Marathon

First off I'm sorry that I've been absent for so long. I got behind, and then it too much work to play catch up. Then Kent lost all of our pictures for this year, so what fun is blogging without pictures? So I will do my best to work backwards to catch up.

Well..... this weekend was a BIG weekend for me. I ran my first (yes, I plan of doing another one) Marathon!!!! It was  an adventure!! Lot's of hard work and fun!!!! 

The marathon was held in Spearfish, SD. So north of Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills. It was so pretty!!! Kent and I were able to leave the boys with my mom and travel without them. It was the first time the the two of us were gone for a weekend without kids!

Saturday morning we work up early and headed to South Dakota. We made good time and got there in about 9 hours. We meet the Chase's ( Jen's Family) at the Expo. looked around then went and checked in at our hotel. Then went and checked out the Fish Hatchery. It was so pretty there.
People seriously have weddings there.

 The next morning we had to wake up at 3AM to get ready and be waiting for the bus that comes at 4AM to take us to the start line. I slept good and wasn't too nervous before the start of the race. Maybe because it was so cold!!! I packed a long sleeve t-shirt to wear just in case I might need it before the race, or for the first few miles. It said it was 52 degrees and the temp. that high was supposed to be in the low 80's. Perfect for running!!!! Right?!?!
WRONG!!!!! It was FREEZING cold!!!! There was ice on the grass for several hours into the run. My running partner couldn't feel her hands until mile 10!!! I don't warm up enough to take off my shirt until mile 13!!! My legs were numb for the first 8 miles. They were a dark pink color. It made it hard. Usually it takes me about 2 miles to warm up, not 8!!!
We ran down this gorgeous canyon next to this creek. It  was beautiful!!! It helped to have such wonderful scenery to look at as the miles passed. Take a look!

No... I didn't take these during the run. Kent and I drove the canyon later that day and took these pictures!
I held up pretty good until mile 20. Normally you don't go pass that during training. We did. We ran one 23 miler. After I hit mile 23 I really, really wanted to stop!!!! My wonderful running partner kept me going. I was having a love/ hate relationship with her. I hated that we got her second wind and it seemed easy to her. I loved that she kept me going and didn't let me stop!!! Her family came along between mile 20 and mile 23 several times to cheer us on!! That helped a lot!!! That last mile went on forever!!!! Several times we increased our pace thinking the finish line was just around the corner....only to be disappointed. We were excited to see the finish line and to cross it!!! Jen out sprinted me at the end. That girl has so much energy!!! Glad I run with her. She keeps me going!!!

 Coming into the finish

 Crossing the finish line. We finished in 4hr 50 min. We wanted to get some time before 4hr and 30 min and 5 hrs. We ran our 23 miles in 4 hours 45 mins. So we beat our training time!!!

 As we crossed the line we were given a medal, a long stem rose, and a lemon scented wash cloth for our face. They even had someone remove our timing chips from around our ankles. This was a women's only marathon...so every aide station was "maned" with guys wearing a tux shirt, and every porta- john was called a powder room!!!

 Notice--- no shoes!!! It felt amazing to take off my shoes after the race!!! So glad my husband supports me and let me do crazy things and watches them while I train for them. Thank you Kent!!!

After the race I had an ice bath followed with a visit to the hot tub and several laps in the pool, then the hot tub again. I tried taking a nap, but couldn't so we drove the canyon so Kent see the race course and take pictures.
That night we realized that we needed a new tire. So instead of heading out early we had to wait for Wal-mart to open so we could get  tire. Then we headed out. We stopped at Wall drug for a while,  then took a trip through the Badlands.

It was a wonderful trip. We got home 4 hours later than we planned, but it was lots of fun!!! I'm glad I challenged myself to run a marathon. I totally would do it again!!!