Two Very Intense Weekends!

October 6th, The Saint George marathon began on a beautiful cool morning at Central, UT. I felt great for most of the race. I followed the 4:15 pacer for the entire race. It was like I was a stalker. It really helped not having to worry about my splits. One cool thing about this years race was that it sent texts to whoever we wanted about my progress in the race so Wendy and Brita were able to follow me. The stars aligned and I was able to get a PR of 4:13:15. I never did hit the wall, but the last 3 miles were pretty tough. It was great to see all of the crowds and signs. My number 1 fan kept me motivated and going strong. It was great to have Bill for the last 10 miles of the race follow along side me on his bike. He took some great pictures. I'm looking forward to my next race, whatever that may be. I might even talk Bill into doing one with me.

 "Ain't this a livin'"

 Chuck Norris never ran a marathon!

 Great perspective from my professional photographer.

 Flying down the hill.

 The end is near!

 Giving a high five to pacer, Jo.

Showing off the hardware.

October 12th, The Park to Park Pedal Extreme Nevada 100 bike ride began at Kershaw State Park just outside of Caliente. It was a cool, crisp morning with over 100 anxious bike riders, some serious, some not so serious. (Guess what category Bill was in) The riders traveled to Cathedral Gorge State Park, Echo Dam State Park, Spring Valley State Park and then back to Kershaw. It was fun to support Bill this weekend to see him culminate his many hours and miles of training for this event. He thoroughly enjoyed himself (we crazy people call pushing our endurance limits enjoyable). I got to see the riders several times as I drove up and down the roads, camping myself in opportune spots to take pictures. One guy kept saying, "There you are again". I had an interesting conversation with a lady in Pioche who was talking about her daughter that ran marathons. She said she doesn't run full marathons anymore because she got injured. "She is 30, you know," She told me. I didn't tell her how old I was. My awesome husband finished in the top 15 in well under 7 hours which was his goal. Now we're both wondering, what's next?

 Getting psyched up for a big day.

 The race began with mid 40 temps so it was quite chilly.

 The view out my car window. Pretty nice, huh?

 Bill leading the way on the hills.

 This race ended with a mile of uphill. So the finish was especially triumphant.

 Relaxing post race. Notice the smile. It was all good.

 Up at beautiful Kershaw park where the race began that morning.

The paparazzi (aka wife) followed the bikers up and down the route. Fortunately, she did not cause any accidents.