Marathon #3

I participated in the Rock and Roll Marathon for Phoenix this past Sunday. There is no picture here because I was so fast no one could capture me. Ha. Kevin had to wrangle the kids and my designated photographer was busy keeping bees off of herself, and my pit crew was running beside me to see if I needed anything. So I will not go into the gory details of what went down, but I will say this: I am learning from each marathon. I hope to get FASTER at each marathon, but unless I run as a port a potty, that may not happen soon. I learned that salt is key. They passed out salt packets at mile 20-ish, and I felt a second wind almost instantaneously. I learned that my sisters make it so much more fun, and that includes my spiritual sister, Emily. By the way, you may notice that she has updated her profile picture on Blogger. She's still trying to pass my abs off as hers. That picture is from the marathon, where she missed her PR by one minute. ONE MINUTE. That really hurts. But she'll smash it before the end of the year. I learned that I can finish strong. I ran the last two miles stronger than I thought I could and even got a high five from a marathon coach at the end. It was the only high five I gave out during the race, well besides the high fives to Blake and Chloe. I learned that I need to train outside. Kevin told me this morning that there are no indoor marathons/ triathlons. He quickly retracted the statement because he knew I would find one. I learned that having your daughters dance recital the night before does not allow one to carb load or hydrate well enough. So the next marathon is in seven weeks. I know. It's crazy. But this one is a "destination marathon" where the family will enjoy a vacation and Mom will be gone for a few hours. I'm running the Catalina Marathon. Dillan is beside himself with giddiness. This is his element. The Ocean. Marine Life. Snorkeling. Surfing. Swimming. I hope we can get him off the island once we're done. Olivia thinks that the ferry ride to the island will be like a cruise ship and wants to throw confetti off the side. I will have to give better directions to my photographer. And I will have to get my pit crew to focus and NOT get distracted by the ocean. I'm looking forward to this one as it has been described as a "long slog uphill" by Linda Esplin. I know how to do a long slog uphill. BTW, I told my favorite brother about what the siblings are doing for my 40th birthday, and I told him that we are hiking the Grand Canyon, and he asked me if I knew what it was like to hike uphill for nine miles. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? was all I had to say. I referred him to this here blog about my numerous GC hikes, including rim to rim, and soon a rim to rim to rim. My favorite SIL did tell me that he suffers from narcissism, but I didn't realize how severe his case was. So there you have it.