RACE 2 THE SUMMIT

I'm so glad that Michele watches Channel 7 news every night.  If she didn't, we may not have found out about this race!

But since she DID watch the news, we knew about it right away!  It was for a great cause (to raise money for the small town of Horseshoe Bend's schools).   We signed up and started training for another Robie style run.  Uphill to a summit, then down to a finish line!
Click here to find out more about the race!


Michele had of course just returned from a vacation and had not run in several days and Kris had a terrible head cold!  What a pair those two were.  I was in the mood to really race this one!  I needed to redeem myself after the cursed Robie Creek run.  Kris said she would stay with Michele.  Here is how our conversation went:

Kris, "If I wasn't a true friend I would beat your heiny to the finish line!"
Me, "Are you blaming the fact that you won't beat me on the fact that you're a good friend? Ha Ha."
Kris, "Friendship comes before fame."
Me,"Apparently blood doesn't come before fame."
Kris, "I guess not, what a shame."

We met at the Home Depot parking lot and then drove in to Horseshoe Bend.  Between Michele complaining how out of shape she was and Kris complaining that she couldn't breathe out her nose I felt like I was in a doctor's office.  These two were hilarious!  The race start was chilling but luckily stocked with LOTS of porta Johns!

Sleepy but ready!



Putting our timing chips on!
 

Ready to Run!

Then Michele says, "STOP WITH THE PICTURES!"

 





 

SO, since Michele and Kris were running this race for "fun", that would leave one to ask, what was Jodi running it for? TO RACE!!

 

I have recently had a friend start training me for the nest year's Great Potato Marathon.  We set a goal to run it under 4 hours (that may be a foolish goal).  So, after working with him the week of this race I was PUMPED to run!  I was grateful that Michele and Kris had each other so I could really push it!!

 

 

So, when the race started I did just that, I pushed!  This blog will include 2 versions of the Half- Marathon; mine and the dynamic duos.

 

 

Jodi's Experience:

 

I took off fast but tried to reign it in a little.  I have been burned many times taking off too quickly!  The weather was perfect!  It was a chilly start, which I like.  I tried to not look at my watch for what pace I was going and to instead just run what felt good.  After about the first mile the road turned and we started the incline.  From here it was 6 miles at a steady climb.  I felt okay, well actually I felt GOOD!  I even had a guy compliment me on my socks!

 

After climbing for about 3.5 miles, I started to get tired.  I started to question whether or not I could keep up this pace I had set for myself.  This is when the training I had received a few days prior helped.  Kyle (my trainer) had me run the fastest mile that I could on the track.  He ran it with me and when I started to feel like quitting he talked to me about things to do.  One of those was to forget about everything but my stride.  "Just focus on your stride."  So I did that, when I began to feel like walking, I simply focused on my stride.  And it worked!

 

After another mile of running a great thing happened.  It turned out that two of my friends were running a water station.  How wonderful to round the bend and hear people cheering your name!  It was a great shot in the arm to keep my going and a wonderful surprise! 

 

THE SUMMIT

 

 

 This picture was taken by Kris.  The Yellow banner is the turn around point.  Reaching the summit was so rewarding! Because I now knew it was all downhill and I am a good downhill racer!  So I took off and really started to open it up!  I knew eventually I would get a chance to see Michele and Kris as they were going up and I did!

 

 As I passed Michele, she did exactly what she had promised NOT to do!  "Jodi, you are the 11th female Now GO!"  She has done this to me before, but last time she MIS-counted!  Today she was spot on.  How do I know.  Truth be told I had counted too!

So, since I love to run downhill and I cold see three ladies in front of me, I decided to go get 'em!  I ended up averaging a 7:25 minute mile pace on the remainder of the race and passed those 3 ladies.  Unfortunately there were no more ladies to be seen.





At the end of the race (which ended up being 13.7 miles!!!)  we had to cross a bridge.  This bridge was about  15 yards long.  Not a big deal EXCEPT.....THE ENTIRE BRIDGE WAS A CATTLE GUARD!  As I approached the bridge a guy standing there yelled, "Fast Quick feet!  Don't slow down."  So, I assumed he was talking to me so I did just that.  I made it across without really slowing down!  I even passed a guy on it!


