The Marathon!

It has been way too long since my last post. For this I apologize. Thanks for the forgiveness.

I am excited to report that I ran a marathon this past weekend. The following is the story of how those events around that event that transpired:

Thursday October 4th, 2007

I was getting very excited to run the Marathon. As I was finishing up work for the day, I decided to make a trip to Home Depot (I needed a new toilet seat, to replace the crappy wood one that came with my new bathroom, in the house we moved to). To my dismay the incredible VW Jetta that I own would not start. For the full details behind the rocky relationship that I have with my vehicle, please see this previous post here.

I quickly went into a frantic panic. In my panic I remembered that my friends Julia and Randy were planning on driving to Salt Lake City that night. I called them and luckily they hadn't left yet. I had 5 minutes to pack which resulted in me forgetting to pack underwear, but I was on my way to St. George.

The fun continues . . . It is 2 in the AM and I am driving and conversing with Julia while Randy is snoozing. Our conversation is around how I never have seen someone get pulled over in the middle of the night. Well that was the wrong conversation to have, because literally minutes after those words left my mouth I am getting pulled over. Thank goodness the Moapa Tribal Police were making sure their 10 mile stretch of 1-15 was safe during the middle of the night. The experience did help us learn just how unorganized Randy is. He does have his last 10 years of car registration and insurance information in his glove box though. Unfortunately with all of that information he some how managed to not have a current insurance card. Go figure.

Randy and Julia dropped me off at sman9 and Allison's house to slumber that night. The rest of the trip was very enjoyable including the 26.2 mile run. I decided that it would be fun to run with my Dad and sister Sydney since it was her first marathon. Sydney did great and came in 20 minutes faster than even our most optimistic projection!

Here are some pics:

The starting line after taking a bus up the canyon. It was 40 degrees up there. Everyone from the FC who ran the race. Go 7 Habits!
It was really cold at the start!

The home stretch before the finish line.

Not quite sure what happened to my banner, but my Mom told me that she was proud
of me too, and that she still thinks I am handsome.

We all won medals. We are amazing!

The sherpa demonstrates how to avoid bloody nipples.

I would like to give some shout-outs to those who made my marathon possible:

1. To Melanie for risking her horrible joints and going on most of my long runs with me
2. To Julia for running with me for a cure for Aids as my warm-up race
3. To Randy for giving me transportation to and from the race
4. To Spencer and Allison for giving me shelter
5. To Sydney for being the inspiration behind this race
6. And to the sherpa (my father) for paying for the race, running with my water and goo, purchasing my vaseline and wet-wipes for the pre-race lube-up, and singing Neil Diamond to me at Mile 13.