(Sorry I’m so wordy, this is like my journal and I wanted to document this…)
All my life I never thought I’d be able to say, “I ran a marathon” but just one week ago, I crossed the finish line after running 26.2 miles with my 9 year old son Carter and I can officially say, “I am a marathon runner!” Even though a week has passed it still sends chills through my body when I say it.
Why in the world would I want to run a marathon, someone might ask. I have probably asked myself the same thing before. Two years ago is when the seed was planted in me. As I waited for my husband Chris to cross the finish line in St. George in 2011, I watched perfect strangers accomplish this amazing feat and tears welled up in my eyes when I saw the sense of accomplishment on their faces as they completed this journey. Moments later I saw my husband nearing the finish line and I could not contain my emotions, I lost it and started crying as I watched him accomplish this goal he’s had for so many years. My heart nearly burst with pride as he crossed the finish line. I secretly told myself in my heart that one day I wanted to do it too. At that point I could not even run a mile without stopping to catch my breath. I didn’t tell anyone my secret desire.
A few months later on New Years day some of my cousins were talking about running a half marathon together. I voiced my interest and decided I wanted to do it. The Fontana Marathon was about 6 months away. It would give me the perfect amount of time to train for it. While we never quite got our cousins group together I went ahead and got ready and ran that thing. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. I thought I was going to puke at the end and my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I even said, “I’m never running again!” over the last 2 miles. I got over that pretty quickly and started running again about a month later. This time Carter started running with me. He had gone on a few 5-6 miles runs with Chris and really liked it so I had him start running with me. We even registered for the Santa Barbara Half last November but I hurt my knee during training and had to sit out. Carter and Chris ended up running it together, and Carter did amazing. Last year Chris ran the St. George Marathon again for his second time. I told myself that I wanted to run it the following year. My knee injury took a lot longer to get better than I had thought it would. It took about 4 months before I could really run on it again. I learned my lesson the hard way: Don’t run when you feel hurt!
This past April, when it came time to register for St. George, Carter was all set to go, this was going to be his year to run a marathon. As for me, I had mixed emotions about it. My running was going well and I was training for the Fontana Half in June and I just wasn’t sure I was ready to take on that huge task. I also was excited for Carter and wanted his first marathon to be all about him. I didn’t want to steal any of his thunder and I wanted to be able to experience watching him finish as a spectator, and a proud momma. So he and Chris registered and got in! Every Saturday or Friday night (if we had something going on Saturday) we would do a big run working our way up to 17 miles just a few weeks before. I just kept on training with them because I had to run with Carter during the week before school while Chris was at work and on the weekends I would run with them because I wanted to be supportive and I really just enjoyed it. In the back of my mind I thought that maybe I was the back up plan in case something happened, I could run in Chris’ place. Chris’ heel was bothering him pretty much the entire time we were training. It gradually worsened and he worried that it might affect him being able to run the marathon. We tossed the idea around about a month before the marathon of me running it instead. We called and were given permission to have his registration switched to my name. Chris really struggled with it because he wanted to experience Carter’s first marathon with him, but at the same time he knew that I was more prepared and that I had put in a lot of work. He gave me the choice if I wanted to run it or not. He told me he could do it but at this point he wanted me to do it because he had seen how far I had come. I decided to go for it and we made it official just 2 weeks before the marathon.
I can’t even describe the amount of anxiety and pressure that goes along with training for a marathon. All I could do was think about the marathon 24 hours a day for the 2 weeks leading up to it, even my dreams and sometimes nightmares were about the marathon. We had an entire trip revolved around it and my parents had even planned on coming up for the weekend. It was a big deal and I was freaked out that something was going to happen before the race that would prevent one of us from running it. Every time Carter would walk a little funny I’d freak out and worry that he was injured. He got so tired of me asking how he was feeling!
We drove up Friday early in the morning and got into St. George around 1 pm. As the view of the beautiful red rocks came into view I got butterflies in my stomach and it all became very real.
After checking into our hotel we headed over to the Expo where Carter and I attended a first timers clinic that was very valuable. It was exciting to be around other runners and it kind of lightened the mood.
We checked out the Clif bar tent and loaded up on samples.
Carter got a bit of a reaction from some people when we told them he was running the marathon. He definitely feeds off of the attention he gets from others. Its not every day that a 9 year old runs a marathon.
Here we are with our bibs, this was really going to happen… (mine doesn’t have my name because of my late registration)
That evening we met my cousin Brad and his family and my Aunt Marilyn, Uncle Craig and cousin Bruce for dinner at Brick Oven. My cousin Brad was running the marathon as well. My Mom and Dad were also there. It helped calm the nerves a little to be with family and for a moment I didn’t think about the marathon. I felt bad for Carter because he didn’t get his usual root beer. No soda or candy for this guy for the entire week before the marathon.
