I've been thinking about this post for a while now. During several of my long runs and races I was thinking about what got me here...how in the world did I end up running 26.2 miles? The road has been long and there have been so many people along the way who have kept me on this road.

It all starts with my freshman year of high school. I joined cross country and track because Sherry ran. I had no amazing abilities or love for running but since Sherry did it so did I. Looking back I wasn't half bad, but I didn't realize that at the time since I was always so far behind Sherry. I could run sub 6:00 min/miles and I was still 6th runner on the team. Our team took state my sophomore year and we went to Nationals which was a blast. Then Sherry graduated and I gave up running for dance. I really loved dancing and cross country wasn't as much fun without my big sister pushing me.





Then over the years at BYU I ran off and on. I would have a roommate who ran so I would take up running for a year or so to keep in shape. It was fun and a cheap and easy form of exercise. Then I really got into step aerobics and found my love for working out again. I never missed a day and was a bit psychotic about it. I was actually late for my first date with Todd because I didn't want to miss step class. I kept getting injured in step from going a bit too high impact and switched over to spin. Soon I was teaching spin and absolutely loved it.

The next thing I knew Sherry talked me into doing a triathlon. So I talked Heidi and my friend Tanya into doing it with me and we found a great training program online. It was fun and I really started to enjoy running and training for events.


Then I started my family and decided there was no better way to lose the baby weight than to sign up for another triathlon. After Luke was born I met Traci in spin class and we started training together. I've never had a more perfect training partner. She is just as crazy as I am, works her butt off, is fun, inspires me everyday to work a little harder, is the same age as I am to name a few of the reasons I love her. I could go on forever about her. Meeting Traci was a huge milestone on the road to the marathon. We've worked out for 5 years and have had 3 kids between us over the years.


In 2007 Sherry talked me into running a half-marathon. It took some serious thought because I thought that distance was crazy. But I signed up and had a great race.



Then Jill came along with a goal to do a race a month. She changed the name of the game for me and I signed up for way too many events. She also inspired me to take more pictures of my races....which in turn led to finding cuter outfits and wearing makeup and fixing my hair for races.


We added a few more members to the running crew as well as a few more goals. Another half-marathon was in the works.


So far so good....shall we try for a full marathon? Why not. We're already half way there. We signed up for St. George and didn't get in so we decided to run Top of Utah in Logan. And the training began. We kicked off our marathon training program with a 10 mile race in June. Then week after week we ran and ran and added more and more miles. Next thing you know we were running 20 miles....wow!



Next thing you know there I was at the start of a marathon. It was a long run. A long and painful run. I found out that I have more to me than I ever knew as I dug so deep inside myself to keep going. I thought of my family and friends and all the people who got me there. So many people ran with me throughout the years. My family and friends supported me. And especially Todd has supported me in being gone training or doing events.

I am so very blessed to have such an amazing group of girls to run with and to have such an inspirational big sister leading the way.

The Nu Skin summer party was at Lagoon this year. It was on Ryan's birthday so we decided to leave Claire and Sophie at home and take him with us. The boys had so much fun. Luke was the most daring of the bunch, but he was too short to go on any of the really crazy rides.

Todd took this with his phone so it isn't great quality. But if you were dying to see the finish here it is.

Oh how I love fall it's my favorite season. It might be the cool nights, wearing sweaters again, the beautiful leaves, peach season, my birthday or school being back in. All I know is that it has always been my favorite.

**A few funny things about their pictures.

• Luke has a dead tooth (he hit it hard on the wood floor when wrestling with Tayson)
• Todd fixed Luke's hair with product and the blow dryer and everything but parted it the wrong way so by the time he got to school it was a little crazy
• Sophie was a drool queen so her chin is all wet
  
• Sophie has a little tear in her eye from her cold not from crying
• If you look close you can see a bruise on Sophie's forehead from her major bonk on Tayson's bed 2 days before pictures
  

This morning Meggan (our nanny) sent me a text that she wasn't feeling well so I told her it was fine and to take a sick day. I was planning on calling into work and working from home but Todd said he would do it. Then at 4:45 pm I had someone drop by to tell me we needed to get something on the web tonight. So I called Todd to tell him I would be late and he told me that he had just made waffles for the kids for dinner. I finally got home at 7:20 pm and found all 4 kids bathed and in their PJ's watching a movie. The house was clean, the dishes done, the kids were clean and fed and happy. WOW!

It was so nice to come home from such a long day at work to such a great husband who had done it all and still had a smile on his face. Thanks Todd for being the BEST HUSBAND EVER!

I never really wanted to run one before then for some reason the awesome girls I run with decided it was time to check it off the list. So we all decided to go for it. There is no way I would have taken on a challenge like this alone. We've trained and trained and then trained some more. The official kick off the marathon training program was the beginning of June. There have been lots of aches and pains and a few injuries along the way. I have been so lucky that I managed to stay injury free. My back and hip have been doing better the past few months than they have for the last few years.

