Salt Lake City Marathon

So we get to the real reason we all came together to visit in Salt Lake. Back on October, Mark (my brother in law) asked if anyone wanted to run in the marathon with him. Plans were made and plans were changed. Dave and I intended on running the full marathon and between life and well more life (funny how it can change so much in just a few short months) we changed our plans. The Salt Lake Marathon was an amazing day of accomplishments for the whole family.

Here are Amy and I before the 5k race. It was an amazing race! I have ran several 5ks, but they were all on post in Italy. This was a neat experience and so motivating to run right past temple square, past a restaurant that smelled amazing and then the turn around back up a HUGE hill. It was a challenge but so fun. This was Amy's first race and man did the race bug bite her!

My dear sweet husband decided the day before the race to run the half marathon. It was a debate because he had no training, but I knew he could. He has ran that distance before and with the experience of his present company (mark and I) he was able to use some techniques to make it through the long distance. He has little time here in the United States and really needed this to officially complete one of his goals. He nearly died at the finish line lol, but he made it the whole race running (again with a huge uphill at the end) and he made a very decent time of just over 2 hrs!
Pictured here is one of the greatest accomplishments of the day. Mark completed his first marathon. Dave met up with him the last .5-.25 mile and ran the end with him. He was injured and debated about running the long distance, but again pulled out the strength to completed the race.

Not only did the fun stop there, but all of the kids ran a 1k. Not sure it was really 1k, but they all participated. They got a shirt and medal. It was a great way to spark the need for exercise and the internal accomplishment of a race. My kids have all participated in 5k races, so for them, this felt like another opportunity of great fun!

I was so thankful we all ran a portion of this race. The atomosphere was amazing and really we all accomplished great things. There was fun and a huge sense of pride in doing new things. I cannot wait for the next race and hopefully won't be too far off. I am not the greatest runner but I love doing it and I am amazed at how the body can endure so much and recover so well. How empowering it can be!