Quote

So I found this quote about running a marathon and thought it was just too funny.

At mile 20 I thought I was dead
At mile 22 I wished I was dead
At mile 24 I knew I was dead
At mile 26.2 I knew I had become to tough to kill

Ogden Marathon

Saturday was my first ever full marathon.

Chris and I left Thursday morning when I got off work and drove to Logan, Utah to see Pat and Charity. We got in right around dinner time, and were able to hang out and visit. When we woke up the next morning we all went out to breakfast and then for a quick (flat) hike along the river. I was hoping the little hike would get my lungs use to the 3000 foot in elevation we gained coming from Nebraska.

After the hike Chris and I headed to Ogden to meet up with Lynn, Kerry, Amber, and Zeb. We then took off to the expo to pick up our packets and walked around town a bit. For dinner, Anna, her mom Joyce, Kelly, Nick and Nick's daughter also met up with us.

Anna has been a great supporter of all my races and has made all the ones physically possible for her to go to, so I was very excited to have her there, plus everyone else for support (though I still personally don't think races are all that exciting to watch).

As usual with my switch from working nights to my days off, I woke up race morning at 1:30 and never went back to sleep. I had to get up at 3:45 anyway to catch the bus to the start of the race at 4:45, but I still would have liked the extra 2 hours of sleep.

The race started at 7 am and it was freezing, by the time we started running I could not feel either of my feet or hands. However by mile 2 the sun was up and the temperature kept on rising.

Amber and I ran together for most of the race, and that was nice. We had a good time talking through most of the first half, and counting how many people we saw relieving themselves along side the course (12). At the half way mark we were cheered on by Lynn, Chris, Zeb, Pat and Charity. (Picture on the left is at the half way point). By mile 18 my quads started getting pretty tight, and by mile 20 I was really hurting. I stopped twice trying to stretch them out. By mile 24 I was just trying to run for a minute walk for a minute. I could not even run down the little down hill parts of the course.

Kerry saw me a the end and told me to run, I started to pick up the pace pretty good, until I realized the finish line was further away then I thought. I heard someone scream my name and I started to cry because I hurt so bad and just wanted to be done. Well that threw me into such a loud asthma attack I heard spectators wonder if I was okay. I was afraid they were going to pull me out of the race the last 20 yards. I was able to calm myself down enough to breath okay and cross the line. However, once I crossed, I started to cry again because I was so happy I was finally done, and started the whole asthma thing again, however, this time I could not control it. I have never had an attack so bad. I had ran with my inhaler just in case I needed it with the elevation gain, but could get no breaths in so taking it was impossible. The volunteers basically knocked down one of the side fences so the medics could get to me right away. Luckily by the time they got me in the tent and sitting down, I had calmed down enough and was able to take my inhaler.

After a few minutes for me to embarrassingly convince them i was fine they let me go and find everyone else. At that point I never wanted to run a marathon again...today I am already looking up to see what my next one could be. I don't think not being able to run 3 weeks prior to the race helped at all. The course was beautiful and mostly a gradual downhill, but i am not use to any type of hill at the moment. I know that I gave everything I had on the course, but would be interested to see how I could do with healthy legs. I don't think I am going to become some big marathoner, I am still completely happy with my halfs, but I would like to finish a marathon on a good note, and not wishing to die.

Kerry ran a PR in 3 hours 48 minutes (20 minutes faster than his first).

Both Amber and I also got PRs (since it was our first;)

Amber ran in 4 hours 44 minutes and I came in at 4 hours 53 minutes.

Lynn also got a PR for her 5K race and came in at 30 minutes....this is also extremely impressive b/c she has not been allowed to run for over a month now due to back and hip problems.

Me at the finishAmber and IOur cheering groupA much needed massage at the end

My shoes and metal

A necklace Lynn surprised me with for finishing....THANKS!!!

Workout Cats

So Chris and I still do some of our exercises in the house and both the cats love to partake.
Lily loves to get in when I do my yoga. She continuously tries to jump and sit on my leg or back, depending on what pose I am doing.
Then the other day Chris and I were doing sit ups and Maggie sat down right in between us and tried a few herself...

Lincoln

This past weekend I was suppose to run the Lincoln half marathon. However, after my 22 miler the week before, my knee/hip/thigh had started to bother me. I even took a couple days off of all exercise, but the pain increased! After getting in trouble with my my dad and Chris, I finally agreed to go and see the doctor. Turns out my IT band is the culprit and was pretty inflamed. The doctor also said if there was no way to convince me not to run the full marathon in Utah on the 16th, then I needed to switch to cross training and not run Lincoln.
I was quite devastated. Last year I had so much fun running Lincoln and even got a PR. I was excited to see how well I could do this year, especially since the 13.1 miles would have seemed like nothing. However, Ogden has been my main goal this entire year and I never would have forgiven myself if I ran in Lincoln and really screwed something up that would have prevented me from running in Ogden.
But it was still a hard decision. Not only that, but Chris' mom and John came down to Kearney that Thursday. They were both so excited to see me run, and I felt bad telling them I decided to not go through with it. They both understood, but it would have been fun to have them cheering me on also.
With them in town we decided we would still head up to Lincoln for some shopping and good food (that and I at least wanted my free t-shirt). Both Chris and I truly enjoy going to Lincoln, so it was nice to be able to take them around and show them our favorite places to eat and walk around downtown. By the end of the night, though, I was glad I would not be running the following day as my leg kept getting worse the more we walked.
It was so nice to have family come and visit again, and while Chris and I decised our house is a little small for entertaining guests for too long, we were both sad to say good-bye to Jody and John.