Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Marathon

O.K. so here it is. My marathon story. I want to start this post by saying that this marathon was really hard and to me only compares to being in labor. What an experience. I was really prepared. I had done the training and done really well through all my long runs, but nothing could prepare me for the mental struggle I experienced in this marathon. My body may have been ready, but my mind was not. My mind got the best of me from the very beginning. Jaynie was up all night throwing up and I had a horrible stomach (I attribute this to the food, but who knows because just Jaynie and I were sick) so I just knew I was going to have a bad run and I did. I think with a Marathon you have to go in to it with a positive attitude and for all of the training I had a great attitude, but I woke up that morning with a negative attitude and I think it really affected me. Anyway I started out pretty good, but because of my stomach ache I wasn't drinking my accelerade (a glorified gatorate) and I tried the gatorade they were offering, which I think made it worse, one because it was so sweet and two because that wasn't what I was used to. I knew better, obviously race day was not the time to try something new!! Then at mile 8 I stopped to go to the bathroom to see if that would help my stomach, but of course I couldn't go and after that I just couldn't really get in a groove. I felt really sluggish and at mile 14 there was a huge hill and I actually had to walk up it. I had never had to walk up a hill in all of my training and here again the mental struggle came into play. I started questioning, What in the world as I doing. What am I trying to prove? Who cares if I run a marathon? I watched my buddy Marcia get up the hill and keep going and I thought, "I'm done. There is no way I can finish anywhere close to where I wanted to so why bother." You can see why going on would be a little difficult, but I also knew I would see Whit, my girls, Mom and Dad, and Kim soon and I didn't want to give up because of them. So I kept going, but at this point my stomach was really bothering me. **Warning!! This story is probably going to get a little graphic so if you get queasy easily don't read on. At the water station at mile 14 I tried to go to the bathroom again, and again no luck. Then just before the next water station I tried to take another gu (a really disgusting substance that you squeeze into your mouth that is supposed to give you a quick boost of energy). Gu is really horrible to take on a normal stomach, but as I discovered if you have an upset stomach it is extra horrible. Needless to say the gu came right back up. Right on someones front lawn. Now I have done my fair share of throwing up. In fact after four pregnancies I feel like I have made it a skill, but this was the worst thing I have ever experienced. In fact afterwards the only thing I could compare the pain in my stomach to was the contractions during labor. I doubled over on the ground and a man right behind me asked if he should get someone. I hurt so bad that I just said, "yes, please send someone to help me." Luckily I was able to lay flat and stretch out my stomach and by the time the EMT's got to me, I felt a lot better. I was just really discouraged. That had cost me a lot of time and I did not want that to happen again. I really didn't know what to do. The EMT's were really "encouraging" saying things like, "you have done a great job to make it this far, no one will think less of you if you stop now." Yeah that's just what I wanted to hear. I decided I would keep going until I found Whit and then decide. Luckily he was just about half a mile up the road. When everyone saw me this time, they were pretty worried. I guess I looked pretty bad, plus as soon as I saw Whit I started bawling. I gave him some of my bottles from my fuel belt so it wasn't so heavy and decided to keep going. I was walking a lot at this point, I just couldn't make myself go. I was really dragging and I knew I needed some nourishment, so stupidly I tried taking a gu again at the mile 18.9 water stop. All I had to do was put the gu in my mouth and I threw up again. This time the stomach cramps made the first cramps feel like a walk in the park. I really thought I might pass out. It hurt so bad. My EMT friends had been worried about me since the first time I threw up so they were slowly following me on their bikes, so they ran to me again and of course this time they were a little more persistent about me stopping. Again I laid flat and stretched my stomach and felt better, At this point I wasn't sure what to do. I knew I was getting super dehydrated because all of my fluid had come back up, but I also knew I couldn't stop. I didn't put in all this time and do all this work to have nothing to show for it. I decided again to get to Whit and see. My EMT friends stayed close and on I went. Whit was at mile 19 in the car. I really wanted to get in the car. Whit was awesome he just said, "I will support you in whatever you decide, but I know you can do this." That was exactly what I needed to hear so I went on. The next two miles were really lonely. There was a point where I couldn't see anyone in front of me or behind me. I was convinced that I was going to finish this thing dead last, but I finally realized I was going to finish. I was really, really dragging though and I was worried I was going to get really dehydrated if I just kept drinking water, so finally I wised up and started drinking my accelerade. Just little sips because I didn't want to throw up again, but it was enough. I finally started feeling myself pick up and I was able to run to each water station. They were about a mile apart at this point and I just kept telling myself. Just run to the next station and then you can walk and drink some water, so I did. I was feeling really good. I had caught up to all the people that had passed me when I was throwing up and by mile 23 I had passed those people. My fans were at mile 23 and I think they were very glad to see me a little more perky. Here they told me I wasn't very far behind Kim and Marcia and I couldn't believe it. I didn't know what had happened to them, but I was pretty excited because I was sure they would have already finished. At mile 24 I saw them at the bottom of a hill and I just started bawling again. I couldn't believe that we were going to finish this thing together. When I got to them Kim was in really bad shape. She had thrown up as well and had just let herself get really dehydrated. She was pretty delirious and walking. When I got to her I tried to get her to run, but she would get really dizzy when she would so we walked. She had to lay down a couple of times and the EMT's really wanted to take her to the Medical tents, but Marcia and I wouldn't let them. We knew she would want to finish. In hind sight that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but we knew if we were her we would want to go on, so we were going to carry her if we had to. There was a point when Kim had one arm around Marcia and one arm around me, but we got her to the end. When we had about a quarter of a mile to the finish we dumped some water on Kim's head and we decided to run. Kim took off and it was all I could do to keep up with her, but it was a pretty awesome feeling to finish all together. We started this journey together. Why not finish it together?

