I would not have run the St. George half marathon if it wasn't for my sister Ali. I'm so glad she pushed me to do it with her because it was a great experience! We talked Betsy into going with us and it was a fun weekend spent with family in St. George. We took off Friday afternoon and didn't have to stop once. I'm so glad the minis are to the age where they can be in the car seats for long periods of time. This doesn't mean they were happy all the time but at least they can be entertained with food, toys, movies, etc.
We met up with Ali's family at the race expo. The kids had bottled up energy to get out.
We stayed at Lew's. I'm so grateful he lets us stay at his place because not only does it save us money, but it gives us plenty of room. On Saturday night Ali's kids slept over. It was fun to be on vacation and have a cousin sleepover.
We didn't do too much Friday night since we were prepping for the race. After we ate at Chick Fil-A we called it a night and Ali's family went to their hotel and we went back to Lew's to get to bed early. *Side note: Betsy and Ali get mistaken for each other and some people think they are twins. I can totally see that when I look at this picture.
There were lots of nerves on Saturday morning. Thankfully it was sunny and beautiful and felt warmer than 35 degrees. I ended up changing and wearing less layers after this picture was taken because it felt so nice with the sun out.
I had a goal to run about an 8 minute mile pace. The first seven miles were steady uphill and I hadn't trained on any hills so I was a little nervous for that. Marshall, Betsy and Dan surprised us and were at different points through the race with the kids to cheer us on. It gave me a little boost and helped on the hills. I always get a little emotional during the race when I see someone cheering me on.
I started talking to another runner at the top of the hill half way through the race. I normally don't talk to other runners during races but we had so much in common and we ended up running together and talking until mile eleven. It made the race that much better and it went by a lot faster. I finished the race in 1 hr 44 min which is a 7:57 pace so I was very satisfied. I was 8th place out of the 82 women in my age group. It's nice to have a few good races in a row after having such a bad experience with the Ogden Marathon. One day I will tackle that race again...one day.
My kids cheered me on at the finish line and then had fun running around on the grass while their cousins ran the kid's race.
The rest of the weekend was a blast hanging out with my sisters and our families. We went swimming and out to dinner. On Sunday we went to church and then drove home.
The minis love playing peek-a-boo.
I just got back the free race photos so I wanted to add them to this post.
