Salt Lake City Marathon Race Report

I was so super excited about this marathon. This was my 15th but this was my twin sisters first full. I was so excited to be able to run this with her and help motivate and inspire her to the finish line.

We drove up to the finish line, where we parked, and then caught Trax to take us the 25 min to the start area which was at The Legacy Bridge, on The University of Utah campus. We hit the porta potties right away, the lines were long (shocker). We had about 10 min till the gun went off, so we made our way to the start line madness.

Yes, my cute sisters and I wore matching outfits. I had the orange top and those two sported the pink tops. We had all kinds of lookers, some laughing (I'm sure they thought we were dorks) but most people complimented us on how cute we looked. Ha ha, that was the plan, to look cute and stand out.... not really, I just saw these cute skirts and we thought it would be fun to match. The cute headbands were made by my twinner. She is getting ready to launch her website. Her prices are much more reasonable then some of the other NON-SLIP head band company's I'm sure you have seen at expos.

The half marathon and the Full marathon start together and then we spilt off at mile 4. So we were able to run the first 4 miles with my hubby. He was battling a nasty headache, so at mile 3 I was yelling around at the runners trying to bum some Tylenol. An angel came over and offered the 2 extra pills she had and hubby was feeling much better by the 4 mile split off.

Frances didn't really have a time goal, she just knew she wanted to come in under 5 hours and maybe get to as close to 4:30 as possible. By mile 13 she hit the wall. I felt so bad for her. I knew exactly what she was going through and knew she had 13 more miles to suffer through. She was a trouper and kept moving forward. Maria, Jason (maria's husband) and I tried to talk her through the miles and remind her of body position and the length of her stride. We tried to tell jokes, sing, laugh and just be with her. I am sure she wanted to slap us in the face and tell us where to go and how to get there, but she didn't. She just kept moving onward.

At mile 24.5 we had a long up hill, headed us toward The state Capital. This was my favorite stretch. I loved running in downtown SLC and once we got to the top, we turned left which ran us right past Temple Square. Running past the Salt Lake temple was definitely a high light for me. But just before we got to the top, I started to tear up and really got emotional. I was thinking about how crappy and tired Frances was feeling, and all I wanted to do was pick her up and carry her to the finish line, but I knew that wouldn't teach her anything. She had to fight through the exhaustion and pain and get herself to her finish line. I knew she would be a different person when she crossed that finish line. After 13 miles of trying to run through the wall, how could you not learn some serious life lessons. Digging that deep into your soul, mind, body and spirit helps you see things completely different, especially the way you see yourself.

Here she is, the twinner.... we crossed the finish line in 4:31

Doesn't she look way to cute to have just run her FIRST marathon?!?! Here is the crew..... Jason felt left out... we didn't buy him a matching skirt.

And good news.... this was Greg's first road race (he ran a trail run 14.2 miler in March) and he came in right at 2 hours. Woot Woot... so proud of him. We are running a a half together on May 7th and our goal is a sub 2 hr.

Here I am after marathon #15. I had so much fun, and I am very much looking forward to running another one with my sisters.

P.S.... Frances already has marathon #2 coming up on June 11th. She is running the Utah Valley Marathon. This is in my home town and I am so super bummed I can't be there to run with her.

P.S.S..... 8 days till marathon #16 ....... Country Music Marathon in Nashville. Bring it.