A Cold and Rainy Camping Trip

This last weekend, we decided to go camping near Palisade, CO (where my marathon was) since there is a lot of good mountain biking in that area (Grand Junction, Fruita, etc.) Don's sister and her husband came down from Vernal and our good friends, Rick and Emily Rampton and their little 9 month old girl, Adelaide, came with us from Boulder.

We had been watching the weather and as the day for our camping trip drew closer, the chance of rain kept steadily increasing. Rick and Emily weren't sure they were coming and even Don and I were on the fence. The morning of the camping trip, though, we all just got excited about it and went despite the risk of rain.

We drove the 4 hours out to the campground and set up our tent. Sam and Adelaide busily crawled around trying to eat sticks and rocks, very much enjoying themselves. Em and I hung out with the babies while Don and Rick went on a quick ride before it got dark. Christine and Josh showed up with their dog, Rodrigo. We put the babies to bed and made ourselves some delicious tinfoil dinners and doughboys and had a fun time around the fire. We all felt a raindrop or two, but it really wasn't raining.

Then, we all headed to bed. As soon as we got inside the tent, suddenly it started to pour. Don and I had just bought a 6 man tent with our REI dividend and were really excited about it because we had plenty of room for Sam's pack n' play and because it was 7' tall so we could walk around in it comfortably. Also, the fact that it is called a "Hobitat" was pretty awesome, too.

This being our tent's maiden voyage, we definitely put it to the test. It rained cats and dogs all night. I had forgotten how loud rain was in a tent, but despite the loudness of the rain, the train that passed through the canyon still managed to wake Sam up. He did pretty well the rest of the night despite it being very cold and wet.

When we got up in the morning, Sam was miserable because it was so cold and damp. Our tent had held up exceptionally well and was only slightly wet near one of the doors. Rick and Emily, on the other hand, were completely soaked. They had used a tent they found in a giveaway pile and it definitely wasn't deluge-worthy. They ended up with about 2 inches of water inside their tent and Rick had to sleep sitting up because the water had wicked up their bedding and Emily and Adelaide were occupying the only dry spot in the tent. (Go here to see their post about the camping trip. There is a picture of Rick sleeping sitting up under a blanket that makes me laugh. Poor guy.) They packed up immediately and went home. Christine and Josh's tent didn't hold up much better than Rick and Emily's, but they stayed with us while we packed up and got ready to go. We went over to the river and skipped some stones before heading in to Palisade to go get some breakfast at a little bakery. We had some delicious pastries and then started the long 4+ hour drive back home.

Christine and Rodrigo after a cold, wet night.

Walking along the mighty Colorado

Don and Josh looking for the perfect skipping stone.

It was so cold but Sam was a good sport as always. I love his little plaid suit. It was given to me by a friend in family housing and has been passed through many families through the years.

In Palisade again. I have a soft spot in my heart for this little town now after doing my marathon here and finding warmth and pastries after a long, cold, rainy night in a tent.

It wouldn't have been that bad to drive this far for a rained out camping trip if we hadn't just driven all that way and all the way back the weekend before for my race. In the last two weekends, we drove over 18 hours. Despite the drive and the rain, we had a really fun night around the campfire. I am excited to get out camping again, just maybe a little closer this time.

Sam's First Birthday!

Saturday, when we'd gotten home from our camping trip, I tried to go on a run for the first time since my marathon. I ran a little over a quarter mile before I felt like it was pointless to keep causing myself pain. I ended up walking another mile and trying to run again, but alas, it was too uncomfortable. It wasn't that I was injured; I just feel like my knees were so tired and achy that they were about to give out at any moment. So, I walked.

As I was walking, I realized that exactly a year before, I was walking on the same path with Don trying to put myself into labor because Don was going to miss his prelim for his PhD because I could have the baby any minute! It was just after we'd gotten home from this long walk that my water broke.

It was interested to juxtapose these two walks. During the first, I was having a hard time walking because I was contracting and hugely pregnant. During the second, I was having a hard time walking because I'd just run a marathon. It was kind of a cool dichotomy of experiences, just one year apart.