We got back to our hotel room and the kids got in bed and fell asleep fairly easily. Carter’s stomach was bothering him, probably just nerves but it made me worry. After that felt like an eternity. I’ve never experienced insomnia before… until that night. We had to get up at 3:45 am to get to the busses and ride up to the starting line. My heart was pounding, my chest was tight, and I could not relax. Not only was I worried about me and all the things that could go wrong, but as a mom I had my son to worry about too. I looked at that darn alarm clock all night long. I think I fell asleep somewhere around 2:30 am. What a night! The alarm went off and I popped out of bed with a splitting headache. I took some Motrin and we were on our way.
Here is a picture of us before we left. Chris was so sweet and supportive. He got up early with us and helped us get off. He made sure Carter had Vaseline in all the right places! (Chaffing is a huge problem for runners) Chris kept saying how proud he was and it really kept me going and made me feel like we had so much support behind us.
The bus ride lasted at least an hour. All I can remember is that I had to pee so bad I thought my bladder was going to burst on the way up. I think all that hydrating the day before did me in! It was windy and freezing cold up there, 30 degrees to be exact! We stood in line the entire time waiting for a port-a-potty and never got to use it. The marathon was to start in 5 minutes so we just went outside behind the bushes in the dark!
We took off our jackets and stood in the crowd of 7,000 runners waiting to start while freezing! Before we could blink we were off and running. I’m kind of glad we didn’t have a ton of time up there to think and worry about the race. It was a mad dash just getting to start it! The first few miles went by really fast. I remember thinking at 3 miles, “We just ran a 5K and I feel so good!” Each mile marker brought us closer to our goal. As we ran we talked and met some amazing people. Carter was a bit of a conversation piece because of his age. Many runners would ask how old he is and give him attention which we both fed off of. I was just amazed at the people we met. A woman who was about 60 had just started running marathons 2 years ago and has already completed 34 marathons. We met a guy who climbed Mt. Everest. As I realized how many amazing people were running right along with me it gave me strength and kept me going. Mile 7-8 was the dreaded Veyo hill. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. We ended up running it and walking for a few minutes after. We kept our pace steady and tried really hard not to burn out. I knew we’d need all the energy we could get through those last few miles.
We both felt like Veyo wasn’t too bad but we didn’t like the steady incline after it that seemed to last forever. Before we knew it we had reached the half way point. We both felt really good and I was glad that we had kept a steady pace and not burned ourselves out. For me that was the key, I wasn’t even worried about our time. I just wanted to finish in one piece! At mile 14 we stopped to use the restroom and I texted Chris. He and the kids were on their way to meet us at mile 16. I was so excited to see them and it kept me going. When we stopped, the 5 hour pacer had passed us. Carter was pretty set on finishing at the 5 hour mark so when we started back up again he was really pushing it to catch up to the pacer. We never did catch that pacer and I finally told Carter to let it go and just enjoy the journey. It took him a while to get that pacer out of his head but he finally did.
Just before mile 16 we reached Snow Canyon State Park. We ran down a hill and this amazing view came into our sight and literally took my breath away. I had to take my phone out and take a picture. Carter ran backwards for me so he could be in it. It was at this moment that I realized that this all was really happening and today I was going to complete this awesome goal. It was kind of surreal. Just down past those rocks we saw Chris with the kids.
Chris was using my SLR and didn’t learn how to zoom so he took this shot that I cropped but you can see us running together. Carter is pointing because he just saw his dad and siblings.
Here are the kids with their adorable signs they made for us. I didn’t get a chance to read them until after we finished. It felt great to have an amazing support team behind us.
After we passed them the next few miles went by so fast. I remember getting to mile 17 and telling Carter, “This is the furthest we’ve ever run!” Those mile markers just kept on coming and I remember when we got to mile 20 I thought to myself, “I don’t want to jinx this but I’m feeling really good and this isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be!” Don’t get me wrong my legs were sore and my feet were feeling very tired but I was really holding it together and I was proud of myself. Carter was simply amazing. He never complained or got down on himself. If he’d had it his way he would have run even faster and probably finished 30 mins faster than me. We had one little moment there on the course where he was mad that he couldn’t catch that 5 hour pacer. He started running ahead of me and I kept calling out to him to slow down. When he finally did he was not happy and I told him that if he wanted me to do this with him he needed to stop his attitude and be happy. His competitive spirit was getting the best of him and he wanted to get a faster time. He eventually perked up after a few miles and was sorry for being mean to me.
