Archive for December, 2009
St. George Marathon 2009
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | News | 1 Comment
What an amazing race this was! From the time the starting gun went off, Brian kept pushing me faster than I felt I could go. I tried to monitor my speed and just run comfortably, but he kept asking me to go just a little faster for a little longer. So for him, I did. I would push it just a little more each time he asked. It turned out to be much faster for much longer than I ever thought possible.
Last year we were fighting rain the entire race, temperatures in the low 50′s, a flat tire for 23 miles, and had to stop about 25 times to help Brian because he was so uncomfortable. This year we had no rain, no flat tires (Yeah!), no injuries, and we only had to stop once for Brian, and that was to tighten a strap on his legs. Though sitting in that racing chair isn’t super comfortable for Brian, he made it through just fine with no major pains. Then why is it then theat HE is the one that always gets the massage at the end of the race? Hmmm…
As we were coming into town with about 2 1/2 miles left, I glanced at my watch to see how we were doing. I was extremely shocked to see that we were already in town at only 3 1/2 hours. No way! Our goal was to run the race in 3:42:00. “It might actually be possible”, I thought. Brian kept yelling for me to go fast and faster. I tried, but finally had to explain to him that my teeth were tingling. I felt that if I were to push much harder I would probably pass out. I was already doing the best I could. What could he say?
The crowds were great. Even through the pain I had to smile. We were not just finishing another race, but we were doing it in a pretty decent time. I was very much looking forward to the finish line, though. I was about out of gas. As we came up on the 25.2 mile marker there was a high school band was playing to encourage us runners. As we got near them I heard the opening notes of “Eye of the Tiger” come rolling across the road to me. I smiled. It was just what I needed to draw a little extra fight from somewhere down in the depths of my soul. “One more mile”, I said. “We can do one more mile.”
In every race we have ever done, Brian and I always kick on the gas for the last one or two hundred yards. Last year we blew past about a hundred people in the last block. This time there was nothing extra to give. I had left every little bit of it out on the race course. One picture of us at the finish line shows quite nicely how ready I was to be done. One of my favorite questions to ask Brian during a marathon is “Why can’t we choose something fun to do for fun?!!” He usually responds with something like, “I don’t know. I think we might be crazy, too”.
As we entered the last quarter mile or so of the race, a huge roar errupted. Bleachers covered in mountains of people lined both sides of the street cheering us on to the finish line. People love Brian. They always go nuts for him. I tried to stay focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not falling over. I was vaguely aware that people thought we were kind of cool. : ) As an example of my audiology nerdiness, as we were running down that last stretch with people screaming for our success, I wondered to myself, “This cheering is rather loud. I wonder how many decibels it is. Too bad I don’t have a sound level meter on me”.
We finally crossed the finish line amid the cheers of friends, and fans, and family. It was awesome. I looked at my watch and couldn’t believe our time. I was a little discouraged that we didn’t quite make our goal of 3:42:00. We missed it by roughly 2 1/2 minutes. We came in at 3:45:39. But as I thought about it I realized that we had cut off almost 17 minutes from last year, and that isn’t too shabby for a couple of warm weather runners dealing with schedules, internships, travel, and grad school on top of the racing life. I was proud of what we had accomplished. It was wonderful to have family and friends there to support us.
In addition to slamming our old PR into the dirt, we were also deeply honored to recieve an award at the 2009 St. George Marathon. Team Brenchley was awarded the Clark Morris Memorial Special Achievement Award for our efforts and accomplishments at this year’s marathon. Several people nominated us. It was a great honor that meant a lot to both Brian and I.
We wish to thank our family and friends who backed us up 100% this year. We especially want to thank our parents and our dear friend Kami Ellsworth, the amazing race director who makes the St. George Marathon look so easy to stage. What a great race and year this has been Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!