Sarah Borst Jarvis

The good news first: I am running the St. George Marathon in less than a week! Wow! My first ever marathon! I am sooooooooo excited! I have only run 26.2 miles once before and that was in 2007 as part of the Challenge Roth* triathlon which is all but a complete blur in my mind at this point... If you asked me about running a marathon at any point before August of this year, my (honest) reply was always the same: I am not interested in running a marathon. At all. Especially not one on the road. And, most certainly, not one that is mostly downhill.  Looks like I changed my mind! When a good friend mentioned that his awesome company ( Festival Sounds ) is sponsoring the marathon and, although the lottery to the race closed ages ago, still has a couple of spots, I couldn't help but jump at the chance ! (Almost literally...) Coach M might have been sitting at the same table as me but I wasn't about to ask her for permission. Instead, I yelled: I am in! And that ...

There are lots of factors that go into deciding which races to run, but close to home is a big one.  The Flagstaff 50k was on some awesome local trails, was organized by a great race company, and starts a short walk from home. So this one was a no-brainer. The only problem was that my training early in the year was not so great. No so great, as in not really at all. It got me frustrated and depressed, so when I heard about the Flagstaff 50k, I figured it was the perfect excuse to start getting my act together. So I then did a bunch of training.  Good job, Karl. Then I went to some of the hottest parts of the Sonoran desert for field work, where my training was crappy.  Not good, Karl.  Then I did a bunch more training. Good job, Karl.  Then I got really sick for a couple weeks right when I should have been doing my last couple big runs. Not good, Karl's body. Then I got over my sickness the week of the race. Good job, Karl. (Big thanks to Aravaipa Run...

Lake Las Vegas on race morning The Bumpy Road There were quite a few bumps in my road to Vegas this year. Bump #24 My left leg . An issue for the last 2.5 years that became a serious concern after Oceanside in March. No bueno! Bump #36 Spending 9 weeks this summer traveling . 6 of those were in Germany as a single-parent. It was a summer filled with awesomeness that didn't include a whole lot of consistent training. Oops! Bump #54 I can count the number of decent tempo runs I've had since March on one hand. Yikes! Bump #63 Last but certainly not least: A head cold that started 5 days before the race and quickly turned into a chest cold . Not good for a girl that has been diagnosed with athletic-induced asthma and chronic bronchitis before. T1 on race morning Finally Excited  Being less than thrilled to show up at Worlds and getting my butt handed to me, pre-race excitement was rather subdued . But then a few nice things happened and I changed my ...