Here We Come St. George!!

We just found out last night that we will be running the St. George marathon on October 4th 2008! It is a lottery and only 7,000 people get to run it! (did I just say only? lol) Anyway, by we... I mean Me (of course), Daniel (my best friend in the whole world), Christina Breitling (my bestest biggest sister) and Amy Conklin (my oldest cousin on my Dad's side).

I have been looking for an excuse to post my story from my first marathon that I ran on October 7th 2006. And since it was St. George I am going to post it here. Christina and Amy both ran that race. Christina by my side the whole time. While I was running that race I actually pictured running that race someday with Daniel. (I had only known him for a week, but I had convinced myself we would be together forever and that we would run together.... and look at where we are at... lol)

This is Daniel's first marathon. Not only will we be running it together, but we are planning on qualifing to run Boston as well! It is going to be an interesting summer training really hard for the race. But I am SO excited to being doing it and to be doing it with Daniel!

St George 2006 Story Written by Lisa Johnson on or about Oct 16, 2006. Everything in parentheses was added today. :)

Almost exactly two years ago, I went to Boston to visit Christina. We took a tour of Boston and during the tour the finish line for the Boston Marathon was pointed out. I asked her how long the longest marathon was that she had run... She smiled and told me that all marathons are the same.. 26.2 miles. It was in that moment that I decided I wanted to run a marathon. After the tour I expressed my interest in running. Christina was excited for me. Told me I could do it! Her first marathon was the St. George Marathon, so I decided that is where I wanted to run my first marathon.

My spirits were high, and I was excited to start the process to reach my new goal. I got home and started to tell people what I wanted to do, and to my surprise, I found no support. I did not start running. I was depressed from a failing marriage and soon lost sight of my goal. The separation from my husband was long and painful, as anyone that has been divorced know that is just how it goes. Anyway, during that process I met one of the greatest people I have met, even to this day. (now I know that this is not true, although he was a HUGE factor in running this race, I had already met Daniel, and now I know that he is a greater friend, a greater person than even the friend that helped me discover myself and start to run.  ) He helped me discover me. He did not turn me into someone he wanted me to be, but rather helped me find myself. He helped me become a more confident and independent person.

I moved into a new place, and I started to get my life organized. Up until this point, my whole life was based around my kids and my husband. I did not know or understand the need to do something for myself. One day, probably around Thanksgiving, I was talking to my friend about my trip to Boston the previous year. Of course that brought back the memory of wanting to run a marathon. He got so excited for me. Said it was perfect because it was something I could do for me. Something I wanted to do. Something that would benefit no one but me. Finally, someone believed in me.

I started running in the middle of January. I talked to Christina and told her that I wanted to run the 2006 St. George Marathon. She wanted to support me and be there for me, so she decided to run it as well! In late April I tore my IT Band on my right leg. It was extremely painful and took over 8 weeks to heal. It was discouraging but I knew I had a lot of time left to prepare.

The St. George Marathon is a lottery and names were posted on May 6th.I was so excited when I found out I was going to run. I called everyone I knew!! "I get to run in the St. George Marathon". I even asked myself at that point, now who in their right mind gets excited to run 26.2 miles?? I guess the answer is me, cause even now, I can remember exactly how I felt that day!!

So I started running again in early July, and as chance would have it, I got really sick with a series of sore throats from the middle of July till the middle of Aug. Ok at this point I looked at myself and had to re-evaluate how bad I really wanted this. I had approximately 5 weeks left to train and I had never run farther than 5 miles. And guess what my answer was? I wanted it bad. Bad enough to kick myself in the butt and make it happen.

The first week of those five weeks I eased into four mile stretches. Making sure that I did not injure my leg. I felt awesome. I ran my first 10 mile stretch, and felt incredible. The next two weeks I ran a series of 4 mile stretches and two 15 mile runs. I felt more confident in myself. Within a 14 day period I ran 64 miles. However, I was out of training time. So at this point I had to let every preconceived notion go about what it takes to train for a marathon, and just go for it. My friend that was the biggest part of making this happen for me, in the end could not be there for the race. He did give me the shoes that took me across the finish line, and he was there in spirit, but could not physically be there for me. I will forever be grateful for the vital role he played in such a crucial turning point in my life.