Finally the finish line was in sight.  I was right behind a guy and this teenage boy yells out, "Hey lady pass him!"  So, I did.  I sprinted in and passed him!  I was surprised by my time!  My official time was 1:59:35! And that's for LONGER than an actual half-marathon.  At 13.1 miles my time was 1:51:43!  I was truly proud of myself and felt great!  My overall stats:

OVERALL: 35th place
GENDER PLACE: 8th
AGE GROUP PLACE: 3rd

Not bad for a run in Horseshoe Bend!

The Dynamic Duos Experience:

Michele and Kris took off laughing, sore and unable to breathe through their nose.  Their main focus was to just get up the mountain (and be able to breathe while doing it).  Although the race start was chilly, Kris reminded Michele that it would get hot soon.  Michele didn't catch the joke and started to comment about the sun rising an it is a good thing they are almost to the top.  It wasn't until Kris laughed and reminded Michele about our training run on the road that Michele realized what Kris meant. Ha ha!


If you do not understand the reference here, you need to look back at previous blog posts.

 





They stopped on the way up to see the donkeys (something I NEVER saw).  The fence was down and Michele said, "Why don't they come out?"  Kris replied,"Because they can't figure out why a bunch of dumb people are running up hill when they don't have too. They are dumbfounded."

Michele and Kris also came upon the water station being run by ourfFriends Holly and Brian.  They stopped and chatted for a couple of minutes with them.  She asked if they had seen me and really took their time.  They began to run again and Kris said she felt like they were finally getting their momentum she HAD to stop to take a picture of some "elite" runner who came barreling down the hill.  Isn't she nice?  I am so grateful for the pictures too!  Otherwise Kris would have had a faster time had she not stopped.

This race was also another case of Kris to the rescue of the distressed and dehydrated!  A pregnant lady was passing out.  They stopped and Kris gave the lady her last goo.  What a girl scout!

Near the finish line I took the camera and ran ahead so we could have some nice pictures of the Dynamic Duo finishing in all their glory!

I am not allowed to post their finish time.  So, I will instead say, they did great and they had fun!

It was perfect weather for the race and a nice course to boot. 



I'll run with you...IF I can find you in this CEMETERY!

Today's run consisted of two different trail systems.  The idea was to park at the Veteran's Trail Head (by the Veteran's Cemetery off Hill Road).  I was parked on the canal access road, because I couldn't see the trail head parking.  I thought it weird that I had beaten Michele there.  So I called her.
 "Where are you?" 
"I am at the Cemetery."
"What part?"
"The part off Horseshoe Bend."
"That's the wrong part."
"Where are you?"
"At the bottom."
"I haven't seen any trail heads."
"Are you driving in the cemetery now?"
"Yes."
"Do you think the trail head is IN the cemetery?"
"I don't know I'm looking."
"Okay, here I come too."
So, I started my car and headed in to the cemetery, looking for the trail head AND my sister.  We are still on the phone.
"Okay," I said, "I am looking for you."
"I don't see you yet."
"There is no way we are running through a cemetery today."
"This is weird."
"Oh there you are!  Do you see me?"
"Yes!  Why are you driving on the wrong side of the road?"
"I didn't know that cemeteries had a right side of the road."
"Dork."
"Okay let's get out of here."

As we headed back to the canal road where I had parked we saw a sign that read Veteran's Trail!  Hooray.  Little did we know THEN that we could have driven down that road and that is where the trail head parking was.  Oh well.  The canal bank served us just fine.

It was consensus that we both had to use the bathroom.  I was getting my water out of my car and turned around to find Michele gone.  The canal was noisy and I couldn't hear her when I yelled, "Where are you?"  No answer.  "Michele?  Where did you go?"  Still no answer.  I stepped away from the canal a bit and tried one more time, "MICHELE???"  I heard her frustrated reply, "I'm in the weeds!"

Oh haha, bathroom break!  Silly me.

From here we ran along the old Hill road to avoid traffic.  We then turned left on Seaman's Gulch Road to the trail head that's on the right side of the road. In this system there is a loop of trails that you can do several directions.

So the way we went was the following:
Start to the right of the water tower and then turn left at the tower which is part of  #110 Seaman's Gulch Trail.  This trail was very steep and quite the climb!  On the trail post someone had placed an inhaler.   Next we went Left onto #112 Wild Phlox.  This looped us back to the water tower.  This time we headed straight at the water tower on the other section of #110.  When we reached the trail markers we went right on #111 Valley View.  This looped us back to #110.  We went left and headed back down to where we had just been.  Not shown on the map is a Public Access trail.  We headed left on this instead of going back to the water tower.  This allowed us to run all the way back to old Hill road without having to run on Seaman's Gulch Road again.  This was a happy accident that we found this public trail because running on the road was a bit unnerving! Some people can be rude on the road and not give you any space at all!

