happy times

It was a blast having Mom and Mac come out for the marathon! I loved being able to show McKay where we live and what New York is all about. I wish I would have had more time without the Marathon hanging over my head but that just means they will have to come out again! My boys truly LOVED having them here. Jackson and Chase love Mac! Jackson is still at the age where he likes to show off and be crazy. Luckily Mac handled it well. Chase just thought that him and Mac were best friends. He wanted to do everything that McKay did. It is funny seeing them interact with their Uncles. It brought back memories of being little and hanging out with my Aunts and feeling like it was the coolest thing EVER! You really look up to them so much as a kid and it is fun to see my kids do the same thing. Here is our first adventure, to the Natural History Museum and Mac's first subway ride!

Then Mom watched the boys while Me, Chase, and McKay went down to Time Square! We first walked down 5th Ave., Rockefeller Center, and then Time Square to get Cheesecake from Juniors. I found my new all time favorite Cheesecake! We usually get a Chocolate Cheesecake and the regular Red Velvet Cake. This time we tried the Red Velvet Cheesecake and it was amazing! If you like Red Velvet it is a must have!

I have always wanted to go to the Doughnut Plant and since Mac likes Doughnuts we made a quick stop on our way down to the Statue of Liberty. Apparently they are listed as one of the top Doughnut places in America.

Friday we decided to have a picnic in the park. We headed down to Sheeps Meadow, our favorite grass area in CP. It was a beautiful day and was super relaxing. Then my Mom and Mac rode bikes through Central Park back to our apartment which is not an easy ride! Go Mom! I was proud and impressed!

Last but not least, This is Grandma spoiling the boys with yummy delicious treats.

Wow! The past 10 months has been an incredible journey and ended in 3:09. Life is a crazy thing and lessons are learned in so many ways. Although there is a bit of disappointment that I came 9 minutes shy of my goal time, the lessons that I have learned along the way are truly priceless and worth every ounce of energy that I put into trying to get that sub-3 hour goal. Here is where it all began!

Central Park! Gets me excited just thinking about it! The majority of my runs took place on the six mile loop that circles the park. I have always loved running but this is where I fell in love with the sport. Amazing! There is a constant flow of people out running and biking every day, but this is what it looks like on a Saturday! The energy is amazing and every once and a while it is fun to pick out some runners that look fast and see how long you can hang with them till one of you break, or pretend that your run is done:)

Although I love running in Central Park it is not the easiest loop to run. There are constant hills from start to finish. My most favorite part of the loop is the down hill right before the 72nd transverse, coming around the bend till you come up to the top where you see the CNN building with the time. My least favorite part is the hill right before you reach the MET. It gets me every time.

I would usually run the Hudson if I needed a good recovery run or if I had an injury that I needed to favor. My last long run was on the Hudson since it is completely flat and my my hurt knee was nagging me the last 3 weeks of my training. Not where I would have liked to end my training but it was pretty cool to run down to the Statue of Liberty and back finishing my last 20 miler!

The training program I followed was from a book called, Run Faster From The 5k To The Marathon, recommended by a good friend. Before my training started I was trying to find a program that I felt like would guarantee a sub-3 hour marathon. The one in this book looked incredibly intense and out of my league but I decided to go for it and although I would make adjustments next time, I am glad I did. It pushed me to my limits and made me realize that you can do more than you think you can. I ran 6 days a week putting in 55-78 miles per week. The only thing I would do differently is make sure that my speed is stronger before adding so many miles so that I can sustain a faster pace in my workouts even with all the mileage. That was what hurt me. Once I got up in the 70 range my legs had a hard time running that many miles and still be able to recover to get in good speed workouts. But overall I loved the training and felt well prepared. I finished my very last 5 mile run that Saturday morning before heading to Boston. My legs felt good and I must say that I got a serious adrenaline rush feeling like my training is behind me and now it is time to finally get out and see what I could do. I was nervous but excited! Unfortunately there were warning emails being sent out that it was suppose to be incredibly hot and to take certain precautions. Then they sent out the email that they were giving runners to option to defer to run next year because the running conditions would be so bad. It was somewhat discouraging to hear all the talk but I tried to not let it get to my head. Sunday morning we went to the expo to pick up my bib number. That was awesome! I was able to meet up with my good friend Holly which was a lot of fun! She is awesome and it was so fun to be there with her and her husband Dave. After picking up our bib numbers my Mom took the boys to the park and Chase and I went with Holly and Dave to have our pre-race meal of pasta, pasta, and more pasta. Chase told me that He never wants to eat pasta again.