Once we got to mile 23 we were heading down a hill into the city of St. George. It was fun to hear all of the crowds and music playing. It felt like we were just right there… but we weren’t. Those last 3 miles were the longest of the marathon. Carter and I kept running and even passed a lot of people. (our stats say that we passed 189 runners and only 10 passed us during the last 7 miles). I was so glad that we had conserved our energy for this moment. My legs and feet were feeling it though! At mile 23 we saw another 9 year old boy running with his dad. His dad and I chatted for a minute while the two boys ran side by side. They pulled ahead and Carter told me that the boy made this really mean face at him while he was running. Carter was so surprised because everyone else out there had been so supportive but this kid obviously felt threatened. He did not want Carter to beat him. I told Carter not to worry about it so we just kept on running. The other kid would start walking and we’d catch up to him. He kept looking back to make sure Carter was well behind him and when we’d catch up he’d start running again. Carter was getting annoyed so I finally said, “Carter lets not let this kid ruin your moment as we cross the finish line" We walked for a minute while we let him get far enough ahead so that he wasn’t right with us.
The last mile of the race has 3 turns and you can hear the crowds and music from the finish line. We kept on running and I would call out to other runners who were now watching the race after finishing, “how many more turns? Where is the finish line?” I wanted to be there so bad! Finally we reached the last turn and we could see the balloons and all the crowds. This was it! We picked up our pace (as much as we could) and ran for it. We saw Chris and the kids and waved to them. My mom and Dad and Cyril and his family were there right at the finish line. The announcer said “Carter Nielsen from Alta Loma, California- He’s only 9 years old!” We crossed that line and just basked in the moment. We finished in 5:04:28, right about where Carter wanted to be. We never did catch that pacer but we were only 4 minutes behind him. We were both pleased with our time and even managed to beat Chris first marathon time by 4 minutes.
I grabbed Carter and just cried. I squeezed him so tight he told me later that he could hardly breathe! It was an amazing moment and I was so proud of him. Before I could feel that sense of accomplishment, all I could feel was relief. Relief that this was over, all the worrying, the planning, the training, and the running was over and we had done it! That was the greatest sense of relief I have ever felt in my life! We reached over the fence and gave my Mom and Dad a hug and they were both choked up. Chris came over and told us how proud he was of us and hugged us both. It felt so good to hug him and see him.
Our medals were placed on us and we headed over to get some refreshment. Carter was quite the celebrity, he had 2 different people ask if they could have their picture taken with him. (A little side note: We checked out our chip times on the handy dandy St. George Marathon app and Carter actually beat that other 9 year old kid!! He had started the race a few minutes before us and your chip time doesn't start until you cross the start line, we actually started 11 mins after the gun went off. Carter beat him by 10 seconds. Just enough to irritate that kid for sure!)
We took lots of pictures afterward. Here are some of them…
We even ran into an old friend. Reed Christensen from our Duarte days who now lives in Idaho was there running and his sister Sherri was there too! (I saw her during the race and ran with her a couple of times). Small world!
I was so grateful that my Mom and Dad were there to see us finish. It made it so much more meaningful.
Cyril, who has been like a member of our family since I can remember, brought his whole family up from Las Vegas to see us finish! What a treat!
I love this picture of Maddie carrying Carter after the race. She was so proud of her brother and wanted to carry him!
We walked to our car and I snapped this adorable pic of Carter riding my dads shoulders. Melts my heart.
There was a Chick Fil A next to our hotel and we had both said that after the race we’d get a cookies and cream shake to refuel. So that is exactly what we did! Neither of us took our medals off for the rest of the day (except to shower) We were so proud!
Chris took Libby and Sawyer over to Target to buy us some goodies while Maddie stayed behind and massaged our feet and legs.
After getting some rest we went to Five Guys for dinner and it never tasted so good!
I took this picture of Carter because it depicts the life of a runner. You gotta protect yourself!
The next day we woke up and we both felt very sore. We took our time getting out and drove home. We got out before most of the Vegas traffic which was good. We stopped at Café Rio for lunch and Carter and I put our official sticker on our car. It’s a reminder of that proud day! (I think we have earned bragging rights!)
A couple of days after we got home Chris took us to Lucile’s alone to celebrate our victory. He kept telling me over and over again how proud he was and calls me his “marathon runner”. It feels good :)
What an amazing journey that was… After all is said and done I can honestly say that it was not as bad as I thought it would be. (I even said that to Chris at the finish line!) The conditions couldn’t have been better the weather didn’t get above 60 degrees the entire time. We even had a little tail wind for about the first 6 miles. I was so fortunate to have my body cooperate. I only had some small knee pain coming down a few of the hills. The hardest part for me was the training. Making the time and sacrifices for it was tough. Those last few long training runs were grueling and I wondered if after running 16 or 17 miles if I could keep going on the day of the marathon. The adrenaline really carried me and Carter through. It was an amazing experience and I know we weren’t alone out there, God knew how much we both wanted this and how hard we had worked. He succored us and helped us when we couldn’t do it on our own, just like he does in life.
