Half Marathon

(This post is long and better pictures are to come)
At the beginning of this year, my sister Kate called me and told me she wanted to run a marathon with my other sister Richelle. They have been wanting to run one since they each ran in half marathons. Each time they talked about this, I would think 'There is no way I would ever want to run that far.' I just couldn't imagine that it would even be fun. It made me so nervous to even think about doing it, but I tried. After a couple days, I told her I would just start the training with her and decide whether I would do a half or full, but I knew I wanted to do one or the other.

I started training and it wasn't too bad, but then it gradually started getting harder. I kept going back and forth about it, because I felt like if I stayed focused on the training, I could handle the full marathon, but it scared me to even think about it. I ended up deciding to sign up for the half, and felt a lot more at peace. Matt was going to be in Utah for the week before the race, and made the decision to stay and run the half with me. I was relieved to have someone there with me on race day!

The training took a huge time commitment! I really ended up enjoying it, and it gave me a lot of fulfillment to be doing something just for me. With four crazy kids running around, I was excited to get a break from my busy schedule! I could have never done this without my awesome husband, mom, and mother-in-law! They were so supportive the entire time I was training and I am so grateful for them!

On race day, I was so nervous! Matt and I started out pretty fast, but had to stop at four miles for a potty break. We waited in that line for what seemed like forever! Then at about mile 10, we both started to hurt and slowed down a lot. At the final stretch, Matt told me to go ahead if I felt like I could! He really pushed me to finish strong! I cannot even describe the amazing feeling I had! It was awesome and I can't wait to do it again!