After resting up that afternoon and getting dinner it was time to get all my gear ready for the morning. I made sure my bib was pinned to my shirt and that my watch was fully charged! Then I only had one more thing to do before I went to bed, finish my last few chapters of the Book of Mormon. When I started my training I worried about two things. I worried that I would not be able to have to energy to do all my runs and still be able to keep up with my responsibilities at home as a Mom and wife. I was also concerned about staying injury free. It truly was a miracle to me that with my history of injury I was able to get almost all my runs in with very little cross training. So, it became habit to say my morning prayer on my runs. I would pray that the Lord would help me to physically be able to do it all and keep my body healthy. Then I began to feel guilty asking the Lord to give me the energy and health to be able to run when I neglected the energy to read more than a verse of scriptures. So when my actual training began in December and with the New Year approaching I decided that I would promise the Lord that I would finish the Book of Mormon before my marathon. Truly the most amazing experience I have ever had in my life. I began reading every time I got in the ice bath, anytime I had a few quiet minutes at the end of my kids naps, and was so excited when I reached Moroni a few days before Marathon. The night before my race I had two chapters left. It was the sweetest experience to finish that last verse. I did it. I felt the spirit so strong and I hope I never forget it. I am so grateful that the Lord new how to reach me. Although it took running to compel me to rely more on the Lord and the scriptures, I am so grateful for it. It made my whole experience so much more than just a marathon. It made me realize that there are so many great things that we can do and accomplish, so many grand opportunities. But, there is nothing that compares to the blessings and pure joy that come from making what is most important a top priority in your DAILY life. I finished the book, headed to bed, and slept great! Woke up at 4:30 ready to run and totally excited! Chase drove me to Holly's hotel where we ate breakfast. I had a little oatmeal, bagel with peanut butter, and a banana. We jumped on the shuttle that took us to the subway that took us to the buses. We rode the buses to Hopkinton where the race starts!

Holly and I were in the same wave and coral. Our start time wasn't until 10:20 so we had lots of time to kill before. Luckily we were able to wait inside a house, thanks to Holly and Dave, and rest and use the bathroom as much as we needed. The start was right outside the house so once it hit 10:00 we headed out. GAME TIME! I got the usual jitters but it was incredible being there at the start of the Boston Marathon!

Chase was waiting at miles 6 then headed to meet the rest of the family at mile 17. It was hot and miserable the whole run. I was hoping to have a little enthusiasm and juice when I saw my boys but I truly was dying. Mac ran by me for a second and then it was one foot in front of the other from then on. I realized that I was not going to get my 3 hour when I hit mile 17, although close to my goal race pace I had absolutely nothing left it me. At that point it was to get as close to it as I could. I really wanted at least under 3:10 and it was a fight to the finish line to get that. I was overjoyed when I saw the finish line, I honestly thought it was NEVER going to come. I was so happy to finish that for a moment I didn't care about my time. I came close on a killer hot day and I was happy with that. I was so excited to see Chase! He sacrificed so much for me through all of my training including getting my boys fed, dressed, and out the door to have Chase to his bus on time every morning while I ran. I felt so grateful to him for all his support and for the wonderful experience of having him and my family see me through one of my biggest goals. I was so happy to have my Mom and Mac there as well. It really meant so much to me and I can't tell you how much it helped me to see them along the course and at the finish! I also had a lot of fans from home tracking me and cheering me on that pushed me when I really wanted nothing more than to stop and call it quits.