We got back on old Hill road and ran back to where the car was. This entire portion of the run turned out to be about just over 6 miles.  From here we headed down into the Veteran's Trail head parking area (that we didn't know existed before).    We then ran the systems of trails in this area.  Veteran's Trail is very sandy, some parts quite deep. The hill climbing was tough but that could also be due to the fact that we already had over 6 miles behind us.  The loop we did was as follows:
Veteran's Trail #114, Left on #113 Big Springs Loop.  Then you come to a crossing of trails, we headed left onto #116 REI Connection.  Michele said it reminded her of the Military Reserve connector.  When we reached the top of the last hill we were at the Velodrome area.  We had to run on the ridge for .15 miles to get back into the trail systems. then we went right on Rabbit Run #115. Finally we went left on #113 until it met up again with #114.  At this point we had a pretty good view of the flag at the cemetery. This was from behind it of course.  We stayed on Veteran's rail which and it took us right back to the car.

It was a great run!  A feel good, I love the Trails type of a run.  We saw a man running with a little tiny dog.  It was more like the man was running and dragging the poor dog behind him!  There were a lot of holes on Rabbit Run.  My guess is that they were badger holes.  Not a trail you would want to run at night unless your goal is a broken ankle!

THe air quality was pretty poor today.  Michele could tell and it bothered her a bit.  I told here she should've taken a puff on that inhaler we saw.  Knowing her luck it would have probably put her in convulsions....so it's best that he didn't.

This is a system of rails that we LOVED and will definitely run again.  A HUGE difference from last week!

I will not run it here or there...I will not run it ANYWHERE!

So, today we are resuming our weekly trail runs.  We have the 2012 goal to run all of the trails on our Ridge to River Trail map.  So the clock is ticking and we really need to get things done!  We have 9 systems left to do!

Today we decided to run ALL of the trails in the Table Rock area.  Sometimes I wish I had an alarm that would go off very loudly whenever I am about to make a stupid decision.  Then it could warn me with enough time to alter my plans.  But since I have no such alarm, we headed off to table rock this morning.

It started off all weird.  First we headed off on the trail #16 Table Rock Loop.  After just over a half mile the trail vanished.  We had sheer rock drop offs on our sides.  We could see a trail head down below us, but could find no way down to it!  So we back tracked to the car to look at the map again.  Yep, the map said to go the way we went, but there was no trail.  Our only option was to go through the gate with a giant warning: FEDERAL PROPERTY. NO TRESPASSING!  "Feel like being arrested today?"  Apparently we did because we went on through.

We found a round about way to cut through this area and find the trail markers.  As we went along we came to a fork.  My directions that I had written on a tiny piece of paper said to head left.  The trail marker did not specify what was left though.  It looked like a trail.  Michele said, "This is not the trail."  But I said "Sure it is."  And we went LEFT.

After a quarter of a mile the trail started heading straight up with lots of rocks.  Michele stopped, "This is not the trail.  You go on ahead and I will wait.  It is not the trail."  SO I blazed on ahead and low and behold, it WAS a dead end.  From here on out we followed the signs better.

I cannot give you a detailed list of the trails that we did and the order that we did them in.  We were looping here and there, going back and forth, running everywhere.  I use the term run loosely though, we did a major amount of walking.  These trails weer narrow, rutted, rocky, hilly, and NOT FOR RUNNERS!

See the surface Michele is standing on?  That is what we ran on! There were even warning signs!

So "RIDE" at your won risk is a nice way of saying "Hey Dummy don't run this!"  But we did and we had fun despite the technical footing.

I think we stopped at least three times so I could draw what our route was supposed to be in the dirt.  I could visualize the map in my head, but was not seeming to translate that to the actual run.  It is interesting to note that we saw only ONE other runner!  We did see about 50 walkers/hikers though.  Hmmmm what does that tell you about these trails?

We ran above the Old Prison and then slowly made our way back up to the cross where we had parked.  A long day, a long run.  What can I say about it?  I can't say I really liked it.  I can't say I would recommend others to run it.  I CAN say, I will not run it again!

Mesa Falls Marathon

What could be better than running a marathon through the Targhee National Forest, by Lower Mesa Falls, on a great trail adjacent to a river, and through rolling farm lands?  Turning it in to a girl's trip!!

