Laurel & Michael's Marathon Weekend
St. George, UT

October 2003

< < go back to page 1 of 2 < <

-or-

Back to Redd Home Page

THE RACE!!

After a bus ride from down in town, up the course,
warming ourselves by one of the bonfires, taking off our
coats and tights and tossing them in the truck, we started.
The computer chips attached to our shoelaces recorded the
exact moment we stepped over the starting line. This picture
is taken a couple of miles into the race after it started
getting light out. There were people of ALL ages,
shapes and sizes. We took a disposable camera along.
We asked someone to take a picture while they were running.

Here we are at mile 6. The aid stations had cups of
water and Gatorade for us. The runners would take them
from the volunteers' hands, drink, then toss the cups.
Standard procedure. I would open my water bottle and
pour in a couple of cups to carry with me. I carried a bottle
because I had fears of them running out of water
and not being able to finish due to something
like dehydration--that sometimes happens.
Some aid stations also had
Clif Bars, orange wedges and bananas.

Besides our using the popular technique of
walking for one minute each mile, I'd planned
to walk up the notable Veyo hill. It wasn't steep,
but long (2-3 miles) so I walked, wanting to conserve
never having run further than 20 miles before
and not knowing what to expect. Overhead is
an ultralight aircraft. Apparently there were several
of those buzzing overhead. We only saw one
by the time we came along with the back of the pack.

Of course, Michael walked with me. That's my dreamy guy!
The Veyo hill was formed by a volcano, we think that's
the volcano in the picture. Looks like one, anyway.

Finally, we're at the crest of the never-ending Veyo hill.
Mile nine.

All along the roadside were homemade signs posted the day before
by friends and family of runners for encouragement.
There were signs like, "Go Mom! You can do it!"
I tried to read them all, pretending I was the person named.
I was SO surprised to read a sign that read, "Redd Girl,
you are a running machine!" Wot the!? I thought my internet
friend had done that since Redd Girl is my screen name
on the message board. Turned out to be our sister-in-law,
Karen Wiest. Her husband Kurt was running. She planned
to run with us but became injured and had to drop out.

What?!! There was a sign for Michael, too!
It read, "Gut going, Michael!" Gut is good in German.
Thank you, Karen! That helped more than you know!

There was an official clock at half way. As you can see
we took our time, stopping whenever necessary.
Pictures are necessary!

These rocks were so Redd, I mean red

.
This is one of the two official photos we ordered.
We don't remember where they took this, we think
in the late teen miles.

Michael is showing us we have 6 miles to go!
This is mile 20, you can tell by the port-a-potties they
had at each mile, there's also a white sign that says 20
and a mylar balloon. This is not an aid station mile.
Those were on the odd miles. Just above Michael's
shoulder you can see the bluff in St. George.
The town is finally coming into view!
Mom! Dad! We're coming! Don't give up!
Everything seemed fine . . . so far . . . until . . .

. . . at mile 21.5 Michael bonked! He hit his "wall"!
He just ran out of gas. He had to stop to
recover, but he wasn't recovering! We walked,
we slowly jogged. We stopped. He was not
doing well. He'd been eating and drinking,
but perhaps not enough. He experienced some
dizziness (a sign of dehydration), nausea,
(another sign of dehydration but also of
over-exhertion). We kept moving. The roving
vans slowly drove by the runners checking on us,
driving to the finish those who couldn't make it.
One van gave us each a bottle of very cold water.
Bliss! The way Michael was craving water also
indicated dehydration. Amazing what an effect
that can have. This is Mr. He-Can-Do-Anything!
No task is too great! But he wasn't caring
about much right now.

Amazingly, this is how I was feeling! "La-la-la, I'm pretending to
be a martian, look Michael! Michael? Oh, you don't look well at all."
Moments later (we were in town now) Michael practically
collapsed on the grass in the shade next to the sidewalk.
This just wasn't going away! He never considered quitting
but wondered how he would get to the finish line. He probably
should've eaten something but his tummy was not feeling good.
In fact, that's why I'm wearing the fanny pack now, and carrying
his water bottle. He announced that we were going to finish
running, not walking. I really didn't know whether he'd be successful
at that but I was behind him all the way. I was glad he kept at it!
Some cars honked for us, others yelled encouragement from
car windows or from the sidewalks. We thanked each of
them for helping us that way. It really did help you to
keep going.

