Marathon Mom

The whole crew. I didn't actually train with any of them but Suzi and Darcy, but they were fun to see there! 

This is the BIG hill at mile 5-6! Sososo hard!!

Such beautiful scenery running through the vineyards and orchards of Palisade!

Look at that course! I swear the whole thing was either up or down...there were no flat parts! For the record, I was able to pass all these people before the end :)

My girls running me in...I was so happy when I saw them it made me cry!

High fives at the end :)

My favorite running friends! They are amazing!

My biggest fans! 

Happy Mother's Day to me...they make feel strong AND beautiful!!

Chad is my biggest support...I don't deserve him! He is too good to me!

     A while back I decided that I wanted to run another half marathon. I've only ran one, and I felt better than I thought I would, so why not?! 2 of my running friends Darcy and Suzi said they wanted to do one too! We found a race in Palisade, CO on Mother's Day weekend and was so excited! It was a little gift to ourselves :) It was a great way to show our kids that moms can do hard things! We had shirts made with the slogan "STRONG. BEAUTIFUL. MOM." which was fun, and Darcy's dad came to be our official photographer.
     Before the race I got so nervous!! The course of my 1st half was all downhill. Seriously, it was running down Provo Canyon so it was literally downhill the whole way. THIS course was NOT!! In fact, after running it, I decided that the whole course was either up hill or down hill...I swear there was no flat! Long story short, it was hard! BUT I got to the end and Chad came with the girls to cheer me on and as soon as I saw them, the 13.1 miles were worth it!! They made me feel STRONG. They made me feel BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE being a mom!! An added bonus...I beat my last marathon time!! It was the fastest pace time I've ever ran! What a great experience!
      Mothers Day was a perfect day! I enjoyed breakfast in bed from Mollie (which consisted of a bottle of grape juice and a bag of M&M's) and some wonderful gifts before heading to church. I got totally spoiled! Carli made me a dream catcher, Regan made me a tissue paper flower/vase with card, and Chad and the girls got me all the accessories to go with my new road bike! Water bottles, lights, pedals, cleats and clip-in shoes! I am so excited!! We had plans to have a picnic with the Munchs after church but we had a change of plans...part way through sacrament meeting we noticed Carli was in tears. She said her head hurt, neck hurt, and she thought she was going to throw up. Chad rushed her home and came back when sacrament meeting was over (I had to stay to play the organ) We decided that since it was Mother's Day, we would ALL go home and be together. Soooo, we ditched the rest of church and came home! We had another marathon...we watched 'Harry Potter' movies for the rest of the day! Since my legs were tired from my race, I had no objections! It was a memorable marathon weekend!