Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Eees a Race!

Start Line: I'm nervous. But it's not the usual pre-race nerves. Most races are quick. This race is long. 26.2 miles between me and the finish line.

The start line is organized by projected finish times. Fastest in front. Heather and I take a safe spot next to a pacer. He's an older guy, probably in his forties. He's carrying red balloons with 3:50 written boldly on them. It seems safer back here. There's more people. I vaguely think about how I have to pee but the gun sounds and I, along with the giant mass of people, trot towards the chip scanner that means my race has begun.

Mile 1: Someone had posted a sign that says "Good job Aaron!! You're almost there!" I read it and say, "Now that's the biggest lie I've ever heard." Marthoners are friendly and surprisingly talkative. Because of the slower pace, its easier to talk. And, let's be real, it makes the miles go by faster.

Mile 3: I overhear a man say, "Yeah I just qualified for Boston on Thursday. This is just my fun run." Who does that???

Mile 4: I decide the most annoying racers are the guys wearing knee shorts with their swishing pockets stuffed with gu and power bars. Aaaaand the Asian man whose strides are outrageously short and he stomps every time his foot meets the pavement.

Mile 5: I settle in behind Chick in Pink. I feel out of place. Everyone around me looks like they are crazy serious about running. I'm serious...but I still like my ice cream.

Mile 7: Still have to pee. Luckily, I see a free Honey Bucket. I'm in and out in less than 30 seconds. I don't bother with hand sanitizer. So judge me.

Mile 10: Holy hell...I still have so far...

Mile 13: Whoa! We're half way there! WHO---OOAA LIVING ON A PRAYER!!! That song has never been more appropriate. My half time is 1:40. I think I'm doing pretty good.

Mile 13 1/2: What if I qualify for Boston?.....?......?......

Mile 14: Family! Friends! Husband! I looked forward to seeing them for exactly 13 miles. And I pass by them in a matter of seconds. Still worth every single familiar face and every single word of encouragement.

Mile 17: Runner's high. Second wind. Whatever you want to call it, I am feeling good. A man sitting to the side tells me that I'm number 177, 24th female. Sweet. I'll take that.

Mile 20: I joke with the aid station guys, "From far back, that sign looks like it says 'Mile 10!'" They laugh. My 20 mile time is 2:34. Still doing pretty good.

Mile 21: This is when I die. Not entirely...but I'm hurting. More gatorade! That's the answer, right?

Mile 22: Nope. Still hurting.

Mile 23: The 3:25 pacer passes me. Still dying. I drink at the aid station and walk a little extra until I can will myself to get going again.

Mile 25 1/2: The last few miles have been hell. I don't care about my time. I just want to finish. I hurt. The guys in front of me walk. Does that mean I can walk too? No, Kim. Keep going. You're almost there. Less than a mile and that still seems like a big fat lie.

Mile 26: I still can't see the end. Walking still looks like a very tempting possibility. But then I turn the corner and all I can see is the finish line. It's only a football field away. I have absolutely no energy to sprint or even run any faster at all. I see Matt to the side. He screams that I'm going to get sub 3:30. I glare at him. Who cares what my time is? I just want to cross that line and be done.

Mile 26.2: 3 hours 29 minutes and 28 seconds. And it's over.

Results: 184th over-all finisher (out of about 1,600 runners). 30th woman. 2nd in my age group (20-24). Averaged a 7:59 minute pace.

And I qualified for Boston.

But really, honestly, I'm just glad I finished. That marathon was the hardest things I've ever done physically in my whole life. But I finished.

Kyle did awesome. He's my hero. So crazy speedy. And Heather did so good too. I thought I would get emotional when I finished. I didn't, though. But I did when Heather finished. I was so outrageously proud of her. Gosh, my siblings are amazing. And Heather still looked super hot after running 26.2 miles.  Wish I could've pulled that off.


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I know I Just Posted...

Turns out when you're living with someone, you learn some things about them you didn't know before. So here are my favorite things I've learned about Ben:

  • He can do the front-wards worm
  • He hates the most delicious part of a bag of Gardetto's: the yummy dark rye chips (more for me)
And
  • He can play The Chariot of Fire's theme song on the piano
I love bargains.

Seems as though I've married one.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Joey and Janice's Day of Fun

Surprise! I'm not posting about the marathon! At least not yet...

This event happened first so it has priority (the marathon story is forthcoming). And this story is called:

Joey and Janice's
DAY. OF. FUN!

Except that it is really Kim and Ben's and really we don't hate each other. Okay deal.

For Labor Day Ben and I decided to go on a hike.

Box Canyon
 The first part of the hike was way ugly. But then it turned into this:

The picture doesn't give it justice but the water was an awesome crystal blue.
 
Descent into the canyon.
 
The trail was mostly bush-whacking (hence the poison oak of the previous post)
but there were some really cool bridges built to get over the watery parts. Way pretty.

Jaeger got super hot and he took every chance he could to cool off.
Ben and I swam in the lake behind...after we scared off some skinny dippers.
It was very. very. very cold.
Our next adventure included taking a stop at the Perrine Bridge.
It's a tourist attraction in Twin Falls I have never taken the time to look at.
It was pretty cool.

After dinner we hit up the old Best Buy and purchased us a Garmin GPS.
It's pretty sweet.
And then we ended the day by taking the car through The Rocket.
It's a pretty fancy car wash.
The end!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Ahhhhh!!!

I'm running my first ever MARATHON (that's 26.2 miles, people) on Saturday. According to the Top of Utah webpage that is exactly 1 DAY 9 HOURS and 39 MINUTES away.

Am I freaking out?

Yes. Yes I am.

 
Especially because my legs currently look like this:


Yep. Ran into some poison oak almost two entire weeks ago and NOW is when it decided to flare up.

Cue blistering rash, tight muscles and impossibly itchy legs.

What a blessing.

Pray for me, people. Cause heaven knows I'm going to need it.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Not Cool, BYU

Notice the uber-cheesy new blog head?

Eh? Eh?

Just so you know, the title is complimentary of Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" so even if it is slightly vomit inducing, it has meaning and isn't the generic "Adventures of _____ and _____."

Okay, deal.

Anyhow. Brief update on Ben and I...

Ben is applying to BYU (Provo version...heads up to all you Utah folk!!!!!! :). He's been working on all parts of the application process for like a month now- getting transcripts, working on ecclesiastical endorsements and filling out information.

For those non-zoobies, BYU has a pretty solid online process for applications. It has a list of all the items that need to be turned in. Right next to each item, it will say the status, usually either "Received" and the date or "Required" in bold red.

As of Monday, Ben still had several really importants items he needed to turn in. But when he got online, his per item check list looked something like this:

High School Transcripts: Waived
Personal Essay: Waived
ACT Score: Waived
etc.

Yeah. We stared at the computer for five whole minutes contemplating the possibility that BYU had already made their decision: they wanted Ben.

Did this mean that Ben would start school in January? Would we be moving right back to the good ol' Utah valley? Should I take that as a go ahead to apply for grad school there? Apply for jobs? Quit the jobs we have?

I mean, it wasn't for sure...but that's kind of what they meant, right? But we were just so unsure about the crazy goodness of this, that we questioned it. So Ben logged out and logged back in. And our check list of pure awesomeness dissolved back into the ugly red letters screaming that these points were, afterall, required.

:(

Not cool, BYU. Not cool.

On another note, today Ben told me how disappointed he was that BYU's theme this year was "Rise Up." He was even more disappointed when I let him that that was the theme every year.