I RAN A MARATHON!!!!!!!!!

I still can't believe it, but on Saturday I ran my first marathon. I've thought about it every day since December when Jadon registered us for the Salt Lake Marathon for my Christmas present. About 2 and 1/2 months ago I didn't think it was going to be possible. My knee was injured and running was out of the picture. In fact up until the race I hadn't run more than 5 miles at a time in the past 2 and 1/2 months. But then to quote the movie "Marley & Me" - "I have tendency to surprise myself"

On Friday Jadon and I dropped off Maya at the boarder's and drove to Salt Lake to pick up Adam at the airport. He arrived at 10:45 and from the there we drove to the Salt Palace in SLC to pick up our race bags and timing chips. After buying some new running clothes at the expo and winning an Army T-shirt for climbing the toughest route on the indoor climbing wall we left to get some lunch. We ate at Subway and then checked into our motel. We had the afternoon free so we took a tour of the Mormon Temple and Tabernacle. It was very interesting to hear from a Mormon's perspective what they believe.

After the tour it was time for supper. We ate at Market Street Grill ( my favorite restaurant from my childhood ) I had some amazing crab stuffed mushrooms and topped it off with french pastries (I carbo-load with pastries not pasta)

We walked back to the motel and went to bed early. I didn't go to sleep until 1 a.m. and even then my dreams were full of runners and power bars. The alarm went off and at 4:30 a.m. and I woke up with the reality of what I was about to do looming heavy. After a quick shower and bowl of oatmeal we headed out to the city train to catch a ride to race start. The train was packed, some people didn't even make it on. 40 minutes later we arrived at the start with only enough time to drop off our bags and use the restroom ( I think port-a-potties get more use at races than at any other event, there just something about those prerace jitters)

The gun went off at 7 a.m. and it took 6 minutes for us to cross the start line. The first 6 miles were downhill which is worse than anything else for my knee. After only 1/2 a mile my knee started to hurt and I prepared myself to have to leave the race. For the first 6 miles Adam and Jadon ran with me stopping every now and then for me to stretch my knee. But at that point I told them to go ahead without me, I felt bad making them stop too. From there on out it was just me and my thoughts and my own pain-tolerance. How long could I handle it. I made it to mile 9 and at that point I knew that I had to at least complete 13.1 miles making it a 1/2 marathon. My hands were freezing and I managed to find two separate black gloves which another runner had thrown off. I found the first one at mile 5 and the second at mile 8. This helped and once my fingers thawed I was able to open the pack I had around my waist and eat a pria bar.
Mile 14-19 were awful. Every muscle in my legs were cramping, and I kept reminding myself that I had felt pain since 1/2 mile into the race and so pain was nothing new, I could handle it. I started breaking up the miles into small sections. Just make it to that street light, run till the next water stop, beat the man in front of you, Run until this song is over... etc.... Every chunk became harder but not impossible. I also told myself that this pain was practice for child labor someday. Basically I was willing to tell myself anything to keep myself going.
Finally at mile 19 my hands warmed up enough for me to open the package of bio freeze I had and smear it on my cramping quads. I sacrificed one finger and continued running with my right pointer finger burning and freezing at the same time. I tried to focus on that one finger and shut out all the other pain in my body.
At mile 20 my dad called me said that he and my mom would see me at mile 23. I was thrilled, I told myself I only had to make it to them. When I saw them I wanted to cry. I ran over to them and hugged them. They were the first people I had talked to since mile 6 when Jadon and Adam ran on ahead of me. They told me they would see me at the finish line so know I had to keep running. My new incentive for the last 3.2 miles was seeing Jadon and eating a muffin. I had already eaten 2 power bars, 1 package of power blocks and drank tons of Gatorade and I was sick of running food and ready for a muffin. I don't know why that is what I craved but it was. At mile 24 I ran through the legs of a man on stilts ( I really did, I wasn't hallucinating ) And at mile 25 I got a text from Jadon telling me he had finished. The last mile was the worst. My other knee started to hurt, along with every other square inch of my body. And the last mile was lined with people cheering which meant that I had to keep running. I really just wanted to tell them all to leave me alone in my own agony. After 4 hours and 46 minutes I crossed the finish line with Jadon waiting right on the other side to hug me. Even then it was very surreal. I hurt everywhere, proof that I'd finished, but still it all became a blur. I was congratulated by my parents and Adam and then I went to look for the muffins. THERE WEREN'T ANY!!! All they had were bananas, yogurt and chocolate milk. I think all those 1/2 marathon runners must have eaten them before I got there. Those stinkers. Oh, well I was done. After lunch with my parents and buying a muffin at a bakery we headed back to Kemmerer. Now it's Tuesday and my sore muscles are still reminding me of reality of running 26.2 miles. It's a satisfying feeling though. So, there it is I ran my first marathon, with an injured knee and because of that God gets all the glory. Thankyou Jesus!


THERE WILL BE MORE PICTURES COMING!