Some of My Best Friends Train For Marathons With Me

It's a selfie, of a selfie, of a selfie. Coolest group picture to date.

   Mark and I are now on week 9 of our marathon training schedule. It is hard. It takes a lot of time. The more I train the more I feel like this is an impossible task I am undertaking. I seriously think I have lost my mind in signing up for this race. But then, almost every Saturday, we lace up our running shoes and meet some of our running group for a training run.

   The cool thing about our running group is that we have runners of all levels and with all kinds of different goals. Some are chasing a Boston qualification. Some are training for a faster race time. Some for their first (fill in the blank) race. Others have been there, done that, and are still racing, but not specifically training for this or that. That is why I love our group. We have 12 minute milers-7 minute milers and everyone has SOMEONE they can run with. And when we do these training runs, we work so that everyone, no matter how far they plan to run or how fast, has other people there to run with. Honestly, my running group changed my life.

   Last Saturday Mark and I met our group at Big Cottonwood Canyon (the site of our first marathon) to run the first 15 miles of the race, the complete downhill portion. This canyon is no joke. We drop around 4000 feet in 15 miles. That is a large drop. That is why we are trying to do it several times before the race. If you don't train it, you will get hurt during race time. That is no bueno. 

   The run was good. It was HOT. Like 80 something degrees when we started and in the mid 90's when we were done. And there were dead snakes in the road. And if you know anything, you know a dead snake means there are faster, smarter, and now more angry snakes not too far away, waiting to kill the first human to revenge the fallen. So, yeah. Josh learned all sorts of new cuss word combinations when we saw those...

   But, I digress. I am so thankful that we did the run. I am thankful that there were so many people who showed up to run with us. I am thankful to have met so many people who are so supportive to Mark and I. I would not be trying to run a marathon without all of this support. So, thank you to the Run Aways. Each of you have been amazing and we just love every chance we get to run with you.

   I am also thankful for people like Becca from my group who were so forthcoming during their first marathon training process. Even though her race didn't go as planned (she still rocked Ogden, even with heat exhaustion!), she did so much to inspire me to want to try a marathon. And I just have to take the time to thank her. Thank you Becca. You are a running machine to me and I, for one, and so glad you were so vocal. You totally convinced me to try the marathon Kool-aid. And I am grateful to you.

  So here is to week 9 of marathon training and this weekend will be my next race, Hobbler Half.