I did it!!

With all the craziness going on around me, I decided to run the St. George marathon after all. I had registered for it several months ago and didn't want to waste my money. So after injuring myself while training for the marathon 5-6 weeks ago and it just being such a chaotic time, I figured it would be a little escape to clear my mind. I flew out to Las Vegas Friday morning and from there drove to St. George, UT, later that day with my 2 brothers and sister-in-law. After "too little" hours of sleep and before the sun came up, me and my sister-in-law, Jamie, arrived at the drop-off location from where we were transported by school buses to the top of Snow Canyon.

The drive seemed to last forever. When we finally reached the top, it started raining and the wind started to pick up as well. We attempted to stay dry with some home made rain gear made out of trash bags and warm up by the fire pits. I was cold and wet before the run even started. The first 2-3 miles for me are usually more of a warm up. Every muscle and body part seem to ache. Thank goodness for ipods. After, that I get somewhat of a rhythm going. However, I'm not very used to running in the rain. My shoes and socks were soaking wet and my clothes were not much drier either. Once again, thank goodness for ipods. People have asked me before, "what do you think of during the run?" Some of the things that went through my mind were; how much further?, my kids, why did I want to do this?, things on my to do list, please don't cramp up, but my favorite thought of the day was I can see the finish line. After about 4 and 1/2 hours, I crossed the finish line. After wobbling around and getting some proteins back into my system, Bobby welcomed me with open arms and a warm, dry sweat shirt.

All the negative thoughts went out the door. I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I completed my 2nd marathon within the same year. It's just a great feeling.

My niece and nephew, Chloe and Beckham, came to cheer on their mom. Thanks Jamie for running with me. We were supposed to have a team of people but ended up with only each other. So thanks again for being my motivation.(of course a thank you to Jonathan, for getting us back and forth safely)

We hopped back into the car and got on the road back to Vegas right after the marathon. I finally got to take off my shoes and socks to warm up my feet. I decided that it was time to retire my pair of running shoes which had endured my first two marathons and a bloody back of my right foot.(from this marathon) Come this December, D will be running his 1st marathon in Vegas. I can't wait to greet him at the finish line. Go baby.

I got on my flight back home that night. Tucked my boys into bed and kissed them goodnight. As I limped into my bedroom, crawled into bed and cuddled up to D, I thought to myself; what a great day. My last thought was, I did it!!!!