I DID IT!

Okay so running marathons are HARD. Is anyone else surprised by this? Holy cow, I was shocked at how difficult this feat was for me. I am SOO freaking proud of myself, it is probably sinful, but you have to know...I am just NOT a runner. I don't love doing it, I am not driven by this innate need to move quickly for long distances...hmmm....don't get me wrong, I love to exercise, but really running for over four hours straight? that is just plain craziness!

Okay, so for the dirty details: My girls weekend was SO much fun. We got in on Thursday night, stayed up (foolishly) late chatting and watching 27 Dresses. Then we went to the Salt Lake temple on Friday morning (well, closer to afternoon since we were sort of exhausted from staying up so late), and one sleeping pill and a decent night sleep later it was 4:00am and time to head up the mountain! Unfortunately, the altitude was a bit more exhausting than I had predicted and I was plagued with side aches from mile 3 on, but other than that the exhilaration and adrenaline of what we were doing got me through the first 18 miles fabulously. I started to feel my two blood blisters, loose toenails and and aching feet about then, but trudged on and was facing what I had anticipated in weariness...until we hit mile 24. The phrase "hitting a wall" came freshly to my mind at this point and the last two miles seemed to last like 4 hours. I started to feel nauseous (I think due to altitude...and lack of oxygen adjustment), but managed to plug on. If one more side liner said "you are almost there" I MIGHT have hurled my Ipod at them, but we eventually rounded a corner and I saw the finish line and like any normal sane person I started to cry, like the hiccuping cry and laugh at the same time kind of cry. Oh brother. As if I had any energy or non-evaporated water left for tears! But crossing that finish line was a feat more difficult than I could have imagined and i was so so so happy! More importantly, I beat Oprah.

Okay, so moving on...after the marathon we were exhausted and sore, but that didn't slow us down...it was a girl's weekend after all, so we had to eat, shop, and get a hair cut...so now that I am officially a marathoner, i thought it appropriate to drastically alter my style:

After all that partying was done, we stayed up ridiculously late again (I mean really we have to enjoy every moment of non-child-interrupting time don't we?) and we tried on all of our new clothes, ate our deserved extra calories in skittles and Peanut M&M's and laughed (gossiped, but just a bit...)and had a great time.

I am purposefully not mentioning the few glitches that occurred during the short weekend (losing cell phones, PUMPING every several hours or not getting to pump every several hours and having bowling ball boobs, my mental breakdown over not getting my suitcase packed in time for church and scaring everyone with a burst of unexplainable and quite laughable tears at the sight of the mess of my stuff, losing boarding passes, and questionable Sabbath day activities) but overall I wouldn't change a thing (okay, next time I am NOT breastfeeding) and had a great time. I learned a lot and got to know my friends even better. Here is us at the airport after all the fun was coming to an end, looking forward to our next big adventure (which may involve husbands and a half marathon in some exotic place if we can talk the men into it!).