St. George Marathon

I did it!!! I ran a marathon! My legs are killing me, and I still can't walk... but that is besides the point. :)

Dallin, my dad and I flew from Portland to Vegas on Friday October 2nd. We drove around the strip, so I could see the crazy hotels, and then stopped at the Vegas Temple before driving down to St. George.

We checked in to the hotel, relaxed, went to the race expo to get our bibs and then met up with Branden, Kaylee and the rest of the Brooks family for a pasta feed dinner. We finished the evening winding down and watching the BYU game. Go Cougs! (I was seriously stressing out at this point, I hadn't run more than 3 miles in over a month and a half (some days I couldn't even walk Kylie to the park) because my knees have some injuries right now. I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish the race in the morning.)

Saturday was race day. I had to wake up at 3:30 to pump (I will never do another long race while nursing...) And then dad and I had a bagel for breakfast and hopped on the hotel's bus that took us to the loading station. We got in line, and not too long after were on our way on school buses up to the starting line.

It was freezing, but they had fires and mylar blankets for all the racers.

The race started at 6:45am. I've never seen so many people (or porta-potties) in one place. It was madness. Dad and the Brooks took off, but Branden stuck with me. We didn't even cross the starting line until 20 minutes after the race started, and it took another 5 minutes or so before we could start running.

Go Dad, go!

This is how far back we started from the starting line...

The course was gorgeous. Honestly, most of the time I was thinking about how bad my knees were hurting, but when I did remember to look around, it was amazing. Branden ran with me for the first 16 miles, and then I told him to take off. I could tell he had a lot more in him, and I was just holding him back at that point. I took the last 10 miles at a pretty slow pace, at times I wanted to walk but it actually hurt worse to walk then run, so I just kept jogging. The times when my legs felt best were during the uphills. It felt good to finally pass a few people. :) I finished the race in 5.5 hours. Over an hour and a half slower than the time I was shooting for originally, but considering everything I've been dealing with the last few months, I'm proud of that time and glad no one had to take me off the course on a stretcher. Everyone else had finished 2-3 hours before me, so they all were pretty refreshed by the time I finished. Ya'll are awesome!! Dad told me how he got worried every time an ambulance went by him on the course that they were coming back for me. HA!

I started crying when I saw Dallin and my dad cheering for me at the end, who knew marathons could be so emotional. I got my medal and a chocolate milk and it was all worth it. :) I also got a hug from a runner I had met on the course, that was his 388th marathon (one every month for 20 years) he was so proud of me for finishing. :)

The rest of the trip we did a lot of resting, stretching, wobbling around, seeing the St. George temple, and eating whatever we wanted. It was fabulous.