Michele and I had trained for the Full Marathon and Kris for the Half.  We headed out of town on Friday morning.  I am sure that all of our husband's were concerned about the three of US on a road trip!  But we were READY!!

Michele drove and we made great time!  It was terribly windy though.  Sometimes the car would swerve violently on the road when a gust hit it.  "How was the marathon Jodi?  I don't know, we DIED before we got there!"  It was blowing the car all over the place!
I was playing with my phone calendar as we headed through Twin Falls.  Michele and I were planning when our trail runs would be now that school had started.  We decided they would be every Tuesday.  So, I start planning one for the Tuesday that we get back from the marathon.  Luckily Michele reminded me that we are supposed to take days off after the race.  Oh yeah, that's right!

We only had a few bathroom breaks despite the fact that Kris' husband said we'd have at least ten!  At our first rest stop we sent a picture to him and said "Bathroom break number 5!"  We thought we were so funny!  But then he texted back a zinger, "That's good, 3 less than I would have guessed!"

Kris and I found Ashton, Idaho on the map!  WooHoo!  How excited are we?

We stopped for lunch at Subway for a carb load in Idaho Falls.  Michele and Kris got wheat bread which has 10 grams of FIBER!! I warned them!  Don't have extra fiber before a race!  Needless to say I got regular ole white bread.  

While Kris was personalizing her sandwich she was accentuating the "S" on all of the food titles,  "I'll have lettusssssss.  And cucumbersssssssss. And onionssssssssssssssss."  Finally the Subway worker said, "Are you hissing at me?"  Kris looked at him and in her scolding tone replied, "Oh you'd KNOW if I was hissing at you!"



So we hit the road again.  Now, I had no idea exactly where we were headed.  I left that all up to Michele.  SO when we passed the sign to turn right to go to West Yellowstone, and Michele DIDN'T turn, I didn't say anything.  I thought she knew exactly where she was headed.  Apparently Kris had the same thought process.  She too saw the sign, watched Michele pass it and NOT turn, and thought to herself that Michele must know a different way to go.  About 10 miles later Michele said, "This doesn't look right.  We should have passed bear world by now. Did you guys see the turn to West Yellowstone?"  Oops.  We had.  So I turned on my phone and used the maps.  Turned out we were headed north instead of east and were way off!  We had to turn around then head through some tiny towns on an old highway.  The detour added an hour to our travel time.  Michele was telling us we failed as co-pilots.  Then she called her husband and "tattled" on us!  Too fun!

We DID make it to Ashton despite my and Kris' ability to aide in the navigating.  We checked in to our hotel.  The debate on who was going to share a bed had to be settled.  Michele announced that she was a cuddler, Kris and I yelled at the same time, "You get a bed alone!"  Then we figured we'd get a cot and I would sleep on the cot since I was the youngest. It turned out the cot was $10.  We are all cheap so we opted out and agreed I would sleep with Michele.  "But," I warned her, "I kick. And if you touch me, I will give you a black eye!"

As we unpacked Michele got out a can of Axe Body Spray.  She said her husband had sent it with her for the bathroom.  He said when you share a room with three guys you need it.  Well, we are not guys and didn't really need it.  But we laughed and placed it ceremoniously in it's place.

Then headed over to the Elementary school to pick up our race packets.

The race packet was in a potato sack and had our shirts in them too.  They were nice ones, my only complaint was that the year wasn't printed on them.  Kris said hers looked too small and she was going to have to lose 5 pounds to fit into it! 

The school also hosted a spaghetti feed.  There was really no where else in town to eat so it was nice that they offered this.  The girl serving the spaghetti flopped about 5 pounds on my plate and then asked, "Is that enough?"  Holy cow!  Is that enough?  I wouldn't be able to move if I ate all of that!!  But we all smiled and said, "Yes, thank you."  Side bar, none of us did eat it all.

Bed time was to be at 9:00 PM.  We were all getting tired anyway by 7:30.  So we prepped for bed and laid down and watched the Bering Sea Gold Diggers on the Discovery Channel.  Dumb, but intriguing at the same time.  We hit the lights and were falling asleep when suddenly....

"When the moon hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie, that's AMORE!"

It was so loud it jolted us all awake.  It was Kris' ring tone for her husband, who had called at 9:30!  Despite being told not to call after 8:30!  After she talked to him, Michele and I couldn't fall asleep because that song kept running through our heads!

