My 1st Marathon!!!!!

"Uh. A marathon is 26.2 miles...and that marathon is in a month." It was 2 summers ago when I made a goal to run a marathon. Me and Rochelle Bohman sat in front of her laptop in our room at Nauvoo House looking up marathons. We'd had ONE really good night at the BYU-I gym, which led to over confidence that we could run a marathon. After noticing that the Mesa Falls marathon was only a month away we decided we'd try a half..which by the next morning had disolved into, "Haha we're ridiculous. What were we thinking?" Since then, completing a marathon was put on my bucket list, so to speak.

When I moved to Provo I started running. A lot. It was kindof a stress reliever. Which I had a pile of. :) I'd run up to the temple quite a bit and loved running by the Provo river because it was shady there. I decided last summer I was going to complete a marathon, but school went through the end of July and training is pretty dang time consuming so that was out of the picture. So about mid-June of this year I decided this was the summer. I probably started training a lil bit late, but the night I decided to do it I didn't look back. I went and bought new shoes because my current ones had holes in them and started running my heart out.

This Saturday August 22 @ 4 AM it began. I set out to run the Mesa Falls Marathon. I slept @ Elliot and Traci's the night before and Elliot offered to take me to Ashton Elementary where the buses were waiting to take us to the starting line. It was nice of him to offer, he told me he didn't want me to get lost and miss my race. It wasn't that hard to find, but I'm possibly the worst person @ directions. No matter how easy they are. :)

I sat towards the back of one of the 5 travel buses watching the lightning and eating my breakfast of champions (a energy bar and gatorade). Thank goodness by the time I got off the bus, the storm had vanished and the sun was starting to come up. I decided to start at the end of the pack and let all the hard core marathoners lead. It was more entertaining this way. So many funny people to observe. There were 250 of us...Short. (ME). Tall. Young. Old. People wearing garbage bags. Couples wearing matching t-shirts (tender). Cowboy hats. Lots of American apparell. Bandanas. And one old man had on basketball pj's.

The first 9 miles were pretty flat. We ran on a gravel road through an open forest range while the sun came up. We had to walk across about 3-4 cattle guards. This made me laugh. Only a marathon in Idaho would you have to do this. The first part was my favorite. I like running in the morning and the Tetons came into view and were beautiful. I wish I had brought a camera.

Mile 3: MY iPod DIED!!! I always need music when I run. That is what makes it enjoyable to me. First thought in my head. This is gayer than Elton John............but if I had the option I would listen to him over nothing. (Well there were some cows mooing in the distance.)

Mile 8: I was running at the same pace as this lady. I liked to call her "Hacker Women" in my head. She kept hocking up loogies about every 10 seconds. I had to kick it up a notch because it was driving me crazy and I had no music to distract me.....BUT

Mile 9: I heard Taylor Swift Love Story playing...so I sped up. Jackpot! Music! Some lady had a radio on her hip and no headphones. Little did I know she had Love Story on repeat. It got old on the third time being played so I had to pass her.

After mile 9 we turned onto an asphalt road. Mile 11-13 the altitude drops and the half marathoners started somewhere along here.

Mile 11: Lower falls could be seen. Pretty!

Mile 13ish through 17 I really liked. There was a thin path that about only 2 people could run on. It was through some trees and the view was really pretty.

Mile 17-19.5 was the hill from hell. I walked up most of it because I'd been told by other people who had done this marathon that it was easier that way. I didn't want to win the thing, just finish, so I took their advice.

Mile 20: MY FAMILY WAS THERE! My parents, Elliot and my Aunt Patricia came to cheer me on. I was happy to see them. They probably didn't think so because the first words out of my mouth were, "Do any of you have an iPod?!" I talked to them for a minute and continued on.

Here's a pic they took. I will never be a world class runner.

I'm white and have the shortest legs ever. :)

Mile 22: I hit a wall and wanted to die. My legs were burning by then and I didn't know if I could make it. There was an ambulance that kept driving by and I wanted to hop in and call it quits.

Mile 23-25: Longest miles of my life. My legs were cramping up to the point that even walking was painful. (next time I'm going to take potassium with me..that's supposed to help) It was very hot...and I didn't really like the "agriculture section" of the race. From mile 20-26 potato and wheat fields were all that I could see.

Mile 26: DONE!!!

Me runnin' to the finish line.

This pictures funny cause I'm smiling,

but that was freaking difficult...

and I wasn't happy at that moment.

Me and Rachel...my sister-in-laws

Sister in-law. :)

I'm grateful I finally did it! I learned a lot about myself and training gave me something to do while I was jobless that made me feel like I was being productive and accomplishing something. I learned that I am very stubborn. Ha! When I told some people I was running one they laughed and said I couldn't. It also didn't help that all the people I know that run marathons and have ran this one, called it, "the beast" and said I shouldn't start with it. I should have listened to them, but it made me want finish that one more because I felt people had doubt in me. I'm going to run another one next year...and I'm excited! :)