Then a few weeks before the race I was talking to Sherry on the phone and told her which weekend the race was and it happened to fall on the same day as the BYU game Brandon was coming in town for so she decided to come run with me. I was so excited when she told me and then completely beside myself when she said she was going to pace with me and help me through the race.

So Friday afternoon we headed up north. We met Sherry at the Wal-Mart in Brigham City then had dinner in Brigham City before heading over to Logan. We picked up our packets and shirts and got checked into our hotel. I didn't sleep too good but that's to be expected before such a big event. At 4:30 the alarm went off and then it was really time to go. We got ready, took pictures and headed for the bus. We got to the start about 10 minutes before the gun went off. We were in the lines for the porta potties until right before and were only at the starting line for about a minute before the gun went off. There wasn't time to stress or worry it was just time to start.




The course went down the canyon on a nice gradual hill for the first 14 miles, then wound through some farm town for the next 6 then did some crazy back and forth business through the town and neighborhoods for the last 6 miles. I felt pretty good the first half of the race and then hit a major wall right around mile 20. Sherry talked me through it and distracted me for another 2 miles then I just had to go numb to make it through the last 4 miles. I was totally talking to myself (I thought it was to myself but Sherry said she could hear me...oops). I just kept telling myself "you can do this" .... "you're almost there" ..... "one foot in front of the other" ..... "it's 4 miles - you can run 4 miles" stuff like that. The end was so hard for me because I hurt and my garmin said it was 26 miles already and I couldn't see the finish line, then it said 26.1 and then 26.2 and I still couldn't see the finish. I was starting to freak out a little then we made one final turn and I saw it about 50 meters away. At the end my garmin said 26.53 :)


I finished in 4:02:32. I couldn't believe it. I was done. Finally done. That was all I cared about was being done and seeing my best friends in the world cross that finish line. I was so happy when I saw each of them cross the line that I cheered and cried at the same time.

It was so great to have my mom and Todd cheering for me at the end. And they brought the supplies for an ice bath. Todd brought our tiny blow up pool (which has a palm tree top for shade), ice and bottles of water to fill it. It was 90% ice and the coldest ice bath I have ever taken. I only made it 3 minutes before I thought I was going to die but my legs felt a little better afterwards so it was worth it.


I can't believe how amazing it was having Sherry there to support me and run with me. I wore my fuel belt so that I would drink plenty of water (to avoid cramping) and she would take the flasks for me and then run ahead to fill them up for me so that I wouldn't have to stop. At one point (mile 18) I needed water in both flasks and thought there was an aid station just ahead so she took them and ran ahead then I realized the water wasn't until mile 19 so she ran ahead to that aid station filled them up and actually ran back to meet me. All I could say was "you've got to be kidding me" there was no way I was going to take one extra step and she ran an extra half mile for me. It was nice having her talk me through my pains and knowing that she really understood what I was feeling. I can't even explain how grateful I am for what she did for me. It was truly amazing having her run with me every step of the way. At one point she said "just imagine a rope tying you to me and me pulling you along" and she really did pull me along. My whole life I have admired and looked up to her. I couldn't ask for a better sister and she was there for me through one of the hardest things I have ever done.





There is no way I would have dreamt of doing something so big without such amazing friends and such an amazing sister. I love them all so much and it's amazing to me how much a relationship grows when there are miles and miles of road, tears, sweat, pain, and the joy of accomplishment involved.

My freshman year of High School I ran cross country. Not because I loved running only because Sherry ran. Looking back I had potential but once Sherry graduated running didn't excite me anymore. Tomorrow I'm running my first marathon and Sherry will be there with me. She said she is actually going to run with me. We've never run together in a race....I'm always behind her. I have a feeling that tomorrow might be her hardest marathon yet (and she's run Boston twice) because she'll be running for at least 4 hours if she stays with me. Even if she decides I'm too slow for her having her at the starting line and cheering me on at the end is all I need. I'm so nervous for tomorrow. But I shouldn't be because I have awesome running partners to support me and my big sister will be there with me.

So my sis-in-law pretty much rocks. Check her out.

Saturday morning I was cleaning the house after my run and I walked out front and saw Kenadi and George getting out of their car. What a fun surprise. They left a message on my parents phone that they were coming in town but since they are gone and Mark doesn't check the voice mail I didn't know. We decided to hit the Women's Expo later that day.

George, Ginger, Kenadi, Christine, Tammy (Ginger's sister) and I all headed over. It was so much fun. One of the stands had a photo booth for rentals and they were doing free pictures so we got in and took tons of fun pictures. I love that George came with all the girls too. Jeannie had a booth there and it looked fantastic. Trent's work had a booth too...but somehow we missed his booth and he wasn't there when we were. I got a sassy shirt (that I'm wearing today and have had lots of comments on).

The rest of the weekend was a blast. We played lots of werewolves, had family dinner, and hung out tons. It was so fun to spend so much time together.

