Half Marathon

I ran my first half Marathon today. I have never enjoyed running, it's always been my least favorite form of exercise but after I had Talli I decided I was going to conquer running. I have been saying for a few years that I wanted to run a Marathon but I never actually believed I could or would do it. But now I believe I can. I started running this summer with David when he was off for his school break (about 3 months after I had Talli) and I could barely do a mile without having to stop and walk. Then I finally was able to increase to four miles and I was maintaining that pretty well. Then for some odd reason Jadie and I ran 10 miles one day while we were camping on the beach in California. And that day helped me to over come the mental aspect of running. And let me just say running is all MENTAL! After I ran with Jadie that day I truly believed that I could run. So I kept at it and I finally got up to 7 miles on my treadmill. But a treadmill is BoRiNg! So I hooked up with one of my friends here that is a runner and we started running three days a week together. She was training for a ragnar and I was training for a half marathon. I decided I wanted to run a half before I go for the full. Two weeks ago was Hailey's ragnar and she asked if I would pace her on her night run so she wouldn't have to go by herself. Just in case it didn't work out I did my normal 7 mile run and then ran an additional 4.2 miles with Hailey. And it felt awesome. On Dutch's birthday we ran our longest run of 10.52 miles and I felt great afterward and even felt like I could have kept going. So I was pretty pumped for my half, knowing that I could actually do it. So yesterday after school, David, the kids and I drove up to St. George for the big race. We got a motel and had a fun time as a family hanging out Friday night in St. George. We went out to dinner and then took the kids to see the temple. Maylee is in love with temple, every time we ask her where she is going to get married she says, in her darling little voice, "In the Temple!" She loved the St. George Temple and bawled when it was time to go.

At dinner: Dutch took this picture and I have to say he didn't a good job! We finally had to separate the kids after they got a little to excited at dinner. St. George Temple The kids loved staying in a motel. Probably because they were allowed to jump on the beds. Although it definitely confirmed that Maylee is not ready for a big girl bed. She would not stay in bed, she kept getting up and looking out the window and being well... Maylee! I finally got her to go to sleep by scratching her back and playing with her hair. But then she slept in bed with me, while David got to sleep with Dutch. Maylee is still a rough kid to sleep with, she's all over the place, she finally fell off the bed in the middle of the night. So I didn't get the best sleep before my run, but that's life with three kids, I guess. We woke up this morning nice and early, got our room packed up and headed to the meeting place for the bus ride to the start of the trail. It was dark and cold. I said goodbye to everyone and told them I'd see them at the finish line. I told David that I would actually rather be running then staying with the kids. The two older ones were grumpy from being woken up at 5:30 in the morning. I met some people on the bus, got super excited for my run and then missed the start by a couple of minutes because the line to the bathroom was about a mile long. The run started out great. I felt great, the view was beautiful up in Snow Canyon and the energy was so high being around so many excited runners. It was a great experience and I really felt awesome the entire time. From mile 10 to 12 was a little long, I started anticipating seeing David and the kids at the finish line. When I hit mile marker 12, something lit inside of me and I was able to really push myself. It was so much fun to come running into the school, run around the track and hear and see all the people there cheering for everyone. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again. My actual time was 1:52:57 with the pace of 8:37. I was very excited about that time. The time shows 2 minutes off in the picture but that's because I started two minutes late, but lucky for me I had the chip on my shoe and was able to get the actual time from start to finish. I loved it!