Thank you sir, may I have another?

I feel the need to document this run; it being a milestone in my running career. Maybe career is too strong a word to use here, but we"ll leave it for lack of a better one.

This was a GORGEOUS run! 20 miles from Veyo to Ivins through old highway 91. The whole time the photographer in me was screaming, PERFECT LIGHT! PERFECT COMPOSITION! WHERE IS MY CAMERA?? One of the things I love about running is that I'm able to look around a little and notice the beauty that I might miss in a car. This is one of the most enjoyable things about running to me.

That and finishing. I like finishing.

So in case you're wondering, no, I didn't lug my SLR with me on a 20 mile run, I had to settle for taking a little drive the next evening to try and capture what I saw that morning. The evening light doesn't do the morning light justice here, but I wanted pictures. And not just for the beauty of it. I really want to remember this run. I know that might seem crazy, considering I was definitely spent at the end. (That's putting it gently.)

Maybe it's for the same reason that we can't take our eyes off of a train wreck or a burning building. Perhaps a better parallel would be women recounting harrowing childbirth stories again and again, and we psychologically feel better with each telling. Who knows. But for whatever reason, I keep replaying it over and over in my mind. The wonderful feeling of striding out over the road, as well as the last few hills when I felt like there was no way (walking or running) that I was going to carry my body any longer.

But I still did. Maybe that's why my mind has such a hard time making sense of it. I can't fully explain how amazing I think the human body is. With all of my flaws and human-ness, I still finished. In 3:23. To me, that's amazing.

So here are some pictures for my own psychological well-being. I came, I saw, I conquered. And for the same reason that women keep having children, I want to still do the marathon. Or perhaps it's in the same way that a drug addict begs for more drugs, my ravaged body still screams for more. I don't know. I guess I can't explain it. Good times.

I took Alex with me on my little drive:
He's sitting near the start of the race...about 1 mile or so in. We had some great conversations on this trip. At one point he said,

"The first prophet was Abby Doe."

"No, the first prophet was Adam."

"Yah, I know..." (and then he started singing the next part, so get the tune of Follow the Prophet in your head...ready?)

"Adam was a prophet, first one Abby Doe; in a place called Eden he helped things to grow..."

I died.

Alex also asked once if we were going to Subway. When I told him no, he asked if we would be foraging. I guess he'll make a good scout.

This was the start of the race.

Cactus jelly, anyone?

This is what the last 1.5 looked to me. I can't tell you how intimidating that hill looked after 18.5 miles. And the whole course was like this...hill after hill after bloody, freaking hill. Love it. Hate it. I don't know, I'm conflicted.Alex got a little "sea sick" as he put it, so we stopped at a park so he could get some fresh air. Here are some random shots I took:

This was a really fun trial run for the marathon. And the hills made it a great training course. I am encouraged by my time, even though I think I would have been faster on the marathon course. I think my training has gone pretty well overall, but there are definitely things I would do differently. I would have followed a little stricter training regime and monitored my diet a little better to optimize my runs. But this has always just been for fun, and I have had the best time training. I really look forward to my runs, and I love the girls I run with. (and the boy...hi dan.)

I can't wait for October 4th!