MARATHON...and St. George

I DID IT! The time has finally come. It was around February when I was running with my friends Elizabeth and Camille and the idea of a marathon came up. I laughed, I REFUSED to even entertain the idea. I had done a half-marathon before and I hated every second of it and so I promised myself I would never do a full marathon. Well, after a few weeks of persuasion I was finally talked into "TRYING" to get into the St. George marathon. It was supposed to be really hard to get into, so Elizabeth, her twin sister Meghan and I all signed up as a team and waited for the results....WE GOT IN. I was so scared, but we had lots of time, so the training began. That alone was a huge accomplishment. For months we ran at least 5 times a week, which got really old. It took a ton of discipline, there were a lot of mornings that I just wanted to sleep in, but I knew if i was going to run 26.2 miles i wanted to be ready. Well, the day finally came and I can't believe it is over. The longest run I had done before the race was 18 miles, so I was not sure how ready I was going to be. I was shooting for a 4 hours 30 minutes finishing time, and I am happy to report that I did it in 4:09:22. Sorry to bore you with details, but for my own sake I am going to document the race day for my memory:

• Wake up at 4:15 am to it raining outside (seriously?)
• 4:50 meet Elizabeth and Meghan and get on a bus to go to the top of the race
• Take a 20 minute bus ride while being so nervous, and tired, and watching the rain come down harder and harder.
• 6 am we had to get off our bus and wait in a 30 minute line in the rain to use the porta potty. This was so discouraging, we were soaking wet and soggy standing in the rain, knowing we were about to run 26.2 miles and we were already uncomfortable.
• I decided to put a trash bag over my sweatshirt at this point, which I am so glad I did, it really helped keep my upper body dry, sort of!
• 6:45 the race started and I was nervous. The crazy part was that we were up in a canyon and it was pitch black outside. I was expecting street lights or something, but no, it was super dark and raining hard at this point so we had to start the run not being able to see. It was sort of scary.
• By mile 2 i was wondering what i had done. I felt tired because we were running pretty fast and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep it up, it was still dark and my sweatshirt and gloves were soaked and i wasn't used to running with a 10 pound wet sweatshirt on.....but i kept going....
• I finally took off my sweatshirt and gloves around mile 6 because it was too distracting, i knew i was going to be losing my warmth, but i was soaking wet and it wasn't doing me much good, i was feeling pretty good at that point and i kept my trash bag on luckily because all i had on under was a white tank top!!! Yikes.
• We had heard about the killer hill around mile 7 so we were getting nervous for it and we weren't sure if we needed to walk it, but it came and we took it slow and we did it. Everything after that seemed like we could do it. It was from mile 10-18 that I was feeling so good. I may have even considered running another marathon at that point!!! Elizabeth was very encouraging and kept me going, and then mile 18 came!
• At mile 18 I got mad/sad/discouraged...you name it, i felt it. I couldn't believe that I still had to keep going. I wanted to stop and walk the rest, but a part of my brain kept telling me that if I kept running it would be over faster. But this was the point in the race that my muscles started feeling sore and that scared me. I wasn't trained to run anymore than this so i knew i would start injuring my body at this point.
• Mile 21 we were on pace to do a 4:00 finish time (which Elizabeth did!!!) and then my stomach started to hurt, not the kind of hurt that I could ignore, i knew it would get worst if i ignored it. SO, it was at this point that I had to stop and go to the bathroom. This may have been a mistake because the rest of the run was SUPER hard for me. I didn't have my partner with me anymore and it was the hardest part of the race. I wanted to stop so many times, but that is when you finally run by people so they are screaming and giving you encouragement. That is when you really find out how strong your body and mind are. I was telling myself everything from..."you can do this", to "you have had 2 children, you can do anything" to "i want to stop now and cry!!!" You really learn a lot about yourself, it is crazy.
• Then at mile 25 I passed my family and it made me so happy. I wanted to give up and walk but i didn't want to let them down, so I kept going and ran on by. Wade jumped in with me and ran to the finish with me, it helped to have him for that last stretch. A cop saw him and kicked him off the course, I guess it was that obvious that he wasn't a runner!!! But he then ran over and met me at the finish.
• I actually got a big surge of energy as I came upon the finish line...I ran as hard as i could because i knew it was going to be over and I knew that I had worked SO hard to get to that point. What a good feeling. I have always been the type of person that doesn't like to try something if I think I might fail because I don't want to let myself down, but I now know that I CAN DO ANYTHING!
• I did it...we did it. Thanks Elizabeth and Meghan, I will never forget it!

I won't go into too much detail about the aftermath, but let's just say that it is the day after and I can't walk. Literally I have to pull myself up the stairs with my arms. I got really sick right after the race and it ruined my high of finishing. It was a mix of being freezing, and dehydrated, and i was having a few other issues (thank goodness for Grayson's Desitin!) so it made the rest of the day hard, but it was all worth it for the experience I guess.

This was at 5 am as we were getting ready to get on a bus. It looks like it was night time, and it stayed that way for a few hours after that.
I was so nervous at this point, there was no turning back.
Here was my cheering team! My dad and mom live in St. George, so it was so nice to have them there for support. I really could have used them at mile 18, but they were at mile 25, at that point i wanted to give up, but they kept me going! Thanks guys.
That is me with my trash bag on!
One more mile to go...I wanted to stop and kiss my kids but i knew it would be too hard to start, Wade joined me and helped me finish the race, he was tired after 3 blocks!!! It made me feel better.
Soaking wet, but so happy that WE DID IT!

We spent 3 days before the race hanging out with my parents in St. George. It was a nice break from work. We did a lot of shopping, eating, going to the park, riding dirt bikes, playing in the yard, and just hanging out.

This witch was awesome at the TJ maxx, but i couldn't get myself to pay $120 for it!
Wade's mom and grandma and grandpa came down one day to see us, we had a fun day with them. We took the boys to the local water park, we all got wet.


Is he really only 18 months? He looks like a teenager here.
Bennett loved going for rides on his grandpa's bike! He said that was his favorite part of the week.

This park was so much fun.

We had a fun week. We are sad it is over, back to life and work,etc!!!