26.2 MILES

Thursday the family left Salt Lake for Sunny St. George so we could run the St. George Marathon.
Stu and I packed the dog and my little brother Cannon and started the 4 1/2 hour drive. We were in a bit of a time crunch since we had tickets to see Aida at the Tuacahn outdoor theatre at 7:30PM and Grandma would have dinner on the table by 6:30PM. We hit some unexpected traffic problems (will we didn't but Liz and her mom and my brother and his girlfriend did). We bypassed the nasty traffic and made it to Grandma's at 6:25PM

Sarah and Stu at the Tuacahn theatre before Aida

Liz, Scott Murdock, Stu and I. Scott is a dear friend that Liz and I worked with at Clarke American. He is currently living in St. George and we hooked up for some lunch and some good laughs.

Sarah picking up her St. George packet

Stu picking up his packet. This is his first marathon!
Matt, Liz, Sarah and Stu at the expo. Matt and Stu were 1st time runners and both nervous about the next day's run.

Liz and I LOVED the 'tattoo' Stu got from LotaJa so we created our own for the St. George Marathon. It is kinda hard to see but it is the words "STG". We thought we were pretty cool. Liz and I actually got comments on it during the race. Someone asked me if it was "permanent". I told him "permanent marker"

4:30AM. All the runners in their 'warm' gear getting ready to leave the hotel room

Stu, Sarah, Liz and Matt at the starting line. It was COLD. Stu didn't bring a sweatshirt so we immediately found a fire and got him warmed up.

Here I am trying to warm up Stu before the start of the race.
Unlike last year when it rained and was so cold, this year was so nice and just perfect. It was cold at the beginning of the race but it warmed up really quick. My goal was the make the marathon in 4 h 30 m. I was on track for most of the way till the end I lost some time. I ended up coming in at 4 h 37 m. I WILL TAKE IT. I was so excited.

Stu did AWESOME for his 1st marathon. About mile 20 the blisters on his pinky toes popped and created a great deal of pain for him. But he pushed through and came in at 4 h 59 m. "Sup 5 hours" he says. It was so awesome to watch him come in and to share this experience with him.


Sarah and Stu after the race

My support group. Cannon, Sarah, Grandma, Grandpa, Coleman, Katie and Stu. My grandparents have seen my race each time I have done the marathon and I am so grateful for them.

An "after" shot of us runners: Stu: 4 h 59 m Sarah 4 h 37 m Liz 4 h 42 m Matt 4 h 19 m

Honey I am so proud of you and all you accomplished. Liz my dear running buddy it has been grand, thank you for all your support. Matt, you beat me and you suck ;-)