Called to ....Ride?

While visiting my mom in Utah, she had a bike race that she was participating in. She invited me to do it with her, which I very enthusiastically agreed to... don't worry, it was only a 100 mile race.

The evening before the race I picked up my race packet. Sort of joking, I challenged Reagan, my brother, to do it with us. To my surprise, he kept asking questions, seriously interested. Before I knew what was going on, he was agreeing to bike the race with us!

He told us that he did a lot of biking on his mission (which he got back from last summer), and that that was the only time he ever biked. Then somehow he got the crazy idea for what he was going to wear for the race.

Yep, you guessed it....

MISSIONARY STYLE

He wore his slacks, white shirt, and tie for the race!

The race was a lot of fun.... but really difficult. The hills were KILLERS. And the worst part was that when we did our Palmyra to Kirtland trek, we would ride down a hill then immediately go up the next hill, allowing the momentum help you up the hill. In Utah you have to go from going flat to uphill, then you reach the top and coast down.

We started the race an hour late, but that really wasn't much of a problem. It was fun to hang out with Reagan and my mom. My mom kicked our trash, it was a little embarrassing. Reagan did so awesome. I could not believe that he was doing the race. There were a lot of tough spots, yet he kept on going.Everyone should do something physically difficult and demanding every once in awhile. It really brings out your raw emotions. You are challenged to a point you think you will break, but you keep going. You think about the people in your life, and feel so much love for them. You see the big picture, rather than the nit-picky little things.

As we were biking it started raining, hard. Of course being paranoid, my dad jumped into the car in search for us, to make sure we were okay. He tried to get us to quit, but finally agreed to meet us at the 75 mile mark and see if we want to still continue.

Even though I was tired, sore, and wet, I was feeling great. But as I was going down the last big hill before mile 75, I kept thinking about my kids, especially Grant. I missed them and felt badly that I hadn't seen them all day. The race was taking a lot longer than I expected, and I just hate being away from them. I had decided that regardless if my mom and Reagan continued on, my kids needed me more than I needed to finish the race.

As I was reaching the destination, my dad pulled up to me. He said, "You need to come look at Willliam....he got hurt".

That officially ended our race. My boy needed me.

Reagan really wanted to continue to finish the race, even though he was soaking wet in his slacks. I could not believe his determination. I can't believe he went that far! He wants to complete another 100 mile race. My mom's friend picked up the finishing pins for us, but since the pins say "100", Reagan crossed the "100" out and using a marker wrote in "75". At least he's honest. Wasn't our ride beautiful?