Boston or Bust

This is the first picture Isaac took of me during the race.
Giving Jax five. There is nothing greater than seeing my little cheerleaders during a race.
My final time on my stopwatch.
The after math of my feet. I missed the awesome blister that was on my toe.
This was past mile 20. I rarely look like this beyond mile 20. It was a good day!

I have had a personal goal for a long time. This goal was to qualify for the Boston marathon. It has always felt so close yet out of reach. For my age group I have to run the 26.2 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes or less. My very first marathon I ran the fall after I graduated from high school and my last track season. I felt like I was in amazing shape. I ran it in 3 hours and 45 minutes. I felt great about it being my first race, but a little disappointed since I was just 5 minutes off of qualifying. Well I ran 3 more marathons in the next few years and my times got slower (not by a lot), but not closer to qualifying but farther away. Then I moved to AZ and had two babies and didn't run any marathons for 5 whole years. I missed it like crazy, but it just didn't happen. So when we moved back I sort of needed something to distract me from what was happening or not happening in our lives. I had heard about the Bear Lake marathon and figured that would be fun. Running around a beautiful lake. I was a bit mistaken, fun is not what I would call it. Being able to see how far you need to run the whole 26.2 miles is not fun and flat races are not really for me! But I did finish and felt good about being back in the marathon swing of things. I was 15 minutes away from qualifying though and figured I just might have to grow (get older and have the time get slower) into qualifying for the Boston marathon. Well this year rolled around and I felt like I wanted to do another big race. I looked around and finally decided to try the South Jordan marathon. This was the first year for it and I thought it would be fun to do a race the first year ever. Well the day was September 25th. I trained hard, much of the training during the week being done on a treadmill. Also much of my training was done alone. Every once in awhile I did have company. So the week before the race I was SO nervous because I felt like I was as fit as I have ever been. I felt like my legs were fast and ready to run. Also the thing that made me the most nervous was that I felt like I just might be able to accomplish this goal from my bucket list. The morning of the race was pretty crazy. There were quite the issues with the buses and many of the racers didn't get on a bus until almost the time for the race to begin. When we got to the start line they had already started the race. Thank heavens for time chips. I didn't wait long to take off. I had a lot of energy and was ready to see what I could do. I was a little shocked to see that my first few miles I ran in 7 minutes or less, but felt amazing doing it so just kept running how I felt. I didn't have any cheerleaders until almost mile 9. Just before mile 8 Isaac called me wondering where I was and I told him. He was watching for me at mile 6. Guess I was moving pretty fast. I loved having my amazing coach there to encourage me along with the two cutest cheerleaders ever! I ate more energy stuff then I normally make myself and I think that made all of the difference. I waited, waited, waited to hit the wall, but the wall never came this time. I felt amazing (okay mile 25 to the finish was pretty tough)! I was so happy to have my running friend, Lindsey join me for the last 5 miles or so. It was so nice to have her help and encourage me in that difficult time. I remember looking at my watch one time and thinking I am gonna make it. It was such a thrilling thing and I felt so happy from then on out. With the bus confusion the time clock said 4 hours plus when I actually came across the finish line. The official time was actually 3 hours and 37 minutes! I did it! It felt like a dream. I still feel on cloud nine because I did it! Also I finished pretty good in the race itself. From what I can gather my qualification is good for 2 years.
P.S. So, it took me a while to post this and two weeks after running the full marathon I ran a half. It went well also. It was here in Layton. I ran it in 1 hour and 39 minutes. I love long distance running!