Thursday, September 25, 2008

I FINISHED!!

Welcome to the Top of Utah Marathon. I --along with my brother, John, and my sister Holly, ran our first marathon last weekend. It was quite the experience, one that I'll never forget. I can't quite say that it was everything I expected. It was definitely a lot harder than I thought. I had a goal in mind to finish in a certain amount of time, and once I knew there was no way to achieve that, I was just hoping to finish. The race was beautiful, the first 14 miles were down through blacksmith fork Canyon in Logan, UT. It was the easiest 14 miles of my life. And then came the end....

Here in these first couple pictures were just some of my supporters when I came out of the canyon. It was such a great feeling to see all of them. The weather couldn't have been better, nice and cool, and a few sprinkles here and there, and then followed was a beautiful rainbow as we came out of the canyon!
Blake and Jaclyn(Mike's sister)--my sister Sarah--and My Dad and Mom
Halle, Natalie(Mike's sister), Luke and TylerThis is my brother John, as he came out of the canyon..looking good bro!(It was even his birthday and he ran it. he had a t-shirt his wife made
for him that said..Today is my birthday, so let me win!-I think he had a big group of runners circle him while they were all running and sing Happy B-day--how nice is that!)
I was feeling pretty good at this point, notice I was still smiling

some of my support team(I don't know what I would have done without them!!!! Thanks so much for being there guys!)
my cute little niece, Halle
This is when I was about to fall over, and of course they put a hill right before the end. Well it may not look like a hill to most of you, but when you're on mile 25 it's HUGE!!! Thanks to my sweet hubby Mike, and my brother-in-law, Brandon, who ran up the hill with me trying to give me encouraging words, but I totally ignored them and wasn't very nice. I was about to die!

need I say more....no smiles here!(mile 26)


coming in to the finish, I found some bit of energy left to
sprint(well at least I thought I was, even though I probably wasn't)
Couldn't even feel my legs here--totally numb!
Finally, then END!!!!!!
I couldn't believe how tired I was, it took everything inside of me
to make it to this sign, and boy did I wish it had come earlier.
But I did it---I FINISHED, and that was all that mattered!!!

just making sure I could breathe and was still alive...

taking it all in, after I had some food in me, I felt much better!

My cutest sister, Holly. She did so great, I was so proud of her and she didn't even act like it was hard, she had a strong race and felt great the whole way, maybe I should find out her secret! Way to go HOLL!

This was me and my siblings standing on the podium that we officially finished the TOU Marathon! What a great accomplishment, it was our first and maybe our last....who knows?This was some of my fans...they were awesome. The best feeling of in the race is when you see a familiar face cheering you on and telling you that you can do it, it was so great to have them there--I couldn't have finished without them! It was so fun to have most of my family together! They all had fun making fun of us 3 as we limped around the house and pretty much hobbled up and down every step. I felt like my muscles were going to blow up they were so tight and I couldn't move, I've never been so sore in my life---wow what an experience! Sounds fun-huh? I'm sure I've convinced every one who has even thought about running a marathon to think twice, but it's really not as bad as you think, I might have just been a little more wimpish than most of you out there... but best of luck to all of you future marathoners!!
Here are my 3 brothers, Glen, John, and Eric. We never have any pictures of the boys, so we thought we would snap a shot of them all together. What great brothers I have..I love you guys!

10 comments:

Shirlene said...

Wow, what a great job you all did. We all were so proud of you!! You guys looked great!! What an accomplishment!!! I see you left that open that there could be another one :)

The Valladolid's said...

Congrats Debbie. You did great. Everything you said is completely true and I felt it all. Hey look at me though I'm doing another one. So maybe someday you will too. Good job

Danielle and Fam said...

YOU ARE AWESOME! Yet another reason that you are my hero. I am looking forward to the St. George Marathon this weekend. I'm just watching but it is a blast.

Courtney said...

Debbie that is awesome!! Congrats!! I am slightly jealous that you can run, maybe someday I will get into the running thing, but probably not. What a huge accomplishment!!

Casey * Haley * Avery * Owen said...

Debbie... great job. I am very impressed! What a great accomphlishment! Great Job! Love the pictures of your family.... Wesley is so tan and his hair is getting so long! We miss you guys!

Elisha and Scott said...

Congrats Deb, I'm so proud of you. You are inspiring!!!!

The Hillan Family said...

That is pretty amazing! I wish I could have seen the finish or cheered you on! I'm glad you had a little squad though! Love ya!

Cardon Family said...

You are amazing! I am just going to stick to "knowing" people who run marathons instead of me ever really doing one!:)

Kristy said...

Deb- you are amazing! We just ran our first 5k this weekend and have talked of doing a 10k soon. I can't imagine a marathon yet although Tom is heading for one. You guys are awesome! Thanks for posting, it's inspiring! I love the shots of the boys, Wes's hair reminds me of Joshy's! So cute!

Bryce and Brit said...

You are amazing! What i would do for that body? In my next life! love you!