3:56

Not thrilled with the time, but at the time I crossed the finish line, I was just happy to have finished. Here's the condensed play by play of the weekend...

Arrive SLC Wednesday afternoon with three of my kids and await all of the Jensens to show up at my Dad's house, where we are all staying for a reunion, and I realize how stupid it is to try and sleep the night before the marathon with 20 other people in the house, so I book a hotel room close to where I will be catching the shuttle to the top of the canyon at 3:15 AM. I had eaten all the wrong foods that day because I was traveling and really trying to just survive the trip with the kids, not thinking too much about what I was putting in my mouth during the drive (a whole bunch of cherries.)

I got to the hotel when Ron arrived for crowd control at about 9:30 PM and started readying all my stuff for the morning. Uh oh, what am I going to eat!? A Marathon bar is in the bag of stuff that came with my number and timing chip. That's going to have to do, even though I've never eaten one before I run before. I decided to run with one of my bottles-with-nifty-hand-strap full of GUs. That was what I trained eating, so I thought that best than relying on Gatorade at the aid stations. Then I notice I forgot my Garmin, and one of the socks is not actually my sock, but one of my sons that I mistook for mine. It's rough, and doesn't stretch at all. I will have to wear that on the foot that is least likely to blister. Bad omen. I set the clock radio alarm, called for a wake up call, AND set my phone alarm. Can't be too carefull.

It is just not fun to wake up to that many noises at 2:30 in the morning! I get to the shuttle buses at 3:00 AM. I won't bore you with the stories of all the people I talked to. But it was a cool experience. I met a few very inspiring people that made me remember why I love to do these races. They got us to the top of the canyon 2 hours before the race was to begin. I started getting SO sleepy and shivering uncontrollably at the same time while I'm talking to this very friendly Brazilian guy named Carlos. He found out I know Portuguese, so he wanted to chat. I did alot of nodding because I'm very rusty.

5:30 AM race starts on a very steep downhill. My lower calves/achilles tendon is already screaming. That's not good.

Mile 8 I realize that there is no one calling out the time like in other races, and since I didn't wear my Garmin, I have no way of knowing how I'm doing. Oh well, maybe for the best. When is this downhill going to end!!??

Mile 12 I realize the cherries were a bad idea. My entire gut from the top of my stomach to my colon are on fire and my back is now hurting from my posture.

Mile 13 someone says, "Half way!" and I about start crying. I think I'm not even going to be able to finish, let alone get a decent time, so I decide to say a little prayer that went something like, "Hevenly Father, I don't know if this could be considered a righteous desire, but if it's at all possible to get my gut to stop burning so I can just finish this marathon that I drove all this way to run, I would be so grateful. If not, I totally understand because I kind of did this to myself, didn't I." I ran the next mile and the stomach was fine.

Mile 19 we come out of the canyon and into town where people are standing along the road. I was glad I decided to not wear the shuffle. It's so great to hear people cheer you on, even though sometimes when people would say, "You're almost there!" I would say, "YOU LIAR!!!" I think they knew I was a little out of my mind with discomfort and forgave me. I started watching for Ron and the kids at this point because he said he would try to be somewhere near mile 20 or 21. The blocks kept going by and no husband or babies. I started getting a little teary by mile 23 because I really wanted to see them, but I also knew that if I did, I would just tell him to take me home because I was in so much pain and I was going so slow I thought for sure my time would be pathetic. I really wanted to start just walking, but I knew if I did, I would be just one step closer to stopping altogether, so I just kept it to as fast a jog as I could. Still no one calling out the time. I had NO IDEA where I was time-wise.

Mile 24-ish, I notice that the mile markers have inspirational quotes on them. I hadn't read any of them until that one, and it said, "You are running with angels." That did it. I started crying. (If anyone hasn't read the book Running With Angels, get it and read it asap.) I hit another downhill at this point and some lady on the side of the road yelled, "It's all downhill from here!!" and I about punched her. The downhill was hurting so bad.

Mile 25 we are running one street east of the parade route. It was so noisy I thought the parade must already be going, which would mean I didn't get in in under 4 hours. The course puts the runners onto the parade route for one block then turns us back up to the park and the finish line for the last half-mile. When we turned onto the block with all the parade watchers, I realize that the parade isn't going yet and all the little kids are standing by the police tape holding out their hands to give us "five." I smacked every single one even if I had to reach for it. That was THE BEST part of the race. It totally made it all worth it. I didn't see my kids till the last .2. They were standing with their cute signs, and I was glad I hadn't seen them sooner and hadn't given up. When I crossed the finish line and they said 3:56. I was in total shock. I know that's not a great time, but I really thought I was running about as slow as possible. I was really happy to have made it in under 4, considering. I've heard it said that I can expect to chop 15 minutes off a time from the July 24th Marathon in the St. George Marathon. That would be great.



My travel companions

Mini Chi at Playland.


We spent Friday at Lagoon with all the Jensens. This is Ron and I about to be shot up into the air on a crazy ride called The Catapult. It was the funnest 30 seconds I have ever had almost dying of fear.
Noah about to get on the climbing wall at Dick's after the marathon. (He's wet from playing in the fountain.)