Before
Mile 11
Mile 23
I had the best supporters ever!!!
My Girls finishing with me
My time-an hour later than I hoped for, but at least I finished. Maybe next time.

Thanks Mom, Dad, and Kim. Having you there is what got me to the finish line!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Mom's Birthday was May 1st, the day after Jaynie's so we started the celebration with a birthday dinner on the 30th. We went to a great restaurant and had great food. On Mom's birthday Kim, Mom, and I went out and got pedicures. I know someone took pictures of this. Mom? Kim? If you have them send them my way so I can post them. Then we came home and made a yummy dinner. This was the night before the marathon so we ate in. Unfortunately I tried something new and fancy, which turned out to be a not so great idea for the marathon, but it was a really great dinner. I felt pretty bad, because I was so focused on the marathon that it turned out to be a pretty boring day for mom, but I think we made the best of it. We watched a really funny movie called Run, Fat boy, Run in honor of the marathon. I only watched part of it and then left everyone else to finish while I went to bed. I realized the next day that we didn't even have cake or sing to mom or anything. What a great daughter I am. I hate realizing my selfish moments, but this definitely was one of them. Sorry Mom, but know that I love you and it was a great privilege to be able to spend your birthday with you.

Happy Birthday Jaynie

Amid all the craziness of company and preparing for a marathon we had Jaynie's birthday party on her birthday, April 30th. Jaynie had had her party all planned ever since Grandma and Grandpa Gifford's visit in February. Grandpa would tell the girls Fairy Tales, but mix up all the names. The girls thought it was hilarious and Jaynie had the idea of putting on a play with the mixed up tales. We asked Grandpa Gifford if he would be willing to write it and he did. We added a little for extra parts, but what came of it was adorable. Jaynie invited 10 of her friends and there were 12 parts. Rittle Led Hiding Rood, Mother, Wolf, Rindercella, Tortoise and the Hare, Princess Pea, Parunzel, The three little pigs and of course Mandgrother. I hope to one day figure out how to download video from my video camera so that everyone can see the final production, but for now still pictures will have to do. For the party we painted the background scene of the forest with our hands, had cake and ice cream, opened gifts, picked parts (thanks to Jaynie's Brownie leader for teaching me the best way to do this without hurt feelings-there could only be three princesses) and practice, practice, practice. We put the play on for the mom's at the end of the party. The girls really got into their parts and amazingly remembered lines (or at least the gist of their lines) It really turned out better than I expected. Luckily I had Mom, Kim, and Dad here or I would never have been able to pull it off. Thanks you guys are the best!!


