Run, Run.... As Fast As You Can!

My husband, you gotta love him. He's taken up running in the last year. Great for him, but yet another way that he makes me feel inferior. Now to be clear, he doesn't do it to specifically bring out said inferiority, but he has grabbed the bull by the horns and is doing something that is new and hard for him. I blame my sister-in-law Katie.

She's a runner... done a couple of marathons. Well last year, a bunch of Matt's siblings thought it would be fun to register for the 10K put on by the Deseret News in conjunction with Pioneer Day. So we made our way to Research Park at 5AM on the 24th of July. We had left our kids sleeping at our cabin in Summit County with my parents and headed down into the valley. After I dropped Matt off, I headed to Mickey D's and got my morning DC and then headed to watch him finish near Liberty Park. Boy, what a different world these runners live in. I saw things, and heard things, that made me never want to run again, (see the implication that I have run in my lifetime?) But then, I saw things and people, that were inspiring; pregnant women, old people, little kids, cancer survivors.... all these people doing something that I think is so hard, and evidently enjoying themselves. Matt finished the race with his brother and two sisters and they were hooked.

Man, were they sweaty? And Carolyn, the girl on the end, never has her eyes open for pictures so don't think I put in a bad one on purpose.

Since last summer, they did a 10K at Thanksgiving and then we all participated in a charity 5K in March... even me! I was practically the last one across the finish line, but I did it. There was also very little running involved on my part. I tend to fall when I run, but that's another story. Suffice it to say, the ramifications of me falling are greater than my desire to win any race.

Anyway, Matt & Carolyn (closed-eye girl and future pharmacist) signed up this year for the Utah Valley Half-Marathon. 13.1 miles. I'm pretty sure that Matt was scared that he was going to die, or have a heart-attack, or both. Carolyn has been training hard, and she's awesome! We knew she was going to be great.

Matt, on the other hand, has a crazy job, a crazy life and a wife who is happy to eat out and watch movies, i.e. NOT RUN. Thankfully for Matt, we have a dog Annie, who loves to run. She goes crazy when he puts on his heart monitor and iPod. They have been great running buddies.

Saturday morning, the 11th , found me and the kids, along with Uncle Spencer, down in Provo waiting for our loved ones to finish the race.

Jack didn't want the sun in his eyes, but the kids were all too excited to show off the awesome signs we made.

Uncle Spencer got some great pics due to his awesome camera and media credentials, but I'm having a hard time loading them on Blogger, so you'll have to make do with my crappy pics.

Here are my two favorite runners after they finished their race. I am so glad they have each other. They talk often about training, they trade their favorite Runner's World articles and they encourage each other. It's great to watch that kind of relationship.

Here is our family, all together after the race. The kids loved watching their dad finish, and Allie asked Matt if he would train with her so she could run the 10K on Pioneer Day. What an awesome example he is. I'm proud of him for running, as long as he stops every once in a while so I can catch up.