We gonna light it up, like it's dynamite!

Serious shout out to the St. George Marathon 2011! If I hadn't mentioned it before, this is the best marathon out there. Not only is it held on our stompin grounds, but it has been ranked time and time again as the best organized race with the most hometown volunteer support. And it's a fabulous course. It kicked my trash yesterday, but I love it.

So Ashley had a hookup with a cabin in Pine Valley on Friday night, which was a big treat to get to sleep in! With a house full of girls, it took just a tad longer to get ready than we thought and me and Ashley found ourselves sprinting to the starting line to make it in time for our flash mob at 6:15. When we got through the gate, I could hear the beat of Dynamite and we started frantically looking for everyone before we saw a few people doing the dance. So we jumped in and finished strong.

It. Was. Magical.

There's something like 7,000 runners at the starting line not to mention all the volunteers and race staff. Everyone scooted back and made room for us to get our groove on. And there was a spotlight on us. And random people we'd never seen before dancing the dance. Fo sho, best warmup ever.

You might say it was an "explosion" of flash mob dancing.

You might say it was Dynamite.


So then the race...I had a little extra baggage to carry over the 26 miles, actually two loaded extra bags to be exact. Trying to be minimalist with what I brought up to the cabin (so that I could send it all down in my race bag on the race truck), I brought pump parts and Ashley brought her pump. And neither of us thought to bring the tubing that connects the two, shoot! I had drank a ton of water the night before and when I woke up I thought I was going to explode. So...yeah. That was painful :(

I had a strong start, but never could quite stay on pace after Veyo hill and Dammeron Valley. I was so glad to see Bryson and the kids at Snow Canyon and again coming into town! It's funny how that one second of cheering carries you for the next 3 miles or more, both the anticipation and then gratitude after. Anyway, I ended up with 4:13:55, which isn't the best of times and isn't the worst of times. It was right on track with what I'd trained for. But secretly I always hope that I'll bust out a Boston qualifier from nowhere.

Well, cheers to number 9. And if you see me flash mobbing around town, well, it was just SO FUN!