Top of Utah Marathon 2009

Yay! We did it! Last Sat, Sept 19th my two brothers, Jay and Jeremy, and my sister, Amy, and I all ran the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan. It was SO much fun! I know you are thinking "what the world? how can running 26.2 miles be fun?" Trust me, it is. Now the last few miles are never very fun and you typically want to pass out and die at that point. BUT the fact hat you don't and you just keep running along is what makes the whole marathon thing amazing!

I won't give all the gory details and all that, but I was REALLY proud of my time 4 hours 4 min. especially since the last 8 miles were generally uphill and, wow, I so was not expecting that. I ran with my sister, Amy, for the first 10 miles or so and then we split. I met Ben at mile 15 got a good luck kiss and went on my way. I held a great pace the first 18 miles, under a 9 min at least then often under an 8 min mile. However, mile 18 came along and that is where the uphill climbs started and it was all I could do to keep about a 9 min mile. I was expecting to crash burn and die at mile 23, but I didn't and I was glad of that.

But one mile later....24...I was ready to be done. I felt like I was breathing through a straw and my entire body was telling me to stop running already. So that last 2.2 miles was a battle between my mind and body "keep going, don't you dare stop now, keep going, i don't care how much it hurts don't you stop running!!!" and then my body..."What in the world are you doing to me???? Why are you still running? You can't even breathe right anymore, your legs are completely broken can't you feel all that pain??? Look there is a curb over there, just pull over and die already okay?!!" Seriously, even when I got to mile marker 26 I wanted to just cry because I truly did not want to run another second, let alone .2 miles. So I was REALLY proud of myself for NOT stopping and running on through the finish line with a great finish time. I was so happy to see my sweet husband, Ben at the finish cheering me on and see all the rest of my family. It was so great to have that support there and it meant so much to see them all there cheering me on. Thank you family!!!! So here, are some pictures of the event. Enjoy.

Oh, and yes I will continue to do marathons, probably my entire life. I love running. And my next goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. hopefully next year, but if not, another year. I will get there.

My brother, Jay, and I. He came in at 3:45 awesome huh?

And of course, Sophie and I. Isn't she beautiful? Even just in her Jammies.

Yeah, you know this is a cute picture

.

Here we all are! Jeremy, Jay, Amy and I. I was SO proud of all of us for running it. Amy did awesome, it was her first and she came in at 4:15 AWESOME!!! Thanks Amy for talking me into doing this marathon, I loved it!

Here I am coming through the finish

.

Giving everyone a little cheer as I went though

.

Two thumbs up baby

.

Okay check this out. A picture of Ben and I and neither of us are making faces!!! That never happens. I think I will frame this one. Oh and just FYI, BEn is amazing. He 100% supports me in all my running, babysits kids, takes care of the house while my legs are recovering, comes to all my races and cheers me on. He is amazing and I am so lucky to have him. LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU BEN!!!

okay so yeah, after I finished and we were just chillin it, I died. I just wanted to lay down so that is what I did and I have to say that it felt amazing and I was 100% absolutely comfortable. I didn't want to get up. I probably could have stayed right there the rest of the day and been just fine with that.

My sister, Amy and I. Aren't we cute? Thank you Amy for all the fun running together. We did several of our training runs together and it was so much fun! I am so glad we ran this one together. Can't wait for another marathon, and yes there will be more. As I once read somewhere, 26.2 miles of the pain that you love. Yep. that pretty much describes a marathon.