Just when I was deep into sleep I heard noises and felt movement.  Michele was up messing with the blankets and covers.  "What are you doing?"  I asked.  She replied, "I am freezing!"  When I suggested tat she turn off the A/C she answered, "No because then Kris will kill me!"  As it turns out, Kris was cold too.  But we didn't find that out til the next day!

We had to get up at 4:00 AM to get ready for the marathon.  Kris was nice enough to drive us to the school to get on the bus.  This was extra nice since her bus didn't leave until 7:30 AM. 

The bus was so HOT!  I was getting nauseous.  As we drove I kept asking Michele if we'd be in the forest or not.  She had promised me that this run was in the forest.  She denied ever having said this, but I KNOW she did.  After a 40 minute ride, we stopped.  Happily for me there were trees and it was foresty.  We were at the startt line, Or were we?

First of all we all needed to use the bathroom really badly.  But we couldn't find the Porta Johns!  We also couldn't find the start line.  We asked one of the bus drivers and he pointed us in the direction.  Michele says you should never trust an overweight, smoking bus driver.  Turns out she was right.  He pointed us in the OPPOSITE way! No one knew where to go.  Finally about 7 of us just hit the trees to go to the bathroom.  What a relief.

When we FINALLY found the starting line, Michele told the race director that the bus driver was pointing everyone in the opposite way.  He replied, "OH NO!" and took off running.  Eventually everyone got rounded up and we were ready to start.  There were a few Porta Johns so Michele and I decided to go "one more time".  Better safe than sorry when you are about to run a marathon!  I then experienced something in a Porta John that was a first for me.  The smell inside was so terrible that I started to dry heave!  I was so close to throwing up. I knew I couldn't or it would ruin my race.  It was terrible! 

Luckily I held it all in and lined up for the start.  The race was 15 minutes late (thanks to the bus driver).  Michele and I had thought about a remote possibility of catching up to Kris on her half-marathon. But with a late start, no way now.

Interestingly in our race was a man who is going blind and running marathons blindfolded to raise money.  His name is E.J. Scott.  (Click on his name to read about him).  It was pretty cool to see him at the start line with is guide.

Did I mention that the start was COLD?  It was freezing!  We took off running and Michele said, "Why didn't we wear gloves?"  It was around  32 degrees.  Our fingers were so cold that I couldn't move them.  My head itched and I couldn't even wiggle my fingers in order to scratch it!  Then my arms started to tingle.  I kept asking Michele if her arms were numb and I 'd hit them to check.  We really did have a fun time! We were running with a type of "Jazz Hands".  Constantly opening and closing our fingers in order to keep the blood flowing in them.  After about half a mile I asked, "Can you get frostbite in 5 minutes?"  (I googled it later turns out you can!) I looked around at a few other runners and saw that they were running with clenched fists.  I tried it, much better!  So I told Michele and we both changed our strategy.  I think it wasn't until mile 5 that we started to feel our fingers and arms again. 

We met some nice people and really enjoyed the friendliness and scenery of this race.  One girl who came up from behind us commented that we had "amazing calves" and she was going to keep up with running if it meant she could get calves like us.  We have to take her word for it because well, in all honestly, we can't see ourselves run from behind. 

Running through the forest was nice.  The road was light gravel and easy on the feet.  At mile 9 we both commented that we felt as if we needed to go to the bathroom, AGAIN.  We held back from drinking.  At mile 10, we were sure of it.  At mile 11 we darted for the trees! We didn't care who might see us.  As we were in the trees I yelled, "I can't believe how much I have to go!"  This was taking forever!! This run was great! :0)

Another point in the race I started to hear this "clicking" noise.  It was very annoying.  Finally I couldn't stand it anymore and I asked Michele, "Are you making that noise? What is it?"  She not only wasn't making it, she couldn't even hear it.  Another runner running by us said that it was a time bomb.  "Our sports beans are actually bombs and they are gonna blow during the race."  Then she ran off.  That was weird.  Runners are by nature eavesdroppers.  They listen to what ever you are talking about, offer their two cents, then run on.

We got to see some beautiful scenery, the best of which was the lower Mesa Falls.

Michele didn't think I looked at it long enough, but I did see it!  Kris was mad at me for not taking a picture!  Those ladies!  I easily got one off the Internet!

