why oh why?

i've decided that running a marathon is just like childbirth. dang, it's painful. and you think as you are doing it, "why do i do this again? this is going to be my last marathon for a LONG time." and then, i swear, soon after you finish, you're planning your next race. well, maybe most people don't plan to have another baby right after they deliver one, but it's so true... you forget the pain and, therefore, deliver yet another marathon... er, i mean, child... sometime later down the road. i'm glad i forget the pain, though, because i sure love my babies and i sure love to run races, of all distances.

i ran the salt lake city marathon this last weekend with my darling husband, ben, and despite the pain and agony of it all, i totally had a blast. this was ben's first marathon and he worked it like a champ. i'm so proud of you ben! and this is the first time i've run a marathon with someone... i've always been alone. i liked having company... a lot. the time goes by way faster and just having someone by my side, even though he doesn't talk much (my silly husband thinks it's weird to talk when you run), helped me to work harder than i think i would have worked had i been by myself. i had originally set out at the beginning of my training to get a PR by beating my time of 4:11 from the st. george marathon. ya, didn't happen. i was quite lazy with training this time around. i missed about half of my long runs and quite a few of my weekday runs as well. so, before i ran the race i decided that if i could beat my time of 4:19 from the ogden marathon, i would be pleased with my performance. and i did. ben and i came in at 4:16. it was hard though...

after the course split off from the half-marathoners, we had this wicked head wind blowing straight at us as we headed south down to holladay. maren, lindsey, julia, did you girls have that head wind? it was tough. we literally had to just duck our heads and push into it. and then there was the altitude. i was just so tired for the first half of the race. but after we turned and started heading back up north, we had a tail wind working with us. i've never felt anything like that before... there were these huge gusts of wind so strong, it was literally pushing me faster than my body wanted to go. it helped get us to the finish line faster, though, thankfully.

and there, at the finish line, was all of our wonderful family. what a great feeling to be finishing something so challenging that you've been working your tush off on for the last four hours and to see your family going crazy for you! it was awesome. my parents, were there and my sisters, hailey and alexis. ben's sister, kadi, and ben's brother and his wife, doug and jackie, were there. and you can see my sister, morgan, and her husband, nate, with their hands in the air for us.

and seeing our precious little boys... that was the best.

so which marathon next?! like i said... marathons, childbirth... you totally forget the pain. :)