The Road to the Marathon

I've been thinking about this post for a while now. During several of my long runs and races I was thinking about what got me here...how in the world did I end up running 26.2 miles? The road has been long and there have been so many people along the way who have kept me on this road.

It all starts with my freshman year of high school. I joined cross country and track because Sherry ran. I had no amazing abilities or love for running but since Sherry did it so did I. Looking back I wasn't half bad, but I didn't realize that at the time since I was always so far behind Sherry. I could run sub 6:00 min/miles and I was still 6th runner on the team. Our team took state my sophomore year and we went to Nationals which was a blast. Then Sherry graduated and I gave up running for dance. I really loved dancing and cross country wasn't as much fun without my big sister pushing me.

This is when we won sectionals in 1987

Then over the years at BYU I ran off and on. I would have a roommate who ran so I would take up running for a year or so to keep in shape. It was fun and a cheap and easy form of exercise. Then I really got into step aerobics and found my love for working out again. I never missed a day and was a bit psychotic about it. I was actually late for my first date with Todd because I didn't want to miss step class. I kept getting injured in step from going a bit too high impact and switched over to spin. Soon I was teaching spin and absolutely loved it.

The next thing I knew Sherry talked me into doing a triathlon. So I talked Heidi and my friend Tanya into doing it with me and we found a great training program online. It was fun and I really started to enjoy running and training for events.

Spudman 2001

Then I started my family and decided there was no better way to lose the baby weight than to sign up for another triathlon. After Luke was born I met Traci in spin class and we started training together. I've never had a more perfect training partner. She is just as crazy as I am, works her butt off, is fun, inspires me everyday to work a little harder, is the same age as I am to name a few of the reasons I love her. I could go on forever about her. Meeting Traci was a huge milestone on the road to the marathon. We've worked out for 5 years and have had 3 kids between us over the years.

Traci and I
Jan. 2009 Frigid 5K (It was like 18 degrees)

In 2007 Sherry talked me into running a half-marathon. It took some serious thought because I thought that distance was crazy. But I signed up and had a great race.



Then Jill came along with a goal to do a race a month. She changed the name of the game for me and I signed up for way too many events. She also inspired me to take more pictures of my races....which in turn led to finding cuter outfits and wearing makeup and fixing my hair for races.

Jen, Jill and I
Memorial Day 10K 2009

We added a few more members to the running crew as well as a few more goals. Another half-marathon was in the works.

Leigh Anne, Gretchen, Traci and I
Moab Half-Marathon - March 2009

So far so good....shall we try for a full marathon? Why not. We're already half way there. We signed up for St. George and didn't get in so we decided to run Top of Utah in Logan. And the training began. We kicked off our marathon training program with a 10 mile race in June. Then week after week we ran and ran and added more and more miles. Next thing you know we were running 20 miles....wow!

Laurie, Stephanie, Leigh Anne, Jill, Me and Traci
Riverwoods 10 miler - June 2009

Next thing you know there I was at the start of a marathon. It was a long run. A long and painful run. I found out that I have more to me than I ever knew as I dug so deep inside myself to keep going. I thought of my family and friends and all the people who got me there. So many people ran with me throughout the years. My family and friends supported me. And especially Todd has supported me in being gone training or doing events.

I am so very blessed to have such an amazing group of girls to run with and to have such an inspirational big sister leading the way.

It has been a long road but I like where it got me.

I'm glad I did it.
Now what?

Lagoon

The Nu Skin summer party was at Lagoon this year. It was on Ryan's birthday so we decided to leave Claire and Sophie at home and take him with us. The boys had so much fun. Luke was the most daring of the bunch, but he was too short to go on any of the really crazy rides.

Marathon Finish

Todd took this with his phone so it isn't great quality. But if you were dying to see the finish here it is.

Flashback Friday

Just because it's fall

2003

Oh how I love fall it's my favorite season. It might be the cool nights, wearing sweaters again, the beautiful leaves, peach season, my birthday or school being back in. All I know is that it has always been my favorite.

School Pictures

Tayson (7)
2nd Grade

Luke (5)
Kindergarten

Claire (3)

Sophie (1)

**A few funny things about their pictures.

• Luke has a dead tooth (he hit it hard on the wood floor when wrestling with Tayson)
• Todd fixed Luke's hair with product and the blow dryer and everything but parted it the wrong way so by the time he got to school it was a little crazy
• Sophie was a drool queen so her chin is all wet
  
• Sophie has a little tear in her eye from her cold not from crying
• If you look close you can see a bruise on Sophie's forehead from her major bonk on Tayson's bed 2 days before pictures
  

My Hubby

This morning Meggan (our nanny) sent me a text that she wasn't feeling well so I told her it was fine and to take a sick day. I was planning on calling into work and working from home but Todd said he would do it. Then at 4:45 pm I had someone drop by to tell me we needed to get something on the web tonight. So I called Todd to tell him I would be late and he told me that he had just made waffles for the kids for dinner. I finally got home at 7:20 pm and found all 4 kids bathed and in their PJ's watching a movie. The house was clean, the dishes done, the kids were clean and fed and happy. WOW!