That was quite a strong will he displayed. At mile 25 we slowly
started running and Michael was determined to run that last 1.2 miles.
His longest 1.2 mile run ever. We took very small Tim Conway-style
steps. You can see it in the picture. The Finish Line was in view
but it didn't matter, it was forever away. It was possibly even
moving away from us!

We did it! We finally caught up to that finish line and stepped
over it! (This is the other official photo we ordered.)
They cut the chips off our shoelaces, handed us a cold bottle
of water, we walked through a mister, ahhh, found Mom, Dad,
Michael's sister JulieAnn, and little Michael and plopped
ourselves on the grass.

A woman runner sitting nearby was kind enough to
hobble over to get us some ice cream. Another runner
loaned us her medal for Mom to take pictures of us.
They'd run out of medals for the first time ever--doh!
We'll get ours in the mail in two weeks.

It did come and here it is. It seems to be
made of stone from the area. These
colors aren't painted on. Cool!
We've heard from other marathoners
that it's one of the most unique finishers
medals around. Everyone who
finished got one.

"There will be days when you don't know if you can
run a marathon, but you will spend a lifetime knowing you have."
--Marathoner's Creed

There are no words to express how extraordinarily grand the free
massages felt. Student massage therapists from Salt Lake City (?)
came down to get more practice hours under their belts.
After that we picked up the warm clothing we tossed into
the truck at the starting line, went home, and crashed.
Dad, even with his neck bothering him spent some time
using his vibrator/massager on Michel's legs.
What a trooper! Mom catered to my needs, getting
my pre-ordered bags of frozen peas out when I needed
them and putting them away and more.
They were perfect hosts and health care specialists!

The next day we watched General Conference
on TV with Mom, Dad and Gramma Heder.
How did I not get a picture of Gramma Heder?!
Well, she probably prefers it that way.
Here we're hanging out on the patio in the evening.
It wasn't that hot during this visit, and thank goodness!

The Michaels are sidewalk chalking.
Michael was doing SO much better the next day,
I was exceedingly sore EVERYWHERE,
feeling like I'd been beaten from head to toe by a mob.
It subsided quickly. I was only sore 3-4 days.

One of Bub's parents can draw exact replicas of
Buick Estate Wagons and Triumph GT6's,
and it's not his mother!

Michael thought it was pretty neat that Gramma and
Grampa let him use their "snuffer" to put out a candle.
They re-lit the candle a few times for him to do it
again and again.

We didn't clean up too badly. Dad took a picture of us
the morning we left.

I wanted a picture of St. George from the airport on the bluff.
The really beautiful red rocks are further to the left of the
picture. You can see the temple, too. Mom and Dad
spend a lot of time working there in the temple!

Finally it's time to go.
Gramma Redd gets an airport hug from
her new little buddy. Dad was there
but not feeling too well, I'm sure.
Actually, Mom's tooth was really bothering
her all weekend, too, but these guys are not
complainers! I must be adopted.

Michael and Laurel getting on one of those noisy
little vibrating planes again! He was excited!

The red rocks and beautiful clouds.

St. George from the air. See the runway on top of
the bluff? And Bluff Street running along the base of it?

Baby makes the rounds on the airplane again.
He's playing on a Palm Pilot with cousin Annie Wiest.

Next he plays cars with Uncle Kurt Wiest on his tray table.
Kurt's marathon time was around 4.5 hours.
2.5 hours shorter than our time. He did great!

Michael is thinking he'd like to go home with
yet another friend he made on the trip, the
stewardess. He made a lot of friends!
Aunt Karen is encouraging him to
please come with us!

We got to the San Francisco Airport where
Mike and Carol came to pick us all up. Breanne was
with them, having come home from her Salt Lake City
General Conference trip the night before.
The kiddies were happy to see each other!

They were so cute to put signs on their cars for us,
we felt like celebrities! Here are the runners.

And now, all the travelers.

We went to Gramma and Grampa Feddock's home
for a welcomed dinner and to hash out all the details.
They are good listeners! Not everyone was interested
in eating and talking, as you can see.

What an experience. It's good to be home.

THE END

< < go back to page 1 of 2 < <

-or-

Back to Redd Home Page