Wall crasher: Cabanaillas pushes aside thoughts of quitting marathon

Utahn Carol Cabanaillas hit the wall at the 16-mile mark of the Deseret Morning News/KJZZ TV marathon and even contemplated quitting, but after assessing her situation, she pressed forward, eventually winning the event in a time of 2:53:24.

"I just crashed at 16 and just figured I was running so slow I should just drop out, but there was no one else there," said Cabanaillas shortly after crossing the finish line. She wanted to finish under 2:47, but was satisfied with her six-minute-slower time after cramping for the final 10 miles.

She had only trained for eight weeks for this particular marathon, and with the demanding course, it just wasn't quite long enough for her liking as the downhill course eventually wore her down.

"Finishing was the best part. I'm just glad it's over," said the Murray resident, who was trying to catch her breath 10 minutes after the finish.

The 26-year-old Cabanaillas trains with her father and the men's marathon fifth-place finisher Bill Cobler, who noted that "every time you run this marathon, you know it's going to be a fast start and a slow finish." It wasn't until 15 minutes later that Cabanaillas was joined at the finish line by another woman as Lorie Hutchison crossed the line in 3:08:01 to capture second place.

The 43-year-old Salt Lake City resident has been running the Days of '47 marathon since 1983, winning the title in 1988. And after training for the hilly course, Hutchison was prepared as always for that fast start and slow finish.

But even though she was walking around fine and barely breathing hard, she noted that she felt like "I need a massage."

The weather was humid and warm, making the course even more difficult, especially for later finishers, who found themselves running in sunlight that broke through the clouds shortly after the winners crossed the line.

It was another 11 minutes before Genevieve Keogh crossed the line in third, and then the woman the crowd had been waiting for appeared at 3:24:24, when Miss Utah 2007, Jill Stevens, ran through the finish.

The 24-year-old looked good and strong at the finish but added that the last two miles were "killer."

She said that her number was her banner and she was her own float, adding that "I'd rather run a marathon any day" than be in the parade.

Running her 10th marathon, she was happy to have finished six minutes under her goal time of 3:30 and used her "lock and load" slogan to try to tell women and girls of all ages to seize the moment in life.

DeseretMorningNews/KJZZTVmarathon

1. Carol Cabanaillas, Murray, 2:53:24

2. Lorie Hutchison, Salt Lake City, 3:08:01

3. Genevieve Keogh, Layton, 3:19:02

4. Jill Stevens, Fruitland, 3:24:24

5. Francesca Chavez-Giles, New Mexico, 3:27:47

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E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com