When we got to the spot where the half marathon started, we found out that their race had started on time.  All plans to try and catch Kris were now gone.  I had to later confess that I had slowly hatched a plan to leave Michele at mile 13 and really push it to catch Kris.  We headed on to an old railroad track trail and I was still considering the possibility of really pushing the tempo when "Whoops!"  I stepped funny on a rock and rolled my ankle!  (This is the same ankle I rolled funny on our night run a few days ago.)  It hurt so bad!  I limp ran a few steps and gritted my teeth and kept going.  While I loved the scenery and the trail and the terrain, running on dirt and rocks was now killing my ankle.  The uneven surface was torture!  Every step sent sharp pains up my leg.   This then cemented the fact that I would NOT be attempting to catch Kris.  It was probably an unwise thing to try anyway.  Michele did remind me that I sometimes do run stupid when I am alone.  She is wiser after all.

So Michele and I plugged along.  Running along the river was so pretty.  We did find ourselves completely alone though.  No runners ahead of us, no runners behind us.  For a brief moment we wondered if we went the wrong way.  But to our relief at a long stretch we could see our new friend "Kim" a ways behind us.

After three miles of the trail we came out o the road.  Michele HATES running on roads.  However, the even surface was a welcome relief to my ankle.  We kept plugging away, me wincing with every step.  Michele said I was doing a very weird "limp-run".  But it was working.  The course was now rolling hills.  Some of the rolled up a lot, so we walked.  The people who lived along the course were amazing.  They were running the water and aide stations, they had sprinklers aimed at the road for us to run through and they were very friendly and encouraging.  It was actually (despite my pain) a  lot of fun.

As we neared the end of the race, I was in enough pain that I was struggling not to cry.  A man joined us and started matching our pace.  He was annoying Michele because he talked so much.  I just let them talk and concentrated on finishing.  We got to the point that I could only run a quarter mile and then I'd have to walk a bit.  Michele was incredible, like an elite motivational coach.  She talked me through it, called out distances, encouraged me and let me set the pace.  I am glad we were together.


When there was only about a .3 miles left of the race I just wanted to be done.  So I said, "Let's do this."  We picked up the pace and started to run it in.  No more stopping.  As we turned and could see the finish line I sped up.  "Slow Down!" Michele yelled  "No you speed up!" I retorted.  Then she called to me, "You slow down and I'll speed up."  We ran down the chute with our hands together and held up high!  Since we had dressed and look alike the announcer said in the microphone, "And we have Twins finishing."  Haha, leave it to Kris to yell at him, "They are SISTERS!"  She is great!

Now that I can sit back and look at the race and experience, I thought about something Michele has said before and now realize what she meant. "There is something about doing the race for fun and enjoyment that is so much greater than racing it."  Older and wiser.

Now we can't forget about Kris' run.  Her Half-Marathon started at 8:00 AM.

 She told us a bit about it.  First she made a friend on the bus, but doesn't remember their name.  Throughout the race she paced with an older lady who seemed to be the same age.  See despite what Kris may say she is COMPETITIVE TOO!  She didn't want to lose this lady and have her beat her out of an award.  She kept looking for a lady in green (meaning me).  Kris knows me so well that she had guessed my secret plan to try and catch her.  What she did not know was that our race had started late and I wasn't actually running, I was limp-running like a wounded deer!

At one point in the raod Kris got stuck behind a combine!  She couldn't get around him until he moved.  Not something that happens to runners very often I would wager.


We are so proud of Kris because as it turns out, she got third place in her age group!

And the lady she was pacing was from Brazil, same age group after all BUT she was a marathoner and she got third in her age group too!  Amazing!





We all had a great time!  Michele declared that we now must have an annual girls trip road race every year!  And yes, it is already planned!

Kris mentioned that she couldn't BELIEVE Michele held hands with me across the finish line.  She had tried to get Michele to do that at a marathon and Michele wouldn't because that would make them look "weird" like more than friends "weird" if you catch my drift.  We all just laughed and Michele shook her head.  "I am older and wiser now" she answered.

The road trip home was uneventful.  We didn't get lost, we had burgers at Wendy's and we laughed and enjoyed the drive!

OH!  And one last thing!  That weird clicking noise during our race that was bugging me?  Turned out it was my race bib hitting my hydration belt.  Haha! Funny!

There are a lot of other things that happened that other people will never understand.  They will forever only be funny to us:
1)  Kris lives in the house "you know across the street" from Michele
2)  Can't stand up from the toilet
3)  What to do if you are too warm in the Hotel - skivies by the window
4)  If you don't want to work you can just "roll" off the boat
5) Coming out of the gas station barking because I stayed in the car

But to keep the blog short (too late) I will end it here.  If you'd like to read about the race, click here:
Ashton News: Mesa Falls Marathon