St. George Marathon 2011

Saturday I finished the St. George Marathon for the very.last.time.
Why? (not why I ran it, but why I won't do it again)

• Hottest day in the history of the marathon.


• Due to a last-minute errand (dropping off our clothing retrieval bag) started way behind everyone else, and never found my friends I was planning to run with.


• Forgot to bring my salt pills, which keep my electrolytes in balance during long runs.


• As a consequence of two of the above, had severe muscle cramps in my feet sometime after the halfway mark and my feet contorted and turned in, tripping me. Ended up having to walk the rest of the marathon in order to keep my feet longer on the ground to control the spasms.


• Decided to forgo the long line for the porta-potty at mile 7 to save time, but by the time I got to mile 9 (they are spaced conveniently every 2 miles along the course, just a few feet off the road) made a mad dash for the potty, and in my haste forgot to lock the door. Someone else with equal urgency opened the door and there I sat in front of a herd of runners.

*My apologies to anyone I may have made fun of in the past for not being able to complete a marathon in less than 5 hours.

So why DID I run the marathon again? Because Poodle wanted to run it with me. She did GREAT, running a 4:14 for her first marathon, on that hotter than HECK day.

And in spite of above complainings we had a GREAT time! We stayed at Jerry and Diane's and they were a blast! Poodle's friend Katelyn came to run with us and Laura to cheer us on.

Here we are the night before feeling pretty spry.


We laid our out clothes and took a picture of them - a tradition in Katelyn's family.


The pre-race bonfires, which are usually welcome relief from the cold, not so welcoming the morning of this race.
After race relief -



Jerry and Diane gave us a grand tour of St. George.


Congratulations, Poodle! so happy for you. so grateful you're doing better!