The finish line

Darrin, Darcy & Kendra (my BEST training partner)

The start of the race I felt there were lots of odds stacked against me. We got into St George very late, and stayed up even later visiting with our awesome friends The Poultons, then stayed up even later listening to our girls play. I prayed fervently that night that regardless of the hour we were going to bed, that I would have the energy and strength to run a good race. I woke up completely refreshed, no sick stomach, no stiff neck, I felt great!

The weather was beautiful, a little chilly, but you want that when you are going to run. We met up with Kendra, got our numbers and took the only pics for the day (I didn't have someone to take pics at the finish). Then loaded on the bus. Being bussed to the top is a little discouraging, I could swear that we had driven at least 30 miles by the time the bus stopped, I seriously tried hard not to think about the fact that we had to run all the way back. After about an hour of waiting the race began.

I kept thinking about my friend Debbie and how on her last run she loved every minute of it and so I was trying my best to be enjoying it, and for the most part I did. Darrin was AMAZING, he pushed and motivated me through the entire 3 miles of uphill that I thought was going to kill me. He was giving high-fives, counting people we passed, and of course making jokes along the way. At that point all I could do was look down and focus (if I looked up, I saw how far and high the hill was).

The rest of the course was either up hill or down hill, I don't think there was one flat section. Now, where we have been running it's pretty flat, so this was a definite difference. We persevered regardless, I felt pushed the entire way. It definitely felt like a race day, not a leisure run at all. I think that really helped though, because it made it more real that this is what I had worked for.

As we entered the stadium for the last stretch, I saw the clock. My time goal had been to finish under 2 hours, the clock read 1:59:20. We sprinted to the end, and finished at 1:59:38.

I just want to thank Kendra and Darrin for allowing themselves to be sucked into my dream, and making it there own, while pushing and motivating me along the way.

WE DID IT!!!!!