Ok, so during my down time before the race, I prepare for the big day. Got the outfit I was going to wear, and decided what I was going to take with me for the race. I tried not to worry that I was under trained. My goal was just to finish the race in one piece, and I was determined to do it. My Parents drove me down to St. George where we met my sister and had dinner. I was nervous, but only in an excited way, I had worked all year toward this day. I felt like it was Christmas Eve. I knew I would not be able to sleep. I think it is funny that the day of a marathon can be compared to Christmas, since I knew I would not be able to walk by that time the next day. But none the less, I was excited. I talked to a wonderful guy that night, (who happens to be the one and only Daniel!!) who had quite the calming effect on me, and I was finally able to sleep, only to be wakened by my alarm three short hours later.

My sister came and picked me up at quarter to four!!! In my tired and nervous state, I forgot EVERYTHING except for my shoes and my bib number. At that point I had to let go of every notion of what I thought the race should be like. And while letting all of that go, I was able to let go of all of my nervous energy. I was really calm the entire 2 and a half hours we waited at the starting line. It was surreal. I had played this moment over and over again in my dreams. And it was no more real at this point than in those dreams.

When 6:45 finally came, there was a rush of energy as everyone made their way across the starting line. Christina and I ran and talked and laughed and joked. We stayed with our plan of running one mile and walking one min. The sky was dark and the moon was bright and full. I could not help but smile. My left foot started to hurt. I ended up stopping to unwrap it. It did not help. The pain in my foot never subsided. I was able to stay with my sister till about mile 15 and my body started a slow process of shutting down. I did not feel tired, I just felt like I could no longer go any faster. My sister kept running slower to stay with me. It finally got to a point where she could not run that slow. So she would run and take longer walking breaks until I caught up to her. I kept telling her it was ok to go ahead, she would not hear of it. She was there to support me. What in incredible feeling of love. To have someone believe in you so much that they will be there for you step for step through a 26.2 mile journey! I was still feeling pretty good through mile 22, then my body really wanted to shut down. After each walking break I had a harder time starting to run again. Christina would say, "there... you got it." And I would simply say "no, I don't.. not yet." But my spirits were high. I was going to complete my almost impossible goal.

During the last mile or so, I was very emotional. I wanted this to be over, I was happy I was doing it, and I could feel my sister's love with every step. I must have looked like I was in pain because I heard spectator's yell, "hey 5708, you can do it!!" It was awesome to have the support of hundreds of people that I will never know. When we turned the corner and could see the finish line, I looked over at my sister, her eyes were full with tears. She said, "Look you are a Marathoner!!" I simply said, "No, not yet" It was hard to keep back my tears. When we had about 10 steps left, my sister took my hand and we held our hands over our heads as we crossed the finish line together. And the tears started to flow. I had done it. But much more than that, my sister was there for me in a way that no one could ever be there for me again. She was my rock. The whisper in my ear. I knew I could do it, simply because she knew I could do it. From the first moment that the idea of running a marathon crossed my mind, to the reality of crossing the finish line she was there, step for step. There is no greater love, no greater support in this life than that. How incredible for me to have experienced that kind of love in this lifetime!!

So I am standing there crying as well, and she asks to place my metal around my neck. How incredible and fitting is that? My sister was able to award me the symbol of reaching my goal! We walked over to have our official time printed out. We had the exact same time- 5 hrs 9 min and 11 Sec!! I am sure my sister could have finished at least 30 or 40 min before me had she chosen to leave me behind. I will never forget her love and support during this event.

We all went to lunch at Denny’s after we took the time to shower. A guy stopped to ask if we ran the race, probably cause I could not walk right! I told him it was my first race. He said "now don't decide right this min that you will never run another one." I just smiled and told him that I fully plan on running another one!

I was inspired to run while in Boston. My goal is to qualify for The Boston Marathon and run it before I am 30. (The 2009 Boston Marathon will be my last chance to run it before I am thirty! The pressure is on!) Now to qualify for the Boston Marathon, at my age, as a female runnier, I have to run an official marathon in 3 hours and 30 min. Keep in mind that this is cutting and hour and a half off of my time. But I know that if I can complete a marathon with 5 weeks of training, that I can qualify for Boston if I train for a year. :) In fact... in finishing this marathon, I know that I can and will finish anything that I put my mind to!

And for those of you that have asked me how long this marathon is, I am sure I chuckled when I told you that every marathon is the same distance- 26.2 miles. It is not because I expected you to know that. It was simply because I remembered the moment that my sister chuckled as the answered that question for me! I look forward to many more experiences like this one, however I know none could ever compare!!