Ogden Marathon

I ran the Ogden marathon on May 19th.  The weather was absolutely perfect and I was just sure I could hit my goal time of 4 hours and 30 minutes. 

Things went well, really well, until somewhere in the 23rd mile.  I’m not entirely sure what happened to me, but we’ll condense it and just say I basically fell apart.  I had a meltdown of sorts.  I tend to be a bit of a headcase, and I was letting my brain win this one.  It was telling me “Stop this nonsense!  No more running!  Its stupid!”  Why oh why?????”  I was able to keep running, but I slowed down a bit and even reduced myself to a few walk breaks.  By this time my trusty running girls and I had all separated so it was just me and the road- eek!  But luckily I ran into my little brother Kevin and his wife Michelle.  They basically saved me and dragged my bum through the last 2 1/2 miles.  I was just beginning to think I was out of the woods when suddenly I wasn’t.  I couldn’t have been more than 20 yards from the finish line. I had just seen some of my family cheerily waving from the sidelines (bringing me a huge amount of joy!)  Suddenly, my legs literally collapsed.  I could feel myself going down like it was slow motion.  I so badly didn’t want to hit the pavement!  At that very moment, Kevin and Michelle grabbed onto my arms and saved me from utter humiliation.  They carried me a little while until I felt like I could safely let go, and crossed the finish line barely on my feet in four hours, thirty six minutes.  Ooooohhh……so close!

After crossing I immediately realized things were not good.  I had to go lay on the grass for quite some time and I thought I might die.  ( I know to all you non-runners out there, this is just fuel to add to your “why do you do that crap!” fire, but I gotta lay it all out there just the same).  Anyway- suffice it to say it wasn’t my best after-race experience.  However, I still get to walk away with a PR and now I think I can call myself a “marathoner”, with two marathons under my belt. 

It was so fun once again training with my friends, and so great to see Amberlee complete her first marathon! She rocked it!

Ok, well sorry for all the info, but I had to journal it for my own memory if for nothing else.

Jason, Liz, Marty, Lisa, Michelle, me, Kev, Amberlee

This was when I was still in my dark place……

my runnin brotha’s

My s.i.l. Meg & momma Nancy who ran the 1/2.  Thanks for all the great pics Meg & for sticking around to cheer for me!