My 1st Marathon - St. George - 10/3/09

I can't believe it is over. It has been such a long journey, and one that I didn't know if it would ever end. As many of you know, my mom was pulled off at mile 23 of the St. George marathon last year to find out about Que's passing. This year, the race was going to be on the actual anniversary of his death and my mom was determined to run it still. I knew that it would be hard for her and I didn't want her to do it along. So even though I had no desire to do a marathon at this stage in my life, I entered the lottery for the race the last day you could and I ended up getting in. So, the training began. I kept it a secret and told my mom on what would have been Que's 18th birthday back in August. Well, the day finally came and I am so glad I did it.


I couldn't sleep the night before. Way more nervous than I expected to be. I got in bed at 8:15 only to lay there and finally fall asleep a little before midnight. Got up at 4:15 to nurse Easton and headed to the race at 5:00. It was freezing at the starting line, but my mom had me prepared and it wasn't too bad.


We ran in the dark for the first 2-3 miles and it took a while to warm up. The race went really well and I was very proud of my mom. It was definitely an emotional run and I know difficult for my mom. I know Que was with us.

When it started really getting tough, my brother Jordan was running up a hill towards us and started running with us. A little more down the road, Lindsey and my dad started running with us. We were together. We were all behind my mom and we were going to finish this year long journey. Then just another mile down the road was Mitch, my boys, Josie, Micah, Beck, Shauna & Angie and their families cheering us on.

At mile 24 I started cramping really bad up by my hips. I was in a lot of pain. It was a rough two miles, but we finally finished with a time of 4:11. It was over. Thank goodness.

Thank you to everyone for their support. It took a lot of effort from family members and friends to get me here. Mitch was so supportive and never (ok, not very often) grumbled as I left him with the kids almost every morning to train. I had friends that trained with me and watched my kids. My family was there every step of the way. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I don't have a lot of pictures, but I know others took pictures, I just have to get them from them. In the meantime, here are a few.

I found these shirts at Old Navy the night before the race.
There I am running in the blue. Lindsey is behind me.
My dad is the one with his shirt off (lovely father), and my mom is next to him in the black.

The whole clan. We miss Que. But I know he was with us.