running reunion

I have been excited for this weekend for a long time. Here's why:

-I am running my first half marathon -I am going to run it with some of my best friends ever, Diana and Chelsea, who were my teammates when I ran cross country for BYU Hawaii and also my roommates. I haven't seen them in 3 years. I can't begin to describe all of the memories we created. When you are so far away from family your friends quickly become just like family. We spent every morning running and every afternoon running together. We got chased by dogs and ran into cows and pigs back in the mountain trails, we learned crazy Hawaiian words from Coach K, we traveled many red eye flights to run races together (where Coach K liked to eat at Denny's for every single meal). I love these girls. This weekend far exceeded my expectations. Here's why: -Chelsea found a baby-sitter for Brianna so she got to come on Friday and spend the night. -We then convinced Diana to spend the night too. -Sam quickly found a friend to hang out with for the night so it was an official girl's night. We stayed up late eating a big pasta dinner and catching up on the last 4 years. -We created the most real looking race bibs you have ever seen. Scandalous, I know. But registration was full, as was the waiting list, and we weren't going to let that stop us. We started making them as a joke and they turned out so real looking that we actually wore them. By the end of the race all of the marker had transferred from our bibs to our clothes. It was a blast making them while we talked and talked and talked. -Although I was in no shape to run the race, as I had big plans to train but they never happened, somehow the run felt amazing. I think it was due to the fact that I was with great friends and we talked and laughed the whole way down one of the most beautiful canyons ever. The 13.1 miles literally flew by. We beat our goal time by 10 minutes and sprinted to the finish line doing the "YMCA" while the song blasted. -The after-race food included Jamba Juice, Great Harvest bread, and the best granola ever. Speaking of which, Chelsea surprised me with a bag of it when we dropped her off. What a sweet friend. We collapsed on the grass with our smoothies and bread and realized how tired our legs really were. It felt great to feel that worn out. Good friends make life so much better. Thank you, Chelsea and Diana, for the great weekend!

2002 BYUH Cross Country Team

Notice the plain white bib with the red numbers. That was the before product, which we transformed into the Ogden Marathon bibs we are holding. I have watched "Catch Me If You Can" one too many times.

About to board the bus at 5am. We meant to get a good night's sleep but ended up getting just about none.

After our race we headed back for the "Kid's K", where Sam, Chelsea, and I ran one last race with the kid's from my after school program.