The Martin Family: Logan marathon...finally

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get these pictures up. I finally decided I better do it or give up blogging all together.

**Warning** This is a long story; it was a marathon what do you expect.

The marathon was an experience. Jared and I drove up to Logan the night before much later than we expected. The procrastinator that I am, I didn't reserve a room until 2 weeks before and by that time everything was booked from about Ogden up to Idaho. I finally found a place that called themselves a retreat, a little ma and pap business. They said they rented out a house for family reunions and the Logan marathon. They said they were about 20 mi. outside of Logan, that means 20 mi. to the middle of nowhere. We got lost several times trying to find the place. We finally figured it out and ending getting there about 12am. The old man met us and showed us to our room and said that there was another guy staying there for the marathon. Our room had no lock on it and the old man said that he doesn't lock the house. I thought, "Isn't this the way all horror movies start?" We were so tired but couldn't sleep. Sam I think thought the same thing as me because he just kept crying and crying and would not under any circumstance let go of my cell phone. He was going to be ready to call 911 if needed. Jared really wanted me to be able to get some rest before the marathon and dealt with Sam. Between thinking about the creepy house that we were in and thinking about the marathon only a short time away, I got about an hour of sleep. I wish we had taken a picture of our room and the house. I got up somewhere around 4-4:30am, ate some breakfast and got dressed. Jared drove us into town so I could get my race packet with my number and then I had to get on a bus to take me up to the start. I got up to the start and waited on the bus until they made everyone get off. It was pretty cold up there in the canyon at 6am. I got off the bus and decided I better go to the bathroom before so I wouldn't have to stop for a while. There was a long line of port-a-potties with long lines of people in front of each of them. I saw people, who didn't want to wait, going up into the hills to go behind bushes. I wish I had gone behind the bushes. It would have been much cleaner and taken way less time. I finally got to the start a few minutes before the race began. I looked for a friend I knew was running but being so short I really couldn't see over anyone's shoulders. Finally the gun went off and we started running. It was pretty cold but I knew it wouldn't take long to warm up. I had my ipod shuffle and my Garmin Forerunner so I could keep time and pace so I was good. The canyon was beautiful. The leaves were changing colors, fall was taking affect. When I reached 6 mi. I thought I'm making pretty good time only a few more hours and I'll be done. When I reached 13 mi., half-way, I thought, "I feel really good. If I keep this up I'll make my time. I'm doing great." When I reached 15 mi. we started leaving the canyon and people were starting to line the streets. I saw tons of men with babies cheering on their wives. I looked for Jared and Sam. I didn't see them. For the next 11.2 mi. I kept looking for Jared and Sam. It seemed like the longest 11 mi. ever especially that last .2 miles. When I finally hit the 26 mile marker I thought, "I'm done" but oh no you keep going, you turn a corner and then keep going. I really didn't think I was going to make it to that finish line. As I got closer and closer to the finish I looked harder and harder for Jared and Sam. All I wanted was to see my husband and my baby. As I was crossing the finish line I finally saw them and I burst into tears. The volunteer behind the line said, "Those are well deserved tears of joy." I thought, "Are you crazy? I just ran 26.2 miles. These are pain tears." It was FINALLY over. We went and sat on the grass for a few minutes. Jared rubbed my calves until the cramping stopped and we played with Sam. Jared surprised me with a new cell phone because Sam had completely destroyed mine some time during the night. I'm glad it's over and I'm done training. It was nice thought afterwards that I wouldn't have to get up early on Monday to go running and that if I didn't want to I wouldn't ever have to run again. I will of course run again. I've run my whole life. When I was really little my dad used to pay my siblings and me to run. I needed to run after eating all the candy I would buy from the money I would get from running. But back to the subject of the marathon, my knees were so sore that day that I had to go up and down stairs sideways to keep my knees from bending too much. It was a pretty funny sight. Thanks to Eric and Jen for letting me take a nap at their place afterwards. I hope I haven't discouraged anyone from doing a marathon. It is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge, although it is very challenging physically.

Here's Sam waiting for Mom at the finish line.