Marathon Weekend

 One of my favorite weekends of the year. I love marathon weekend for many reasons.... I enjoy any excuse to see my cousins, aunts, uncles, etc., I love spending time in pine valley and I really love how much the marathon just feels like a big st George party. It just feels like the whole community comes to either run or cheer on the runners and I love it. Yes, there are so many people we don't know that come to town to run, but its awesome to run down diagonal and see ward members, coworkers, people from school  and more cheering for you (or you cheering for them as they run). Anyways you get the picture - I love it. And it's fun watching people do hard things. I definitely have that genetic defect that makes me envious of people suffering (ahah that might sound weird to others but to my one and only follower on here (dad) I think he gets it) so I do get jealous of everyone out on the course. I did get to run the last 5ish miles with dad and drew which was awesome and Im very grateful I got to do even that, but it makes me hungry for more. 

Drew, Emma and I drove down Thursday night. Friday morning started out with a walk with mom and then off to the marathon expo and Pasta factory early in the afternoon to pick up all the necessities for the weekend. 

Pine valley in the late afternoon

Massive zucchini 

Up to Bama's to torture the quail

Randy's moped was a blast

Stopped in at Mark'n Marians to try to find some sweets, but she was all sold out sadly. The swings brought back some good childhood memories. 

Jeff Gardner and Kyle cooked us up some pasta and fresh rolls for dinner pt. 2 and then we got full range of the Ice cream parlor. Cake batter ice cream slapped. Im always down to carb load whether there's a race involved or not. 

The crew. 

I dipped out on Pine valley around 7:30pm to head home and carve pumpkins. Next year Imma be staying the night in PV jus sayin. 

Photoshoot with our finished pumpkins. Seth and I definitely didn't outdo our pumpkins from last year (hashslinging slasher and doodle bob) but it was still fun.

I definitely went simple this year. The inspo pic I used for this was actually more difficult than I thought, so this is what we got. 

Saturday morning! I drove to and parked at the church on north bluff and started my trek up the course. I saw a few people and many people saw me... Cindy and Troy Davis both said Hi to me as they were running. I cheered on Nicholas, Kyle and Mason, saw some ward members, coach holt from Pine view, Josh beck strand and others. Im really mad because I was diligently tracking and looking for George... he was running freaking fast and I wanted to help him reel in a solid last few miles. I was honestly planning on running with him and ditching dad and drew haha. But I guess I was supposed to run with dad and drew because somehow I completely missed George - didn't see him at all. But thats ok because he hit a killer PR with a 3:07. Im stoked for him. and lets be real - He was running like 7:20s so I probably would've just slowed him down. I was able to meet up with Dad and Drewby at the new overpass just south of Winchester. 

I was shocked how fast they were running. They took their sweet time the first 20 miles so I wasnt expecting to be running as fast as we were but I was happy about it. With walking the aid stations our miles were still like 8:15ish. Drewby started feeling the expected effects of the marathon around mile 23. Dad looked as though he was running on practically fresh legs haha. 

Mom and Emma joined us at grandmas old house on diagonal. 

A strong finish of 4:05. Drewby ran it bandit, but still crossed the finish and earned himself a (well-deserved) medal. He has officially hacked the marathon. Dad says it was one of his favorite marathon experiences. I think it is nice to just have fun and enjoy it rather than always race it or stress about PRing and so forth. 

Dad caught Pres Haslem around mile 22-23ish. Like I said - fun to run in to so many people we know and do hard things with your buddies. 

yet again, another good marathon Saturday. Proud of all of our family and friends. 

We spent the afternoon by the pool - savoring my last chance to enjoy the sunshine for the season (up north is already cooling off and I won't be returning to stg for awhile). Then while the family listened to Saturday afternoon session - I decided to go hang out with grandma. Good, better, best and in my opinion - visiting grandma is the best. I know she might not remember all the visits, but in the moment I know she appreciates and loves having company. Plus it makes me happy. She was a little sad when I first got there, but nothing a drive and chocolate shake can't cure. When I mentioned taking her out for a little bit she was immediately off the races - her and her walker. she bolted to the door so dang quick haha. We stopped at Culver's for some treats and I always make her eat some protein too so chicken strips it is. Then we got lost in kayenta and drove around the beautiful communities out there. Those red rocks are insane out there.  Saturday evening we enjoyed a good grilled chicken dinner with Mac salad and watched a very frustrating BYU vs TCU game. It was really not a fun game to watch, but between being on the road, weather and injuries I'll give it to BYU (mostly bear) and say they are gritty and got the job done. Well thats the weekend for ya - this morning was morning session and lunch was homemade cafe rio. Now I'm finishing this while on the road back up north. Sadly I have to work tonight and even though I want to call out sick - I know we are already short staffed so I won't leave my people hanging like that. anyways, good good weekend.