26.2 Miles...baaaaarely

I did it!!!! I ran my very first marathon. It was quite the experience, that's for sure! Firstly, I do not recommend camping out before a marathon. Not only was I freezing and uncomfortable, but I was so nervous that I kept having to get up and go pee, I had the weirdest dreams, and I slept maybe a total of 2 hours...in the car because I was afraid Reid would keep me up. Yea, right. This was the first year that Bear Lake held this marathon, and let me tell you it was not well organized. There were NO bathrooms at the start, not good. Also, toward the end of the marathon it got really hot and so the volunteers just left cups of water out on the side of the road for us. Speaking of which, the run isn't exactly around the lake either, it was along the highway with cars flying by at 50 MPH, so when big trucks went by I had to close my eyes and hold my breath or I would get a mouth full of dust. Yucky. I am glad that I did it though. I will definitely do another one sometime, I decided I want to be a marathon runner instead of someone who has run A marathon. So, with that I have decided to do the Provo half marathon in August. I am really excited because I loved the half I did in SLC. I have pretty bad tendenitis from training for the full marathon, so this will be a good run for me. I am super excited!


I ran past our camp site, so Nate, Ben and Jess and the kids came out to support me. Look how excited I am to see them. This was about mile 18 when I was still feeling pretty good.

This was at the finish line. Kind of anti-climactic. I was VERY tired by the time this photo was taken. The last six miles were the hardest. I only walked about a mile total in the whole marathon, and it was all during those last six miles. It really ruined my time (which I am not going to post..it was bad) but my goals were to 1) finish and 2) not be last, and I did those so all is well.

These are some of the pictures Jess took. Isn't it beautiful?

Nate and I at the campsite

Reid and the Jack-attack playing peek-a-boo

Also, the Holman's happened to be there at the same time, so they stopped by with their adorable little girl, Blaine so we all got to play in the water. Of course I forgot my camera in the tent so I have no evidence of the cuteness. Anyway, it was so great to see some old Bellingham friends, and the water at Bear Lake is so shallow, so the kid-os had a good time splashing around. Side note: For more info on Blaine's cuteness, check out my link to Trevor and Kaitlyn. =)


As a final note, we had so much fun camping! It was really cold at night, so the kids ended up in our sleeping bags, but it was fun to snuggle! I just have to say that I am so grateful for everyone who helped me run this. Jess was the first one to get me back into running when I moved here, and she patiently waited for me while I tagged along on our little two mile loop. Also, Ben and Jess brought ALL of the camping gear, watched Reid, made the fire, made the tin foil dinners and put up with us for a whole weekend of chaos! They are such wonderful friends and I am so grateful for them being so generous and helpful...oh and soooo hilarious (poop stories around the camp fire, Jess?!). Secondly, Nate is the most amazing husband EVER! He always watched Reid on my long runs and encouraged me the whole way. This marathon was during finals, so I drug him along and he studied as much as he could during the trip. He is so wonderful and I love him so much for supporting me in my crazy ambitions! So, sorry this is so wordy, but I just wanted to make sure that the wonderful people in my life know that they are truly appreciated. Thanks guys!