Each Day Is a Gift

PCM was the FUNNEST long run ever!!!  Karen picked me up at 5am, then drove Becca and RAD to Park City where we met up with Teena.  Went inside the hotel to stay warm, use the bathroom and meet up with Lowell.  2 min before start time, *the pod* (consisting of Lowell, Bec, RAD, Teena, Karen and I)  walked out to the start line.  Within 10 seconds Teena left us in the dust and disappeared with the lead pack.  *The pod* ran together picking up new friends (Terry, Erika, Bill, Tara...) along the way and just thoroughly enjoyed each others' company with big lies and jokes.  :)

Temp was in the high 50s but quickly warm up as the sun peaked over the mountains. We waited for each other at each aid station, hydrated, ate oranges, visited with the volunteers...  A strong side/headwind whipped up from mile 7 on.  I had taken 2 puffs from the inhaler at the first aid station and by mile 10 started to cough and wheeze.  My bladder was filling up quickly, stink!!!  We reached the aid station around mile 12.  There was one guy waiting for the ONE pop (he said he would be quick).  We were annoyed when the person finally came out of the pop turned out to be a woman volunteer!!!  She walked 5 feet from the pop to her car.  What the heck?!!!  The grocery store is just a block off the trail...GRRR!  I urged our group to go on ahead...but RAD refused.  She and Karen waited with me holding my Gu's for me.  What great troo bloo friends! :)  THANKS girls!!! :)

Hubby was picking up Karen's husband and kids at 7:30am to come cheer us along the course.  I told him it would take us at least 2 hours to get to the half way point.  I started looking for him on the Rail Trail.  When I didn't see him at the first road intersection I hoped we'd see him at the end of the Rail Trail.  Sure enough, I could hear Karen yelling "Mark!  Larry!  Mark!  Larry!" just as we reached the aid station on Bonanza (about mile 13.5).  They had just arrived 10 seconds earlier and were crossing the road to get to the aid station.  Had it not been for the 3 min pop wait a mile back, we would have missed each other!  :)  We lingered for pictures and loitered around the aid station.

*The pod*: Karen, Becca, Lowell, Smooth and Rachel.  By the stop sign are Karen's husband, Mark and daughter, Abby.

We must've eaten 8 lbs of oranges between us! :)  Oh, it felt so good for my sore throat!

 My favorite part of the course is on Poison Creek Trail along city parks with tennis courts, trees and fun tunnels.  Lowell stopped to goof off with a group of ladies doing exercises in the park, silly boy!  Rachel and Becca began to take the lead up the climb to Deer Valley.  My least favorite part of the course was running on the sidewalk on Deer Valley Dr. from mile 15.  But it was redeemed by the fact that you could see the fast runners running down on your left.  It was AWESOME to see Teena flying down (would've given her a hug but didn't want to interrupt her momentum!:-) )  Also saw some friends, BrentZ, but didn't see Slick or Marcie like I would in years past.  I also saw and cheered on the two ladies, Sue & Margaret, in my age group.  

Running up the Deer Valley loop was not bad at all (thanks to taking the inhaler as suggested by RAD at the half), although I wished they had wash clothes for us like they had in the past.  Looked forward to getting to the top where I know our cheering squad (Larry, Mark, Brad, Max, Beth, Abby and Gracie) would be.

We made it!  Notice the guy running with ski poles?!!  He came to Deer Valley prepared!  Dang, I left mine at home!  :)

 Here comes *the pod* reaching the skiers' bridge just before the last climb up to Empire.  We had lost Lowell somewhere in Deer Valley.  He stayed with Tara! 

Here we were loitering around at mile 19 aid station again! :) So many choices of food and Gu flavors!  We were told the Expresso was the best for the end of the marathon!

What? We have a marathon to finish?!!!  :) :) :) We'd better get going...

But not until we got a couple of *jump shots*! :) :) :)

On the trail again!

The paparazzi's are everywhere! :)

We were SO grateful for the cloud covering between mile 17-23.  But was now getting hot with a full sun beating down and a warm south headwind.  The last 5K in a marathon is always work.  This is Karen's 2nd marathon.  At mile 24, she started to feel the effect of the miles but also felt so much stronger than her 1st marathon at SLC.  With one mile to go, my shins started to cramp up, probably due to wearing the Elixir.  In the last 4 PCMs, I had always feared succumbing to cramps on the winding narrow bike path that hugs the condo.  There seems to be never-ending corners to turn with no sight of runners ahead or behind.  But this year's different...it was so AWESOME to run side by side with Karen drawing strength from each other.  The guy with a sprinkler hose was another blessing!!!  With 100m to go we saw darling Abby and Gracie who ran with us to the finish with the cutest, happiest smiles ever!!!

The fun resumed at the finish and carried over to Cafe Rio! 

Post-run assessment:  Thanks to my SSF's giving me the inhaler at the finish, was able to get the coughing and wheezing under control!  Knee held out okay.  Shins would need some rolling.  Need to recover well... Pocatello is in 2 weeks!!! :)