The Park City Marathon

Wow - What a weekend!!!

This past weekend was "the big event"... 

The Park City marathon.  

We started our weekend on Friday, when we made the trek to the mountains, and checked into our hotel.  We were excited and nervous for the next day, and glad that we decided to check in a day early so that we could relax and enjoy some downtime together as a family.  After the months and months of training and preparing for this day, I will just say that we were ALL in need of a little R & R!!!

We swam in the hotel pool, we ate pizza and walked around the beautiful Newpark area of Park City, and Mike got some last minute encouragement and advice from Uncle Kevin.

We went to bed around 10:00 p.m., but none of us slept very well.  As you may remember from our hotel stay back in February for Mike's birthday, Ian does not sleep well in hotels!!  He is very accustomed to his own room, and sleeping with us in his sight just throws him off.  He was in and out of sleep, as were all of us, until we finally threw in the towel and got up at 5:30 a.m. Mike started getting ready, and Ian and I ate muffins and watched cartoons.

At about 6:15 a.m., as Mike was tying his shoes to go downstairs to wait at the starting line, he started getting really nauseous and ran for the bathroom.  After losing his breakfast, he came out smiling and said, "I guess I was more nervous than I realized!  But now I feel GREAT!  Let's go!!!"

So off we went.  It was still dark outside and a little chilly, but the excitement in the air drowned out everything else.  If any of you have ever stood at the starting line of any race, you may remember that feeling.  Even though I wasn't running, I could feel the electricity in the air, and the excitement building as the start time drew ever closer.  

We found Mike's uncle Kevin, as well as Kevin's son-in-law Abe, who was also running.  Mike knew they wouldn't finish together, but it was fun for them to get to start together.

Kevin was such an amazing inspiration for Mike, and offered him some much appreciated, well educated, and very practical advice.  He helped calm Mike's nerves, while offering him a very real glimpse of what to expect.

It was about time to start, so I kissed my Mikey and offered him my last words of encouragement, then made my way to the sidelines to watch them take off.  Later Mike told me that just before the start, Kevin leaned into tell him, "we are at the beginning of this pack, so don't be discouraged when lots of people pass us, because a lot of people will!"

Thank you so much Kevin for not only being Mike's inspiration for this run, but for helping him to be ready for it, and encouraging him and helping him to have the confidence he needed to finish!  

At precisely 6:30 a.m., they were off.  (Of course, the "Me" in this photo is Mike) Ian and I, along with Aunt Lori, watched them until they were out of sight.  With a prayer in my heart that all would go well, we made our way back up to our room to hopefully get in a little more sleep.  

Yeah - that did not happen!=)  Instead, we bathed, got ready, and headed back down to the plaza around 8:30 a.m.  We got some fruit and a drink, and went to talk with Dan Webster, who was manning the booth for the Utah Foster Care Foundation.  He was so nice, and I was grateful to get to wait out the day with him and get to know him a little better.  He was so excited to be there to cheer us both on - Mike, of course, for running, and me for the speech I would be giving later that day.  We were so excited to have him there, and we found out later that they received the most donations they have ever received at a booth event before!  Very cool!!!

At about 9:30 a.m. Mike's Mom, sister and niece showed up, so I took them over to the waiting area where we were waiting for Kevin to come through.  One of our good friends, Sheldon, also showed up at about the same time with two of his kids.  We all donned our "Kevin Eaton's 100th marathon" bibs and waited.  By the time Kevin crossed the finish line, there was a HUGE gathering of friends and family waiting to cheer him on.

It was really cool!!  What an accomplishment - 100 marathons!!  I wonder what will be next for him?!?!?

About an hour later, I gave my speech about the foster care system and the reason Mike was running that day.  I had several people ask me if I was nervous to speak in front of so many people, and my answer was always that I was so nervous for Mike that I didn't have time to think about being nervous for myself.  That was pretty much the truth of it.  When the time came for me to speak, I got a little flitter of nerves, but once I began talking, that all went away.  I was grateful for the opportunity to educate people on foster care and how they too can help these amazing kids. (I was told that during my speech, Ian stood down below reaching for me and calling out "Mama!" the whole time=)

Then it was back to the finish line to countdown Mike's finish.  I was SO worried that he would come in while I was speaking, so that was a HUGE relief for me that he didn't.  Still, I was anxious, so we asked my brother-in-law (who was there with my sister and their kids) to ride his bike up the trail to mile 25 and call us when he saw Mike.  

Just after noon, he called.  Mike was less than a mile out!!!

I ran over to the booth to tell Dan, grabbed my camera and scoped out the best spot  to get some pictures, and all of the family and friends who had cheered Kevin on, lined up along the course to now cheer on Mikey as well.

When he came around the final bend in the trail, I think we were all shocked.  I don't know what everyone else was expecting, but I was seriously expecting to see him hobbling, limping, exhausted, and on the verge of throwing up again.  That is definitely NOT what we saw!  Mike was standing tall, running like he had just started, not finished 26.2 miles, and smiling a huge grin on his sweet little sweaty face!!

I got a bit emotional as I saw him coming down that final stretch - immense pride and relief flooded my heart, and caused my eyes to fill with tears of joy.

I was right there when he crossed the finish line and happily welcomed the salty kisses and sweaty hugs from this amazing husband of mine.  Ian was also very excited to see his Daddy.  He kept saying, "Daddy, run" =)

I am so incredibly proud of him and what he accomplished that hot, summer day in the mountains.  I don't know how I got to be so lucky as to be the one to call him mine, but I cherish him and the incredibly loving and caring man that he is.

After many praises of love and congratulations, some fruit and a pb&j sandwich, gallons of water, and some help stretching and recovering from both of our sisters, the fatigue started setting in.  Thankfully, Mike's sister, who was staying at our house and watching our dog, agreed to take Ian home with her and let him sleep in his own bed that night.  He was in rare form after a night of fitful sleep and a day of no napping! 

We all parted ways and Mike and I headed back up to our room.  After a quick shower, I headed to the pool, and Mike laid down for a nap.  When I got back to the room, he was still awake, just lying on the bed watching TV.  He said he was tired, but not sleepy yet, so we decided to go get an early dinner.  We had every intention of taking advantage of our night alone, and were planning to go see a movie after dinner, and then turn in for an early bedtime.  Well, we didn't make it to the movie, opting instead to go back to the room and watch the Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family instead.   We did, however, make the early bedtime=)  We fell asleep at 6:30!!!  My sister, in all her tell-it-like-it-is sweetness, said that we were "pathetic", and she was probably right!  But we were wiped out, and needed that night of undisturbed, quiet sleep!!  

Our early bedtime, led to an early rise, so we checked out of our hotel, went to a delicious breakfast at Ruth's Diner on our way down the canyon, and headed home to our little man.  We were told that he had fallen asleep on the way home and slept until about 5 p.m.  Then at 8:30, he told Mike's sister "night-night" and easily went to bed and slept about 12 hours more=)  Poor little sleepy boy!  You know, as much of a bear as he was Friday night, and Saturday morning, and as happy as I was to have a small break from him, the minute they pulled away, I missed him and I couldn't wait to get home to kiss those little cheeks again!!!

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All in all, it was an emotional, exhilarating, and adventurous weekend!  I am so glad it is over, but so blessed that I could be a part of something so big.  The hits on Mike's website went up by the thousands that weekend, and hopefully the donations will keep rolling in. You might want to stop by his website yourselves, and read about the race from his point of view - quite entertaining =)

Thank you hubby, for showing me that if you have enough heart and dedication, you can accomplish anything!  You are so inspiring to me, and once again, I am SO proud of you - 

my marathon runner!!!!!