Team Arizona for 26.2

It all started for me on my birthday this year when my hubby said "Hey, for your birthday I would like to buy you a plane ticket and send you with your friends to run in Santa Barbara" to run in my first full marathon. I had already made the decision not to run-for lots of reasons, and Jenny, Tiffany and Marisol were already 2 months into their training. I wasn't really sure what to think. I was waiting for the 'right' time; maybe when my kids were a little older or when I didn't have so many other commitments. I finally decided that there would never be the 'right' time; now is as good a time as any! I jumped right into training and I have to say there -never- is a perfect time and I am so glad I took the challenge:)


This is Team Arizona getting ready to board the plane to Santa Barbara (a very little plane I might add, with a crazy pilot, as you can see from the pic). It really took a team effort to prepare for this race: beyond the 5 of us it took very dedicated husbands and children, extended family and friends. While we were waiting in the dreaded porta-potty line before the race we met a group from Santa Barbara who had been training together and during the race we passed (I like saying that) one of the men and he yelled 'there goes team Arizona' and I loved the sound of that.

The morning of the race went very smooth except for a 30 minute late start time. The first 8 miles went pretty smooth but I never felt like I hit my groove. At mile 4 I began to feel my right foot go numb but I had experienced that during my last few long runs and thought I could probably manage. My favorite parts of the race were seeing my brother and his family; it really gave me the boost I needed to keep enduring, especially at mile 18 when I felt like my right foot needed to be cut off and I knew I still had the 'hill' to overcome.

Jenny and I had planned and trained to complete our marathon in 3 hr and 45 minutes and we really felt like that was a reasonable goal. At mile 16 I felt that goal slipping away and I was frustrated that I couldn't make my body go any faster. At that point I decided to just try and enjoy where I was at and who I was with and keep putting one foot in front of the other and finish:) As I crossed the finish line I felt and overwhelming sense of gratitude! I was of course so glad to be done but it was so much more than that--

I was sooooo grateful for My brother and his family for driving 2 hours to follow me along a 26.2 mile route for 4 hours with 4 kids, and make me amazing signs, to root me on. It made all the difference:)

This is what got me through mile 8.

This is what got me through mile 18!

I was so grateful for my teammates! Marisol, Tiffany, Jenny and Minnie-I love you! We had trained so many hours and miles and even though we may have complained through little sleep and alot of aches and pains-training is half the fun and most of the memories:) Jenny and I had planned to run our own races and I had hoped that would mean we would be together most of the race but we were prepared to separate if we needed to. I was so grateful that on race day we crossed the finish line together!

3:57:52

I was so grateful for my family at home rooting me on. My kids had to be so much more independent on all those mornings I was off running. They had to put up with my grumpiness in the evenings when the exhaustion set in. I was so thankful for a husband and his willingness to support my crazy ventures and fly me around to finish lines and stay home to support the kids to boot!

This image came to my cell phone as I crossed the finish line:)

This is my brother giving Jenny knucks. He thought we did amazing even though we didn't quite reach our goal. He did mention 'St. George' within minutes of us crossing the finish line, and yes I need some time off but I think St. George is in my future:)

Me and my brother:)

Genine, Isabella, Sariah, Me, Colton, Noah and Pat-you guys ROCK and so did the cupcakes!

Team Arizona
Minnie, Marisol, Tiffany, Me, Jenny

In-N-Out after our stomachs settled down. YUM!

I was so grateful for the day ahead-no where I had to be, eating great food, sleeping on the beach, going to see a movie and 1 really, really good nights sleep.