Halfway to Boston

Amidst the chaos of school, soccer, scouts, gymnastics, selling our house, packing our house, closing on a new house and moving our family 1000 miles, Cindy and I somehow found time to train and run a 1/2 marathon on Saturday!

Cindy got the long-distance running bug when we moved to Mesa and she found a couple of ladies in the ward running. It wasn't very long before they were telling Cindy she ran too fast.

Cindy continued on her own for quite some time until she found another set of ladies training for the Salt Lake Marathon. Again, she was told that she was running too fast, at least for one of the gals, and the other one didn't want to rock the boat because she already knew we were leaving for Texas. The faster of the two finally bowed out with a knee injury.

Cindy needed someone faster than her to train and run with!

This is where I have to do a little flashback...

Once apon a time, I was told by my parents that there was a "cute" girl from Mom's Laurel class who had now graduated from high school and was attending college. "You should take her out while you're down from BYU...you need to date, Glenn!" So I reluctantly said I would ask her out once. (I just learned last week that she was writing to a missionary at the time...her future husband).

Thus began a long-distance dating friendship that featured brief dates (when I was down in AZ or she was up in Utah) and infrequent phone calls. At some point, I asked the put-up-or-go-away question....."Will you run a race with me?" The venue was the annual Moab, UT 5 mile or 1/2 marathon race.

At first she said that it sounded great. Plans were made. Then a week and a half before the race, she called me up to "dog" me, saying it was too far to drive. To far to drive?!? That was it...no commitment to running a race in such a beatiful location...with me....so what if she did like "Princess Bride"! Girls, who needs them! My ego bruised, I decided to run my troubles away.

Then that week I also got injured...problems with my knee. Instead of humility, there was defiance! I was going to take my brand new mountain bike to Moab Utah and have the time of my life mountain biking, if I couldn't run the race. I'd show her and every girl out there for that matter - I wasn't going to shave, I was going to wear a baseball hat the whole time...point me in the direction of Slick Rock and eat my sandstone! This was going to be GREAT!

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What happened next was magical and wonderful and the greatest weekend of my life. In a word, Cindy! What began as a weekend sans girls became a wonderful journey with the love of my life.

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Fast forward 12 years later. Cindy needed someone to run with, and happened to be talking to one of the mothers at Christopher's soccer practices. Guess who? The old "friend-girl" of course, who just finished doing a marathon a few weeks back, "but sure...let's train for a half-marathon!"

So after Cindy (and I) got over the weirdness of running with an old ex-something, it turns out they have a lot in common...our kids are about the same ages, they both don't like camping, etc. For several weeks and several times a week, Cindy and Michelle Cox trained together. Her husband and I would laugh about it at the soccer games. Cindy was grateful for the company.

But then race day came! When the chips were down, Mom watched the kids for us ... and Cindy and I both ran the 1/2 marathon, stepping closer to our dream of qualifying and running the Boston Marathon together!

Cindy did great for her first 1/2 marathon. She ran much of the race under a Boston qualifying time, only slowing down the last couple of miles (uphill) to finish at 2:00:17. Yes, that is two hours and seventeen seconds. Her average mile was 9:11! An amazing finish too...she past another gal (and me) right at the finish line!

Out of 479 total runners, Cindy finished in 190th place. And out of 25 other women, she finished 7th in her age group. Woohooo!!!!

I was a little surprised at my results...I was running this race as a pacer for Cindy...not really pushing myself. But out of 48 guys in my age group, I finished 24th. (A bunch of slackers out there! :-D )

It was a beautiful morning for a race, just before sunrise over South Mountain. The first couple of miles were downhill and we got a very good start. The last two miles as a result were brutal...2 miles of uphill to the finish line.

Cindy and I both learned a lot from the race. I learned that mile #11 is not a good time to give "running form" tips to your wife, or any kind of advice on how to speed up. In fact, at this point, encouragement can be dicey and pushing, pushy! Best just to keep running and occaisonally say "you're doing great honey!".

Cindy learned that she can do this! But she also learned that late night icecream raids are not innocent. Long races are tough - a marathon is a really long way if you have to run this far and then do it all over again - and much of it is mental. And finally, homemade granola is great, but not the day before a race - especially if you eat too much of it because it is soooo good!

Anyway, we forgot to get pics, but it was great to run a race together again (it has been a while with the kids and all) and to see our goal get a little closer. If y'all who are in Arizona want a good Saturday 1/2 marathon to run, we recommend this run!

Thanks again Mom for watching the kids!