Races and things

This was the weekend of the Salt Lake City Marathon. My sister BT and I ran the half and my oldest three children and 2 (officially) of her 5 ran the kid's marathon (1K). I learned some things:
1) Staying somewhere other than my children, but not in a hotel is definitely the way to go. I slept the best of any pre-race night ever in my life, because I was at my sister's house and DH was at my aunt's house with the kids; and
2) I need to arrive with more lead time than 10 minutes before a race. This was my first city race. The other races BT and I have done have been trail races which necessitate arriving very early so you can climb on a school bus in the pre-dawn and be bussed with your fellow racers up to the start, due to a complete lack of parking or public transportation from the start to the finish. At this race, it was possible to park at the finish and take public transportation (TRAX) to the start. My sister and I opted to piggy back on her neighbor's ride to the start, which got us there in just enough time. I need (who knew?) more than just enough time. I didn't have enough time to wait in the gargantuan honey pot (port-a-potty with sweet smelling hand sanitizer) lines, I didn't have enough time to stretch or warm up much. I was a little disoriented and disorganized. But there was gospel music coming from a live choir on the bridge above us. That should count for something, right?

As a result, I needed to stand in various honey pot lines throughout the race and I got nasty leg cramps that made my post-race recovery different than what I'd hoped for. But, BT stuck with me and we had a lovely chat for the 2+ hours while we ran. We weren't even discouraged when the marathon leaders blew by us--yes, they finished their marathon before we finished our half.


Shortly after we finished our race, the kidlets participated in group warm ups and ran their race. Go here , here , and here to see official photos of my racing demons. Here's the entire crew enjoying their complimentary post-race treats:



The afternoon ended with a picnic near BT's house with my cousins and their families. Here's a picture of all the adult Turner girl racers of that day. Yes, my cousin Laurie is 6 months pregnant. She's a rock!


Next up, Top of Utah Marathon in Logan. Wish BT and I luck! Families are the best.