It was so nice to come home from such a long day at work to such a great husband who had done it all and still had a smile on his face. Thanks Todd for being the BEST HUSBAND EVER!

TOU Marathon

I did it. I ran my first marathon.

I never really wanted to run one before then for some reason the awesome girls I run with decided it was time to check it off the list. So we all decided to go for it. There is no way I would have taken on a challenge like this alone. We've trained and trained and then trained some more. The official kick off the marathon training program was the beginning of June. There have been lots of aches and pains and a few injuries along the way. I have been so lucky that I managed to stay injury free. My back and hip have been doing better the past few months than they have for the last few years.

Then a few weeks before the race I was talking to Sherry on the phone and told her which weekend the race was and it happened to fall on the same day as the BYU game Brandon was coming in town for so she decided to come run with me. I was so excited when she told me and then completely beside myself when she said she was going to pace with me and help me through the race.

So Friday afternoon we headed up north. We met Sherry at the Wal-Mart in Brigham City then had dinner in Brigham City before heading over to Logan. We picked up our packets and shirts and got checked into our hotel. I didn't sleep too good but that's to be expected before such a big event. At 4:30 the alarm went off and then it was really time to go. We got ready, took pictures and headed for the bus. We got to the start about 10 minutes before the gun went off. We were in the lines for the porta potties until right before and were only at the starting line for about a minute before the gun went off. There wasn't time to stress or worry it was just time to start.

Gretchen, Me, Leigh Anne and Traci
The night before the race.

Gretchen, Leigh Anne, Traci and I
5:15 AM on our way to the bus

The course went down the canyon on a nice gradual hill for the first 14 miles, then wound through some farm town for the next 6 then did some crazy back and forth business through the town and neighborhoods for the last 6 miles. I felt pretty good the first half of the race and then hit a major wall right around mile 20. Sherry talked me through it and distracted me for another 2 miles then I just had to go numb to make it through the last 4 miles. I was totally talking to myself (I thought it was to myself but Sherry said she could hear me...oops). I just kept telling myself "you can do this" .... "you're almost there" ..... "one foot in front of the other" ..... "it's 4 miles - you can run 4 miles" stuff like that. The end was so hard for me because I hurt and my garmin said it was 26 miles already and I couldn't see the finish line, then it said 26.1 and then 26.2 and I still couldn't see the finish. I was starting to freak out a little then we made one final turn and I saw it about 50 meters away. At the end my garmin said 26.53 :)

Running to the finish line

I finished in 4:02:32. I couldn't believe it. I was done. Finally done. That was all I cared about was being done and seeing my best friends in the world cross that finish line. I was so happy when I saw each of them cross the line that I cheered and cried at the same time.

It was so great to have my mom and Todd cheering for me at the end. And they brought the supplies for an ice bath. Todd brought our tiny blow up pool (which has a palm tree top for shade), ice and bottles of water to fill it. It was 90% ice and the coldest ice bath I have ever taken. I only made it 3 minutes before I thought I was going to die but my legs felt a little better afterwards so it was worth it.

James, Hans, Abe and Todd

I can't believe how amazing it was having Sherry there to support me and run with me. I wore my fuel belt so that I would drink plenty of water (to avoid cramping) and she would take the flasks for me and then run ahead to fill them up for me so that I wouldn't have to stop. At one point (mile 18) I needed water in both flasks and thought there was an aid station just ahead so she took them and ran ahead then I realized the water wasn't until mile 19 so she ran ahead to that aid station filled them up and actually ran back to meet me. All I could say was "you've got to be kidding me" there was no way I was going to take one extra step and she ran an extra half mile for me. It was nice having her talk me through my pains and knowing that she really understood what I was feeling. I can't even explain how grateful I am for what she did for me. It was truly amazing having her run with me every step of the way. At one point she said "just imagine a rope tying you to me and me pulling you along" and she really did pull me along. My whole life I have admired and looked up to her. I couldn't ask for a better sister and she was there for me through one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Check out Sherry's sweet trash bag.

There is no way I would have dreamt of doing something so big without such amazing friends and such an amazing sister. I love them all so much and it's amazing to me how much a relationship grows when there are miles and miles of road, tears, sweat, pain, and the joy of accomplishment involved.