Tales from A Marathon Newbie

I LOVE race recaps from marathon virgins.  Rhonna chose the Top of Utah Marathon as her first attempt at 26.2  I loved her honest, detailed account of her journey and asked her if I could share it here. 

New Marathoner, Rhonna Farrer

It was raining the morning of the marathon.  We woke up super early, got all of our stuff & kissed the kiddos goodbye and took off. I was a bundle of nerves.
Excited. Skeered. Nauseous.

I'd been super sick the two days before and when I talked to my mom the night before the marathon, I asked her to pray for me...I was worried I'd still be sick in the morning...but, prayer works! I felt great!

Rain. Dark. Buses. Lines.  It was fun.

Jeff and I got on the bus and headed up the canyon with all of the other runners. Crazy to think that the whole time we were driving (it was about a 45 min. bus ride) we would be RUNNING that! Oy vey!  I tweeted & Instagrammed as long as I could, but once we got up the canyon I didn't have any service for a while, hence no touting, Tweeting or Instagrams. Sad, but hey, ya gotta roll with the punches.

So, it was still rainy & COLD at the starting line. I kissed Jeff goodbye and he took off.

I ran slowly, pacing myself the whole time, careful to NOT give in to my adrenaline that was egging me on to sprint! It was so exciting!

Pretty soon, it started to rain harder.

Mile 6. Raining. I'm wet. Still have my jacket on & had been planning on leaving it at one of the aid stations early on in the race.  No go.

Mile 10. Pouring.  Still feeling great, even though I was getting wetter & wetter.  Each aid station I took some Gatorade. I ended up stopping three times to use the bathrooms.  Oy!

Mile 13. Felt amazing. Sooo excited. Loved the scenery...loved my music. Happy.

Hail. Yup...it hailed so hard that it was actually HURTING me! LOL! But... i went on.

Sometime around 10AM, my dear friend Sande picked up my kids at the hotel (er hubby was running, too) so they could be at the finish line to see us. Thanks, sweet friend...you'll never know how much I appreciate that!

Mile 16.  I got the text that Jeff had finished 21 miles. I was giddy for him!  Giddy. I think I giggled out loud!  Still rained.

Mile 19.  I felt great, but could NOT believe how hard it was raining. It was going sideways and I was drenched...still left my jacket on 'cause it was COLD rain! LOVED the great volunteers at the aid stations, they were troopers in that weather!

Mile 20.  Got the text that Jeff had finished. I'm not gonna lie. I cried a little bit. I was so sooo proud of him! 3:25!!!! He is amazing.  Raining.

Mile 24. I lost it. I mentally had a break down & started bawling. Miles 20-24 were tough for me. I seriously was wiping the tears off my face, & started panicking cuz I couldn't breathe....my lungs started closing cuz of the emotions....

I had to calm down.

I started to talk myself down...pumping myself up...& then this song came on my playlist:  Press to Play's Let's Dance.   All I heard was: Let's RUN.

it.
was.
just.
what.
i.
needed.

I pulled it together & kept my eye up on the Logan Temple...seriously.....it's what I kept looking at to keep my focus.

The sun started shining.

I blew through the mile 25 aid station cause I could feel that if I even slowed down, my legs would freeze up.  So. I ran.  Strong and hard til I hit the finish line.  26.2 miles.

The sun shone bright.

I was soo excited, I ran through fist pumping & hollerin'....some guy was there and held out both hands...I slapped them and jumped up and down.  It felt. a.mazing.

Sadly, my chip didn't warn my family with a text at Mile 21, so they weren't prepared and only got the text that I'd finished and they were at the car.  It was OK. I cheered for myself and frankly it was celebration with them later. So no worries.

We brought a huge cooler full of ice in the back of our car so we could ice immediately after.  And, the sun felt amazing!   Stretched out and was in heaven. Felt sooo great.  Amazing, really.

I learned so much from this entire journey... Here goes:

If I worked hard enough & was consistent with my training...i got stronger.


When I had ANY negative thoughts come in like:
I'm too tired.
I don't feel like it.
I'm fat.
I don't like this.
I'm not fast.
I hurt.
I'm sick.
I can't do this.
Then, i was right.  
But, if I didn't give in to any of those feelings, I came out stronger, happier.


Training for a marathon does NOT help you lose weight! LOL! 


Music put a spring in my step.


It was a mental game as well as a physical game. No joke.


I had to fuel up and sleep well and drink up, or my body no likey.


I have to talk to myself whilst I run. Really. It's part of my mental game.


Running quotes REALLY inspire me.


Support means *everything* to me. I'm so thankful. For family. Friends. Bloggers.  A heartfelt thank you to everyone!


My body is a miracle. Seriously, it amazed me. Grateful to have been ABLE to run.


Jeff is my hero. 


Nature is so beautiful, it makes me want to run!


Hail, buckets of rain & temporary melt downs only make the journey more interesting!





I believe.


I do.

And...4 days later..I'm already planning on my next half marathon & trying to decide on my next full marathon.

Yea. I got the bug.