Professional Pics from the marathon

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More pics of Mt. Juliet, TN

I like this pic.


Brig trying to carry water to the dirt spot. :)


No sprinkler systems here, crazy huh!


The girls swinging, of coarse Lucy had to try on "their" dresses!

Stats from my training

I happened to hit the history total button on my Garmin (the watch I got in January to train) and this is what I saw:
255 miles, 46 hours 39 minutes and 43 seconds, 32,369 calories burned. Then I remembered that I didn't wear that 4 or 5 times when I had to run on the treadmill because of the weather. WAHOO! That was fun to see. Another fun fact: Dane and Blaine from this season's Biggest Loser ran on Saturday too, they were about 30 minutes behind me. I finished it in 5 hours and 20 minutes.
A few things I will do differently next time:
* write my name on my shirt
* run with someone or with a team
* run a flatter coarse
* wait 'til I hit menopause
Don't worry Mom I won't run too many more!!!

Marathon in Nashville!!!

This is Elvis's home Mom! We stayed in Memphis on our way home and were really close to Graceland. We just drove by. :)

The whole road is devoted to him!


The happy travelers. They did really well. It was 10 hours there and we had to drive a lot there too. We stayed in Little Rock on the way, the drive was really pretty. Lots of dead armadillos.

There were 31,000+ runners. Only 3,000+ ran the whole marathon and only 1600 women.
It was extremely hilly, you were either going up or down 90% of the time. The heat shocked everyone I was running by.

I got to see the kids and Joe at mile 20 and then at the end. I was so happy to see them. Some runs are good and some aren't so good, this one definitely wasn't one of my best but I finished!
The bands were awesome and there were so many people cheering us on. It was organized really well and thankfully there was plenty of water, ice and hoses. I got drenched every chance I got.


Mary give out after the race and a cookie! :)


After the run!!! The kids did great and Joe was awesome!


Joe remembered to take pictures too! Thanks babe!


We stayed with the Hollingsheads', we had a GREAT time. Thanks Stan and April. April wouldn't get in the picture. Thanks girls left to right: Greta, Emmaline, Maize, Ruby. Between the 2 families we had a kid of every age from 1 to 8. They really had fun playing. :)


We stopped in Memphis for BBQ on the way there and ate by the banks of the Mississippi.


Running the last 1/4 mile was the BEST! It made up for the rest. I cried all the way down the last stretch except nothing was coming out of my eyes--nothing left to come out. It was an amazing journey and I am so glad I did it. I learned a lot during all those hours of running. Thank you everyone for your love and support!!! It really means a lot to me and helped me accomplish this goal. Thanks Joe for encouraging me and watching the kids for all the hours of training. Thanks you Spencer, Brigham, Lucy, Mary for your patience and cheers. I could hear Lucy far away yelling go Mommy! My parents and sisters, grandparents, cousins, and friends have all been Great too! Thanks again everyone!

Excited Stupor

I now have a new understanding of Spencer. He has a really hard time in school when he is excited for something, say Christmas. Well now as I am trying to function with my race fast approaching, I am a mess. I can't seem to think clearly and I have a ton of things to do and I don't even know where to start. Usually when I have a ton of things to do I can make a list and get it done but for some reason that isn't really working right this second! Plus it is like double excitement because it is not only a marathon but it is in NASHVILLE!!! All 3 of the cities I served in are not far from where I will be. I am so excited for my family to finally see what I talk about all the time. I wish I knew where all the people are that I love. And that I had time to see them. I am afraid it is going to be very fast and very race oriented. Oh well, we'll have to go back again!

Thoughts

I spent so much time putting a million pics up that I forgot to write all the things I have been thinking about. Not a big surprise, my mind is so crazy right now. I think preparing for this race is making me a little more CRAZY than normal. Part of it is the excitement of not only the race but going back to the mission field, it is the first time I will be back there. It has been 10 years since I came home, well in August. So much happens in 10 years!!! Yesterday was 20 years since my Aunt Judy died. I thought it was cool that it was Easter. I feel so blessed to know of the Resurrection and the Atonement. It was my first time doing Sharing time in Primary yesterday too. It was a great experience. I love the Primary kids, they know so much! So I was reminded a lot of yesterday of the great blessing it will be to receive my body back perfected. Thinking of Judy being made whole again, and all of us with whatever physical problems we may have, what an incredible blessing. Not to mention the fact of the rest of the Atonement. I am so thankful we can continually repent and be forgiven. The chorister in Primary is new to our ward and she has the sweetest testimony of this as well. She has 4 boys, 3 living and 1 that is mostly deaf due to complications when he was born. He is in our primary and she shared her thoughts on what it would mean to her to see Jacob be able to hear, and to see her baby Joseph again (he only lived 2 days). It was so touching and the kids were so reverent listening to her. I love the Gospel.

Happy Easter!

Every time the door opened this weekend Mary was crawling out as fast as she could to climb in through the back of this car.

Lucy took this of me today.

We spent a lot of time working on the yard this week!

The Primary had a talent show Saturday night and Brigham painted this picture for it.

Spencer put together this helicopter and plane with his k'nex.

The kids playing with the kitchen. Very cute watching them.

The boys racing to find eggs. We missed the annual Easter Egg Hunt my Grandparents do in West Weber. They had fun though.

Coloring eggs, Lucy it is time to give up that swimsuit! Sorry for the half naked girl. :)



We went and fed the ducks one afternoon, it is all a blur now.


Playing around!

Mary thinking she is sneaky!

Our neighbors have a Zoo pass so the girls and I got to be their guests the other day.

We had a great time! Thanks Dena and Victoria!