irunlikeagirl

A lady was holding up a sign that read, "You all are CRaZY!!". I have to say that I agree.

Yesterday Melissa and I ran the Akron Half Marathon. Now, let me remind you of some of my more recent runs:

Huron Half Marathon: May 2, 2009
Melissa and I just wanted to "see" if we could do it. I did it....barely. I had to walk the last two or three miles. But hey, with less than 50 people running in the entire race, I did finish third in my age division!!!

Ogden Utah Half Marathon: May 16, 2009
I was visiting my family in Utah. The night before I'm out to dinner with my family. My mom is planning on running the Ogden Marathon (the one I ran three years ago) the next morning. My sister-in-law turns to me and says "I'll run the half if you'll run it". So, being the crazy people we are, we ran it. Again I had a difficult time the last couple of miles and had to walk. I don't know what my time was....but I'm sure it was terrible!!!

North Coast Challenge 5 Mile Run: September 5, 2009
Ran the 5 mile race in under 45 minutes. Averaged less than a 9 minute mile. (This is awesome for me). Very good run except for the fact that my friend's husband broke his foot while I was running next to them and that I had worn Mikey's bib for the children's fun run instead of my own.

Melissa and I have been running together for the past couple of months. We run together only once a week and separately the rest. We both felt very prepared for this race, especially compared to our Huron experience. On our drive to Akron we were silently contemplating the task ahead....and trying to not talk so that we could have more to talk about during the race. That left poor Nate, Melissa's husband, to do all the talking, yep he had a great time.

I had never run in such a big race before. There were thousands of people. The start line was in the middle of downtown with music blaring, and announcer talking, and people all trying to stretch and warm up. The spirit of the race was awesome. The excitement was in the air. I felt unworthy to be within the crowd for all around us were men and women who had worked so hard to train for this run. You could feel and understand the sacrifices people had made and the enduring strength they had. Before we knew it, the time for the race to begin had come.

The run was great, I felt great. I felt light on my feet and very few aches throughout my body. Talking with Melissa was going very well. Our topics of conversation always differ, sometimes we'll talk about stupid nonessential things, then other times we talk about deep, meaningful things, sharing our testimonies with eachother. All this occurs during the same run, and the race was no different.

Around mile three I saw Todd on the side with the four boys. I knew he was coming, but knowing how difficult it is to get the kids ready and out I didn't know when he would make it. My boys are such a source of strength to me. I ran by them and waved to each of them. They all were so excited to see me and yell for me.

The night before I was putting the boys to bed and Roger had volunteered to say our family prayer. Without any prompting from me, he had said, "Bless Mommy in her long, long run and bless that we will drive home safely". It's no wonder I get strength from their pure faith.

The miles went by quickly as Melissa and I talked. Melissa has been having problems with her foot, fortunately it wasn't bothering her too much, unfortunately her back was.

Around mile 8 we saw Nate, Todd and the boys all together cheering us on. Fortunately for Todd he got connected with Nate who helped him with the boys. Again it was so awesome to see the boys. I stepped out for a moment to give each of my boys a kiss. They had the sweetest looks on their faces. They were all so excited for me and were cheering me on. After this I plugged in my headphones and started pounding along.

The end of the race led us downtown and into a stadium. The streets were lined with people yelling and cheering, which is so awesome and touching. Then I went down a ramp and into the stadium. The stadium was filled with people yelling and cheering and the finish line was only 100 meters away (versus the 300 meters that Huron had at the end). I picked up speed and sprinted to the finish. My time: 2:21 . I was thrilled, and really felt as though I could've run more. When I was picking up some snacks afterwards I had a lady comment that I didn't look like I just ran.
The weather, that had been threatening rain all morning, held off until just after Melissa and I finished, which we were grateful for.

Afterwards Todd told me, "I am so amazed by you". I was thinking that I was pretty amazed too at my run, and with how great I felt along with it but then he said, "It was so hard getting the boys up and ready and into the car.....I just don't know how you do it day after day". Ya, I guess that's pretty difficult, but I'm use to it now.

On the way home I remembered that it was Free Museum Day and that I had wanted to take the boys to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaur bones (they're a little obsessed with dinosaurs). So, after going home for a quick shower and bite of food, we went to the museum and met up with the Kirkhams there.

The kids loved the museum, and LOVED the dinosaur bones. I was really glad that we went.
I was really impressed with my recovery. I felt pretty good, and just like anytime I take my kids to a place like the museum I wanted to sit whenever I could. We even came home and had a great dinner that I prepared.

But just as I was finishing dinner I was feeling the pain. My dear husband told me to run upstairs to take a bath and get some rest before going to the Relief Society Broadcast. I did this, but unfortunately fell asleep until just after 8:00 PM. Oh well, good thing it was on the internet, I'm not superwoman, you know.