Kansas City Marathon!

So, finally here are the pictures of my marathon! It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, as expected. I ran it with my training buds, Amy Von Feldt and Jane Tuttle. I wasn't quite sure if I would ever make it here to tell the truth because I wanted to be pregnant way before the marathon, but that didn't work out, well not exactly! I did end up running it pregnant! The month before the marathon, I decided I better not get pregnant so I could run my marathon, which I had been training for since Spring. Well, that exact month, I ended up pregnant. I found out about a week before the marathon. I was around 6-7 weeks pregnant when I ran it. Don't worry I did some research and called my grandpa Clark who is a doctor to see if it was alright. I knew it was a risk, but a minor one I decided. I mean, I spent a lot of early mornings (and anyone who knows me knows I am not a morning person to put it lightly) running many miles (and anyone who knows me knows I hate running) pushing myself beyond my limits. I wasn't willing to throw that all away. I mean, I may never run another marathon. So, anyway, as you can see from the pictures I did it! I couldn't have done it without prayer, stubbornness, a supportive husband, and loyal friends. Amy is from Kansas City, so we went up a day early and all stayed at her parent's house. It was fun, but the marathon butterflies never went away all that day and the next. We got up early on Oct 18 to run our race, husbands and babies in tow. I was sick to my stomach. I was told to take MSM and fish oil for my joints before the race, which I did. We wore these microchip things on our feet that kept our official time. Amy brought her phone in her pack, which ended up being a life saver for me. I stuffed about 5 gu in my zipper pocket above my booty. It was pretty funny because it stuck out pretty bad. I didn't care. All of us stayed together pretty much the whole time. We ran the hills at the beginning well. Easy to my suprise. I was amazed at how many people walked. We trained on a lot of hills, so that paid off. The Kansas City Marathon has one of the steepest worst hills of all marahons. It is called Hospital Hill and is ranked in the top 5 worst hills for marathons. I was proud that it didn't bother me. I had to stop around mile 6 or 7 to pee at a restaurant on the Plaza. No lines-brilliant idea. Everyone else we past were waiting in lines at port-a-potties. Yuck! Not for me. My girls slowed down while I peed, so I could catch up to them. Thanks! We were doing great until mile 12 or 13 hit. Jane and I started feeling a lot of pain in our joints. Jane had just ran a marathon 2 weeks earlier in St. George, UT. Crazy girl. Her body was feeling it. I wasn't sure where my pain was coming from. All I know was I had to slow down and eventually the pacer girl I wanted to beat who was way behind me caught up to us and then passed us. I was so mad and in pain and frustrated, I started to cry. Amy was so nice to stay with me and try to keep me positive. Jane had fallen back behind us a little ways. Amy had the idea to call Kable. I boobed to him while I tried to run. I needed Ibuprofen, this herbal stuff wasn't working. I realized that I should have been taking the MSM and fish oil for months before my marathon for it to be working. I knew at mile 13 if I didn't get any ibuprofen soon, I wasn't sure I could finish the race. I told Kable he had to find us on the course. He said he would. They hadn't had any luck finding us the whole time before mile 13, so I was hoping he was telling the truth. So, finally around mile 16 or so, Kable, Koy, Mark, and Mason found us and handed off my pills. It was so renewing to see them. I needed that boost. I was so thankful. Every step hurt. My ankles, knees, even pelvis was aching. I think being prenant made my joints ache. I did have some joint pain while training, but nothing like marathon day. I remeber my joints aching when I was pregnant with Koy. It was all I could do to not walk. I made a goal to not walk, no matter how hard it was. Amy was so sweet to stay with me the whole time, because I know she could have taken off without me. Jane stayed close, but fell further and further behind. We said a prayer for her. She told us to keep going. I think my stubbornness finally had a positive effect on me that day. Amy was trying to be all positive with me, and finally I said enough, I react better to tough love. I told myself to get up, get going, and finish the damn race! It was a quote I had read that I liked. I finaly got to take my pills around mile 20 because there wasn't a water station until then. They kicked in a couple miles later and helped with the pain, but it never completely went away. It was really cool to see such a supportive atmosphere at a sport event. People yelled our names and encouraged us all through the run. Part of the race, we ran through an amazingly beautiful neighborhood. It was fun to see all the beautiful houses. I have to admit, secretly it was very satisfying to pass other runners, especially men. I thought yes, I am going to beat them, but would then yell encouraging words to them as we passed. I know, I am warped! At the end, we caught site of another pacer that had passed us, and decided we would catch her. We didn't have much time to do it, but caught her at the very last stretch. I yelled, we want you! We started sprinting, at least that's what it felt like. I was limping from the pain, but we beat her across the finish line! As we passed over the line, I began to cry, realizing it was over and I had done it! It was over. We had just ran 26.2 miles! Our time was 4 hours and 50 min, not what our original goal time was, but I am happy with the circumstances given. I never thought we would catch that other pacer again. Jane ended up coming in not long after us. We waited and watched for her, cheering her on. The boys found us a little later. We got our shirts and medals and sat for a little bit before going our separate ways, congratulating each other. The shirts we wore, we had made. We put a quote from the Bible on the back with 3 people's names who were battling cancer, and one name, my cousin Clint Larsen's 2 year old son Garrison who has heart problems, dedicating our run to them. They were good motivators to keep us going. They are all fighters, and that's what we had to be.