Runnin' in the Desert

I have decided that running long distances is a little like childbirth. It doesn't seem nearly as bad after the fact as it does while you are in the moment.

This last weekend, my mom, brother, sister-in-law and I flew to Phoenix to run in the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. My nutty brother decided about half way into our training that he would show us all up and run the full marathon. We had a great weekend and I'm pretty luck to have a husband who not only stayed home and ran the kids all over the place, but was my biggest cheerleader. I had to miss Kaiya's piano recital and two of Cooper's basketball games, which I hated missing.

She did so good!

We flew out late Friday night and got into Scottsdale just before midnight. My mom and stepdad stayed at a hotel while Brandon and Erika and I stayed with my dad at our condo a/k/a "The Pad" in Scottsdale, which is the same place I have spent every spring break with very few exceptions since I was about 9 years old. My dad has been there since the day after Christmas, so I think he was ready for some guests. We spent Saturday checking out the race expo and figuring out where to go on Sunday morning. For dinner, we did some serious carb loading at an Italian restaurant and then went to bed early.

Brandon's race started at 7:40 a.m. and the half didn't start until 8:30, so we got dropped off in shifts thanks to my dad and stepdad. Our hope was that the slow ladies would finish before Brandon so we could cheer him through the finish line. Turned out we finished about the same time because we didn't even cross the START line until 9:00. So many runners!! In fact, there were so many runners that we had a hard time keeping a decent pace at times just because we were trying to navigate around so many people, especially those that decided to stop and walk with no warning right in front of us. We got lots of comments on our matching t-shirts that my mom got us and saw lots of inspirational stories on other people's t-shirts.

The weather was perfect and the course was pretty flat until about mile 10 and then we hit some hills. There were live bands every couple miles and that made it fun. My courageous sister-in-law probably shouldn't have even been running because her poor stomach gave her such grief while she was training. I know I would have quit. She did SO awesome! We didn't set any land speed records, but we never stopped--even at the water stops, we drank on the run. It was a little scary as we neared the finish line seeing someone in full cardiac arrest off the side of the road being attended to by EMTs, but we made it! We hurried over to the full marathon finish line and because my brother is a speed demon, he had just crossed the finish line about the same time we did, so we missed him. :(

After the race, we headed straight to our absolute favorite Mexican food place--Baja Fresh. Then came a long soak in the hot tub, a long shower and a nap. We ate dinner at a fun local spot called AZ 88 and went to the Sugar Bowl for ice cream. Nothing like rewarding ourselves with food. Ha!

So, even though training in the snow and ice was not much fun, it was worth it! What a great weekend!

Friday night greeting

This is gonna be a piece of cake

Picking up our race bibs

Photo op at the expo

Putting our tag in our shoes

6 a.m. on race day--ready to go!

Finished!

Feeling special in our matching shirts

How we're all related . .