Utah Valley Marathon

A few months ago I got this idea that it would be fun to run a full marathon, so I signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon – June 11th. That date: June 11th has been haunting me for weeks now, and I was really excited about this, but really anxious, nervous, and just simply scared.
I ran the Provo ½ this past August with Tiffany and Mandie and I loved it. I was sore that day but the next day my left knee hurt like crazy. Every time I’d go up the stairs or when I’d lean down to pick one of my kids up my knee would just shoot up in pain. That lasted for about 2 months, but as soon as the pain went away I started running again.
Here's the girls right before the Provo 1/2:



Tiffany and I decided we’d run the Moab ½ marathon together in March. I LOVED it. I loved the run and all, but it was just so fun to ride down with Tif, just us girls, talking and laughing the whole way down to Moab. We stayed up late talking just like we used to do when we were roomies. Oh, I love my Tif. I don’t know how I’d ever live without her. We ran and talked..and talked, and talked the entire time. We had a blast.

The next day I was so happy that nothing was really hurt. My knees didn’t hurt, and I was stoked.
So I thought it would be fun to try a full marathon. I signed up. And then I realized my 4-6 mile runs were not going to cut it; I’d need to put in some 10’s, some 12’s, and I ran one 14 mile run to get my body in check. I wanted to do an 18 and a 20, but I just couldn’t carve out enough time.
The night before the race, I got really nervous. I couldn’t sleep at all. I decided that I’d get out of bed, and find some music to put on my iPod. I found a bunch of old CD’s from highschool and college… lots of old memories. I had fun with this… I’d forgotten how much I loved NIN, a few Skid Row songs, Sugar Ray, the list goes on. It’s funny when you haven’t heard a song in a while and just like an old scent – somehow it’s linked directly to an old memory and it takes you right back to that place.
This is the night before, we drove down to Provo to pick up my bib and goodies.

I had my alarm set for 3:00 AM; I had to be in Provo by 4:00 AM since that’s when the buses would be leaving. I was in my car, singing along, getting really excited about all of this and I started seeing all the cars around me with stickers on their cars … obvious runners. It was fun to be a part of all of this. All of these cars started to pull in the Provo Town Center Mall parking lot where all buses were lined up. I parked, jumped out of my car, got in line, boarded the bus, and I was on my way. I talked to a nice man about the run and how I was so excited to run this marathon. We talked about all sorts of things and then when we got there, we stood up and he said, “Well, good luck on your half”. WHAT?? He’s kidding, right? I said, “What do you mean by that, half?”…. YEAH, I was on the WRONG bus. My heart sunk. Dropped. I wanted to crumble to the ground and throw some sort of a tantrum. I’d worked too hard for this and I wanted to run the distance.
Two girls in front of me heard what was going on. One of the girls grabbed my hand and she said, “Sweetie, come with me. We’ll get you to the top”. Oh, and she did. We found a car parked on the side of the road. Tony. He was waiting there to run with a friend. He heard my story and offered to drive me to the top. Sweet Tony. He was Tongan and had very broken English but was just the nicest person in the world and was so very kind to help me that morning.
So I got to the top and waited for about 45 minutes. Then the gun went off and we started running. About mile 6, maybe 8 … I could see Deer Creek. I love this lake and we have so many memories here. Camping, wakeboarding, having lunch on the lake. The sunrises, the sunsets. I ran all the way past it just thinking about all of these memories. I was trying to pace this so nothing hurt. I was so afraid of pulling or straining something so I was running at an easy pace. Then I hit the ½ at mile 13. Things were still good. I kept running. Mile 18: I felt great. I had a surge of energy and thought this was just awesome. Nothing hurt, I wasn’t even tired. So I figured I’d pick up the pace and just go for it. Mile 23: I had to stop and use the little girls room, and when I stepped back out everything seized up. My legs locked up and everything ached. I guess I hit the “Wall”. I’ve heard about this, but the wall SUCKED. I kept running and kept telling myself that I was almost there. It’s just around the corner. My mind started playing tricks on me. Every mile felt like 5 miles. I was so hungry, but afraid to eat their snacks because then my stomach would hurt. Those last 3.2 miles felt worse than the first 20+ miles. I hated running and swore at that moment that I’d never run again. Hated it. And then I hit mile 24, 25, hated it even more. Then I saw 26… there was hope that I’d actually make it. Then I could see the balloons, the people, the commotion up ahead. And I knew that in that huge crowd I’d see my little family waiting to run up and give me hugs. I couldn’t even wait. I tried to run faster and I gave it my all.. and the I saw Jordan.. he ran up and hugged me. Then Austin, then Jared. I gave him a quick smooch and then ran past the finish line.

Amazingly, when I passed the finish line everything started to feel better. I had a banana and some water. I got my medal and it all felt amazing. I was on cloud nine.
I drove home and could hardly keep my eyes open. I was so exhausted. I took a hot bath, took a nap, some Advil, and by 6:00 I felt great. So I wanted Jared to take me for a ride on his chopper. That’s all I wanted to do; and meet up with some of our good friends for dinner. It was a great day.

And if anyone asks me if I'll do it again, I'll tell them: absolutely.