Top Of Utah Marathon...#3

 September 21, 2013 I finished running my 3rd marathon up on Logan, UT: Top of Utah. Earlier this summer I wanted to sign up for a marathon.  I made a goal with myself to run a marathon after each kid.  I knew I needed to get one done soon before I lost motivation.  I not sure what my selling point was, but I somehow convinced my very good friend Annie to run with me.  I was also able to convince another friend Kristy to run with us, but she got hurt running another race, and had to back out.  She was going to try the last few weeks and run part way with us, but then decided last minute to not run it at all. :(

But Annie and I were perfect running partners.  We ran most of our long Saturday runs together, we just missed a few because of either her or I going out of town.  We ran at the same pace, and filled the time talking the whole way.

The Friday before the race we drove up to Logan in my car.  We picked up our race packet and then headed to dinner and carbo-loaded!....all you can eat pasta at Olive Garden!  Then went shopping before heading up to Ben's Aunt Maggie and Uncle Allan's house.  They were so cute and it was great to be able to visit with them a little.  We stayed with them that night, and it was great because they lived only a few minutes from where we needed to be in the morning.

We headed to the finish line about 5am.  We had to catch a bus to take us up to the start at the top of the canyon.  It was FREEZING up the canyon at 6am!!  But they had a warming tent to help prevent hypothermia!  We planned on running our own race, and not letting the fast people get to us....thinking we needed to go faster. We stayed at our training pace the whole time.  We only stopped at the water stations so we could drink, but as soon as the cups were in the trash, we ran.  But other than that, we ran the whole way!!! Our husbands drove together, and Regan drove (Annie's husband).  They had all 6 of our kids in their car!  They arrived a little early, and there was a spot toward the end where we were a block or so away from the finish, but still had one last little loop before we actually finished.  So they met us there to cheer us on.  Everyone talks about the 20 mile wall you hit.  But knowing that we would see them at mile 24 helped us keep going!  Our cute little cheering section!

 Ben took this of me at mile 24, coming over to see everyone!  ....I am still standing!

 Annie and I approaching the finish!

 FINISHER!!

 This was my 3rd and Annie's first!  So proud of us! Plus it really was fun!  I know that sounds weird, but when you have a good friend to do it with to help the time pass, and who is committed to helping push you forward, it makes all the difference!

 And here are my 3 crazies!!  I am so grateful to Ben for brining all the kids up to the finish!! And for watching the kids every Saturday morning so I could go running!

 And the results! .....

 And thanks to Emily, my SIL, for the shoe wings!  Every runner needs some wings on their shoes to help them fly!

The rest of the weekend was just as crazy.  On the way home from Logan, we stopped for lunch and then headed down to Ogden to visit with Ben's grandparents.  We were there for a short visit before we headed back home so I could shower and grab our stuff for our friends party.  They used to live up by us, but moved down south an hour.  They now live on a farm with horses and lots of land.  They had their annual Fall Festival, complete with Dinner, Dancing, Horse rides, and fun games. This year it landed on the big BYU v. UofU football game.  So they put the game on, and it ended with the game.  But the game was a late game, and was going to end late.  So us, and 2 other families decided to stay over night.  The game was disappointing...and it may have affected me more, but I was so exhausted, I didn't really care!  But we were up until almost 2am talking before we all headed to bed.  We woke up early because the kids all woke up!  ....ate breakfast and headed home to get ready for church.  At church the girls had their primary program...they did awesome!

When we came home we all needed a good nap...we slept until 6:30p!!!!  So we had cereal for dinner, and the kids were still tired, so we put them to bed at 8p!!!  It really was a LONG but FAST weekend.