For our scenery I had the girls create flowers using their hands. I thought it turned out pretty cute and was a great art project for the party. Just a little tip for those who ever need long rolls of paper. Call your local newspaper and ask if they sell roll ends. Mom gave me this tip and the people at the newspaper knew just what we wanted and for $5 I got two huge rolls of paper. By the way if you live near me don't call the newspaper-I would love to share mine with you.
Here we have our Rittle Led Hiding Hood (Jaynie) and our mother.
Our Tortoise and the Hare racing to see who can grow hair the fastest. (Mom put all the costumes together. Thanks mom. The tortoise was pretty creative)
Rindercella finding her lost shoe under Princess Peas lumpy mattress.
Parunzel coming out of her tower to give her hair to our slow hair growing tortoise.
Our disgruntled three little pigs, Pigsy, Piggly, and Pigwy, in search of that nasty big bad wolf.
And of course our big bad wolf who turned out to be not so big and bad. Lillie did a wonderful job as the wolf, except for her brief disappearance for a potty break.
And finally Eliza as Grandma!!
Take a bow girls-You did an awesome job!!!
Happy birthday Jaynie!! I love you so much and am so proud of how wonderful you are. Thanks for being such a big helper to me and your dad and for being such a great big sister. Your younger sisters really look up to you and will always want to follow in your footsteps. You are such a wonderful example for them to follow.

A visit from Mom and Dad and "Suprise" Kim too!!

Mom and Dad came to visit at the end of April. They scheduled their trip so they could be here for my marathon and for Jaynie's and mom's birthday. I was so excited to have mom and dad here for my marathon. It meant a lot that they would want to be here for it. But there is even more to the story.

I picked mom and dad up at the airport on Wednesday evening and as I was driving down there Dad called to tell me they had landed, but that they would be a minute because he had left his wallet on their first flight and so he needed my address so they could bring it to him the next morning. When I got there to pick them up dad said they put it on a flight that came in at 5:00, which was in about an hour, and he wanted to wait rather than get it in the morning. I was thinking come on Dad you can live without it until the morning, but of course I said no problem and we went and found a little outlet mall not far from the airport to get out and walk around. While we were in the mall Dad got a phone call from the airport saying that the plane had landed and that someone would be walking it down to baggage claim waiting for him to pick it up. So we headed back to the airport to the baggage claim and guess who was waiting at the curb-not some official looking airport guy with my dad's wallet, but my sister Kim. I saw her, but didn't put it together right away. Mom actually had to say "Who is that" and then it hit me. I was in shock. I just kept saying, "you guys are lying to me." Dad had to remind me that I need to stop the car and pick her up. So I pulled over trying to see through my tears and got out of the car as fast as I could. Writing this is making me cry all over again. I ran to her and hugged her and at this point I think her, mom and I were all in tears. It was a surreal moment. One that I will never forget. I only wish Whit would have been able to be there. Because Whit, my husband who is terrible with surprises, had put together this whole little scheme. He got his dad to put Kim's ticket on his credit card and didn't tell anyone, but Kim and Sean, about it until the day before Mom and Dad came out. He only told Mom and Dad because he needed their help with the surprise. Whit came up with the whole forgot my wallet routine, which Dad played out flawlessly. I was totally convinced. So not only did I get to have mom and dad here, but Kim as well. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks Whit. You are going to have a hard time topping this one. I love you more than anything.

A Boy's Weekend

Over the weekend of April 25th, Whit was able to go to Denver to hang out with his good friends from High School. Zack Sutton, Val Dalling, and Kevin Schiess met Whit there and they stayed at Owen Eames house for the weekend. They played a lot of golf and went to two baseball games to watch the Colorado Rockies play. Whit had a great time and I was so glad that he was able to go and relax for a couple of days. He really never gets to do things just for himself.

Girl Scout Camporee

On April 17th and 18th Jaynie and I went to a big camporee at Camp Keyauwee, a local girl scout camp. We had a blast. I have to say I was hesitant to spend the night with 20 6 year olds, but it turned out to be a really great experience. It reminded me so much of girls camp growing up. I like that Jaynie gets to have such fun experiences at such a young age. I am glad I was there with her to enjoy it. I wouldn't have wanted her there without me.


We got to stay in the bunk house. Here is Jaynie reading in her PJ's on the top bunk.

The next morning was full of activities. We got to go paddle boating and Jane and Jaynie did a great job in the boat. I got to go out with another girl that was scared and lets just say paddle boating is hard work especially when you are the only one paddling. I am glad no one took a picture of me in my life jacket and my boat almost tipping over from the uneven weight distribution of me and the 6 year old.


The girls were able to tie die shirts. Jaynie's shirt is the orange and purple one in the middle.


The theme for the camporee was A Blast from the Past: The 60's, 70's and 80's and on Saturday night they had a big disco dance. The girls loved it and even after a long day really got out on the dance floor and boogied. Jaynie went for the 80's look, inspired by the new jelly shoes that she got for Easter. Luckily we were able to just pull stuff right out of her wardrobe. Scary!!


After camp her troop had an awards ceremony where they received all of the badges (try-its) that they have earned this year. Jaynie received seven badges for her vest.