Right now life just won't slow down for me thanks to Sophie. Yesterday at church she was being as wiggly as ever. She would get up and then down and then up and then down. She drove Tayson and Claire crazy while they were doing their best to sit quietly and color. Then she was standing next to me on the pew taking toys, pretzels and marshmallows from the people sitting behind us. I wasn't paying much attention to her because I was trying to listen to the talks. The next thing I know she's in the pew behind me...she jumped over the pew. Thank goodness the people behind me were paying attention and caught her. What in the world!?! I honestly cannot keep up with this little girl.

And to top off a great day at church with the kids...Tayson was so bad in Primary he got taken to Todd during the 3rd hour. UGH!

This week was school picture day. I like to take in my non-school age kids to the school so I have matching portraits with the same background on my wall. I go before school starts so I can hurry to work afterward. I was sure pictures were on Tuesday so I rushed home from spin class, jumped in the shower, made all 4 kids shower and put on their new picture outfits. On our way to school I was commenting on how not dressed up the other kids were and the closer we got the more I questioned if it was really picture day. It wasn't! Tayson saw us drive up and said he didn't want to wear his "fancy shirt" to school since it wasn't picture day so he jumped in the minivan and we hurried home to grab him a t-shirt. He made it back to school with 1 minute to spare.

Then on Wednesday we started the whole process over again and thank goodness it really was picture day this time. Luke wore the same shirt to school 2 days in a row but other than that there were no issues other than the extra stress I caused to everyone's morning on Tuesday.

Here are a couple of quick shots of the girls (who wouldn't behave for a cute picture) in their new outfits.

I'm not sure what else to call my sweet baby Sophie other than the destroying angel....she is CRAZY! A few nights ago I put Claire in the bath and went into the kitchen for less than 5 minutes to check on dinner and when I got back this is what I found. (of course at this point I grabbed my camera and my phone so I could capture the moment for my blog and hurry and put it on facebook) Claire acted like she had no idea Sophie had even crawled in so I don't think she helped her get in the tub and somehow Sophie got in without getting her hair wet. Not bad for 14 months. I pulled her out took off her soaked clothes and overfilled nasty diaper and put her right back in.

Then last night I put her in her highchair (the kind that attaches directly to the table) and gave her some food while I dished up the kids plates to cool. While I was dishing the plates Sophie stood up in her highchair (which she gets in trouble for no less than 50 times at every meal and snack) then she did some sort of cherry bomb off the side of her chair and landed flat on her back hitting her head soooooo hard. She cried for a few minutes and then when she was done Todd said "maybe that will teach her not to stand up in her highchair". I put her back in her seat so she could eat and she promptly stood up and turned around. UGH.

I swear all you ever hear at our house is "Sophie stop!" "Sophie don't do that" "Sophie!!!!" "Sophie no!"

She is so full of life and energy and I just cannot keep up with her. She must have way too big of a spirit for that tiny body to contain. Even when she was in my tummy she was in perpetual motion - she managed to tie a full knot in her cord doing flips.

The thing is...she is just so dang sweet. Full of life and energy but so dang sweet. She is always smiling (and always into something) she points and talks non-stop and is such a joy to have around. I have the feeling there will never be a dull moment when she's around.

Today I got a call from the office that Luke didn't get off the bus (2nd time this week and he's only ridden it 3 times). Apparently unless Meggan is there waving him down he doesn't know where to get off.

This reminded me of my very first time riding the school bus. In California we didn't ride the bus because we lived a few blocks away and had to walk. So when we moved to Missouri I was SO EXCITED to ride the bus. I was in 2nd grade when we moved and George, Steve, Sherry, Danny and I all went to the same school that year. My mom told us that she would pick us up from school the first day until we learned where we lived. I was so excited about my new school and friends and riding the bus that I totally forgot and got on the bus after school. I had no idea where I lived and there were a few other houses that looked like ours (plus the bus didn't actually go past our house it dropped us off at the top of the hill) so I just stayed on the bus. My mom said she could see my little pig tails bouncing in the front seat of the bus and kept honking trying to get my attention but I of course didn't notice. Finally she got the bus drivers attention (knowing my mom she passed him and flagged him down in some crazy move with the other kids playing shake-n-bake in the back of the car) and he pulled over and let me out. Then I got to ride the bus WITH the older kids after that.

Another funny bus riding story happened my Senior year in high school. Normally we carpooled to school after seminary but on this particular day my car and my friend Tammy's car were both unavailable so we had to ride the bus. We were not excited to ride the bus - it just wasn't cool enough. So we get off the bus in front of the school and we hear our friend's mom from church who is one of the school bus drivers honking the bus horn and yelling our names waving at us. Now, I don't know why it was a big deal, but when you're in high school everything is a big deal. It was so dang funny.



I'm the one in the front wearing a VERY short red dress with socks and tennis shoes. I'm not sure if that dress is supposed to be 3/4 length sleeves...I have a feeling it was just way too small.

So I was looking on Etsy today and saw some sweet necklaces and I'm so tempted to get one. After running so many miles and working so hard if I finish this marathon in 2 1/2 weeks and still think it's cool I kinda want one.