Well, I ran my marathon! It's been a goal for so long that it's hard to believe it's over. I'm glad I had a friend, Taryn, run it at the same time because she really encouraged me to do it and kept me going when I had second thoughts.
The training was fun, but it got really intense and I was ready to be done about two weeks before the marathon. Luckily, that was when the training schedule started a taper to get me ready to actually run the marathon. I thoroughly enjoyed the taper period. Instead of running 16 or 18 miles on Saturdays, I only ran 8. It was a welcome change.
Race week was interesting. Sam and Brittany were sick, so sleep was a little low. I was quite proud of myself Tuesday because I wasn't nervous at all, and I thought maybe I was over getting nervous before races. After all, a marathon is just a really long Saturday run, right? Well, then Wednesday came. I woke up jittery, my kids were ornery, and top it off my neighbors started burning their yard when it was 82 degrees out. I had to close all the windows but I didn't want to turn on the air conditioning for just a few hours so it got REALLY hot. Jared came home and had had a rough day at work. Finally, kids were in bed and it had cooled off, and it was time to wind down. But I was so nervous and generally ticked off that I couldn't sleep and I didn't get to sleep until 1:00 that night. At about 12:30 I had Jared give me a blessing. In it he said that despite not getting a lot of sleep this week I didn't have to worry, Heavenly Father would help me finish the race. The next day I woke up and I felt fine. I got a few little bouts of nervousness but they only lasted a few minutes. I was calm and able to enjoy those last two days before the race, and that was wonderful.
Friday night we drove up to Logan because Brad was letting me stay in his apartment that night. I told Jared and the kids goodbye and had a nice dessert with a bunch of Brad's friends who were running the next day. It was a fun evening. Brad had a room all ready for me and he was a very gracious host. He gave me his bed and went to sleep on the couch so his roommates wouldn't wake me up. Thanks, Brad! We got up at 5:00 the next morning and walked to the park where they were loading busses. We met Taryn and rode up the canyon. When we got there the lines for the Port-a-Pottys were huge! After waiting about 20 minutes in line I decided to take our warmup clothes to the bus before it left. I didn't really have to use the bathroom and I was worried I wouldn't have tome to stretch sufficiently. I got my stretching in and started about 10 minutes after the starting gun was fired.
The race was fabulous. I felt great. The canyon was beautiful. The leaves were starting to change color and the temperature was about perfect. Luckily, I had remembered my gloves because it was chilly enough that my hands would have been pretty darn cold without them. Plus, they were cute gloves and they made me happy. I talked to a few people running down the canyon. The time went really fast, and soon I was at mile 14 and out of the canyon. It was warming up nicely but it never got hot. At mile 15 an 18-year old decided to run with me because he liked my pace, and we ran together for about two miles, but then he started to have some trouble so I went on without him at mile 17. Jared met me at mile 18 and we walked it together. So much fun! There was a donkey at the side of the road at mile 18, and we had a good laugh at that. Weird. Mom and dad met me at about mile 23 and we walked for another half mile. - It was so fun to see everybody on the course. Thanks, guys! - At that point I was getting tired but I still felt really good so I just ran the rest of the way and never had a problem. The finish was fun! I ran in and started to cry a little, but then they had us pose with our medals for finishing pictures so I had to stop. Jared and Sam met me, and they had flowers! It was fun and a great finish.
The whole day was a lot of fun. I've had some time to reflect on it all by this point, and I'm really grateful I was able to do it despite having a 7-month old baby, injuries along the way, and poor Jared doing young men and a master's degree at the same time. Thanks to Jared's mom for helping with kids on race day and making it possible for Jared to support me so much. Thanks for all the help of family and friends during my training and on race day. And thanks especially to Jared who sacrificed so much time and all hope of sleeping in on Saturdays for four straight months. You are wonderful, and you made this possible for me!!!
I don't know if I'll run another marathon, but this was a great experience that I'll have for the rest of my life. I wonder what's next!
