SEATTLE ROCK N' ROLL MARATHON

Yes! I did it! I ran another marathon! And I couldn't have done it without my family!

I was freaked out to run this marathon because I didn't feel as prepared as I should have. I had done great training for the marathon, until about a month and a half before. With finals, and graduation, and buying a house, and moving, I just lost my motivation to run. I had planned on running at least one 18-miler before the marathon, and the farthest I had gone was 15, back in April. Then I only ran 12 or 13 miles a couple of times in May and June. My original goal had been to finish in under 4 hours, which would have beat my first marathon time by about 20 minutes, but as the day approached, I wasn't so sure that was going to happen. 

5 AM, Prepping ourselves for the big race

Bryce ran the half marathon

Paige's bro, Chris, flew in from Mesa to run the marathon with her

Bryce's parents, Sheila and Greg. Sheila ran the half marathon too

Oh yeah, we're ready!

And we're big goofballs!

Seattle Rock n Roll, here we come!

If you're going to run a marathon, I would recommend the Seattle Rock n' Roll to anyone! It was amazing! We couldn't have had a more perfect day to run - the temperature was cool and it was overcast the entire morning. There were about 25,000 runners, so the atmosphere was fun and exciting. And then, of course, the bands and cheerleaders - they made it! I couldn't believe how fast the first 15 miles flew by! After that, the marathoners were all on their own - the half marathoners were running to the finish as we were running away from it (not a good feeling :). It kind of kicked the fun down a few notches - not as many people, not as many bands, and not as many cheerleaders - but still going well.

At about mile 9, we were running an 8 to 8 1/2 min mile, and I felt great, but I made a comment to my brother, Chris, that I felt like we should conserve some energy for the rest of the race. Later, I wished I had just ran my heart out when I felt like it, because I don't think it would have made a difference in the end. Either way, I was gonna end up struggling at the end. I started to have some stomach cramps at about mile 17, but I still felt pretty great until about mile 22. Then things started to get tough. The combination of the cramps and the heavy muscles were starting to take their toll. Thank goodness one of the stops had gummybears! I was a little reluctant to try them, what with my cramps and all, but they got me through the next two miles.

At about mile 22 or 23 we hit the last switchback, which was the longest switchback of my life! I was so mad at Seattle RnR for putting this stupid switchback at the end of the race! And to make matters a million times worse, there was a hill between mile 25 and 26. C'mon! I was literally dragging my feet, and at one point, my brother and my father-in-law, who had stayed with me the entire time, took my hands to help me get up the hill. That only lasted for a second because my pride got the best of me and I found it in myself to get up that hill unassisted (I mean, come on, I was the youngest of the three by quite a few years and I had run the whole way thus far,so I wasn't going to stop now). And glory be, the last .2 miles of the race were down hill into the race finish line! My father-in-law and my brother and I all held hands as we crossed the finish line together!

After Bryce finished the half, he went home and got the kids and came back to meet us at the finish line

CJ with his Papa

Marathon finishers

L-R: Paige, Chris, and Greg

Big bro kept little sis going

Half marathon finishers

L-R: Paree Akana (family friend), Bryce, and Sheila

Bryce did amazing on the half marathon! Especially considering he hadn't trained at all, like AT ALL 

He finished in just over 2 hours

Our Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon crew

L-R: Chris, Paige, Bryce, Greg, Sheila, and Paree

So I don't really know my finishing time. According to my GPS watch, and my brother's GPS watch, we actually ran 26.2 miles about half a mile before we crossed the course finish line. If I go by that time, I ran the marathon in 3 hours 55 minutes. If I go by what my watch, and my brother's watch said when we crossed the finish line, it was 4 hours on the dot. But according to the races website, we finished in 4 hours 1 minute. Considering how unprepared I felt the few weeks before the marathon, I'm pretty happy with that. I'll let you decide.