Tucson Marathon and girls weekend!
12/7-12/10
So so much fun! I have just had this crazy desire to do a marathon and there arent that many around in Utah at this time. I thought about doing the Vegas rock n roll but then my friend Jess was able to get free race entries to the Tucson marathon so we decided to make a girls trip out of it. We scored! We got roundtrip tickets for $110, stayed with Kylee's sisters 2/3 of the nights, borrowed Ky's sisters car, and got free entries so all we had to pay for was gas, one night hotel and food (and of course shopping). Kylee West, Jess Perry and I went. Kylee has two sisters that live there and my sister lives there so we got hooked up. We flew in friday night and just grabbed dinner and a movie. Saturday we slept in, laid out and drove to Tucson, Sunday was the race and after laying out again we headed back to Phoenix and monday we just chilled and flew home.
So I didn't really have any expectations going into this race except that I wanted to push it and leave it all out there. I wanted to see if I could semi prove to myself that having a baby won't totally slow me down. I got my second best time which was 3:04. I took first in my division and 6th overall the women. I was thrilled! Honestly....it was hard!! The first half wasn't too bad but it was hillier than I thought it would be and once you hit about mile 11 you climb into an out and back part that lasts for about 4 miles. I tagged on with a group of girls and just kind of hung there. It was fun to have girl power :) The 2nd-5th place girls were who I hung with mostly. They were all amazing runners and fun to talk to. Once we hit mile 20 I hit a major wall. I kept going but I was going through some seriously mental battles. At that point it was a false flat and then mile 24 is uphill. So brutal!! I totally slowed down the last few miles. Let's just say I was SO glad to be done with that race but it felt good to be out there doing a marathon again!! There is something about running marathons that just makes me happy. No matter how hard they are I love the build up to them, I love the night before getting ready, I love the anticipation on the bus and the excitement in the enviroment surrounding, I love talking to other runners, I love hearing other stories from runners, and I just love love love running! I don't know if my body will be able to run marathons forever but I will do them as long as I can!!
Kylee and Jess both did amazing! The both got their PR's. Kylee hasn't even been running for way long and she pulled out a 1:43! Jess had to take 3 potty breaks and pulled out a 3:17!! It was such a fun time with these girls!!! The weather was a perfect 70 degrees at the end. We got to stay on the buses til 5 min before the start and the buses picked us right up at our hotel so logistically it was the best race I have done!!!
The rest of the trip was a blast... going to movie, laying out, relaxing, eating shopping and eating some more. Everyone thought the three of us were sisters.
we flew on this dinky airline from Ogden Utah. We were a little worried but it ended up being great! It's a no frills airline but we literally parked right up front, walked right to our gate and got on the plane. I would do it again in a heartbeat! (got to love the bottom corner picture of the toilet plunger... he he :) )
I'm so grateful to have amazing family members to help out while I was gone! Leaving my baby was so so so ridiculously hard!!! I cried when I got in the car to the airport. And coming back I of course was excited to see Tay and the twins but my little man was the hardest to leave for sure. I knew Stockton and Mckaylee would have fun with daddy. My great mom watched Kace most of the weekend and my mother in laws helped out too. So lucky to have family around! I'm glad I got to do a marathon in 2012 and now I can chill for a bit :)
