With the anticipation of a glorious finish I will make my return to Top of Utah Marathon in September.

Favorite quote I heard on the course belongs to the cyclist that passed me around mile 15. After passing me he says “ Why do only ugly girls run marathons”. I refrained from throwing a rock at him or yelling a variety of obscenities. However, I did want to challenge him to run the 15 miles I just did and see how pretty he feels. To answer his question, ugly girls don’t get asked on dates so we use our weekends to run.