Sunday was Sam's first birthday. I was surprised at how emotional I was about it. I didn't cry, but I felt like I was on the verge all day. It was a good day to think about all the joy Sam has brought into our lives and reflect about how I've changed as I've grown into my role as a mother.

We hadn't planned a party for Sam's birthday because of how busy I'd been with my job during May. I just changed positions; I'm now the Program Coordinator rather than a Resident Manager and all last week, me and Steph (the outgoing PC) trained all of the new RMs. It was really intense and Don stayed home with Sam nearly all day the whole week. It went well but I'm glad it is over for this year. I'm also glad that I won't be working 40+ hours/week like I have been the past couple weeks.

I found out at church that the student couples were getting together for our bi-weekly dessert potluck, so I figured I could turn it in to an impromptu birthday party for Sam. I made him a cake and had grand visions of how cute it was going to be. After the cake was done baking, I made some frosting. I don't like frosting, so I have only made it a couple times.

And... the frosting was an absolute disaster. Also, we were running late, so I had to frost the cake while it was still hot and by the time I'd try to recreate my vision of this cute little polka-dotted cake with a 1 on top, the 1, all the polka dots, and most of the frosting had run down the side of the round cake and pooled at the bottom. It was hideous but kind of funny. It ended up looking like a volcano. I laughed and laughed at how terrible it looked.

When we got to the potluck, we put Sam in his high chair and sang him "Happy Birthday" and gave him his ugly volcano cake. He just looked concerned at first and would poke it over and over, trying to figure out what was going on. Finally, he took a taste and slowly started digging in.

Here we are singing Sam "Happy Birthday." Yes, this is the ugly volcano cake.

He started getting excited about the cake about 10 minutes after we'd give it to him and then he was making a mess, so we took him outside.

Here is what occurred then. I still get sore abs watching this before it makes me laugh so hard.

Here are some more pictures of the fun with the cake.

On Monday, we went on a hike up Eldorado Canyon. We are now committed to going to as many state parks in CO as possible because we bought an annual pass. When we were driving in to the campground last weekend, we had to pay to enter the state park. The guy at the window asked Don if he wanted to pay $12 for the two day fee or $16 for an annual pass. No brainer, right? So, Don bought the annual pass. He then looked at the pass he had been handed and saw that it said $60, not $16! Talk about a miscommunication. I was in shock when Don showed me the $60 pass! What?!

So, now we are going to as many state parks as we can! Don is making sure we get our money's worth!

We took Sam in the hiking backpack for the first time and you can see from the pictures below, he thought it was pretty exciting.

Two people asked me if I was teenager during the day before the hike. One guy asked me if I was 19 while I was pushing Sam in the shopping cart at the grocery store. Another girl thought I was teenager during Music Movement, the music class I teach for kids in Family Housing. Do I seriously look like a teenager? A teenage mother?

You can see the walls of the canyon in this picture. This is a premiere rock climbing area and we saw dozens of climbers in nooks and crannies all over the rock walls. It was amazing how high up these people climb!

Sam also did something funny during my grocery shopping trip on Monday I wanted to document. We were stuck in a narrow aisle in the produce section. Sam was hungry, so I had pulled out the cheerios from my bag and had given him some. I then gave him the baggy of cheerios to play with while I got some fruit.

I looked over and saw that a young guy, probably a college student, had come to a dead stop next to us and was staring down into his cart, perplexed. I then noticed that Sam had dropped his bag of cheerios into the guys cart. I think the guy was walking by and Sam slyly slipped the cheerio bag into his cart and the guy had just looked down and seen then. I took them back and apologized. Sam was just being a nice boy and sharing! It made me laugh. The guy was not amused, but I was.

26.2!

Since I had such a great time running the half marathon, I just couldn't quell my desire to run a full marathon. I was so excited about it, in fact, that the night we got home from Utah after the half marathon, I couldn't sleep. I just kept thinking about how much I wanted to do a marathon and how I wanted to do it right away. I had already spent 4 months training and I wanted to run a marathon and be done training so I could spend the rest of my summer doing other things I love to do (i.e. mountain biking, playing tennis, hiking, camping, etc.) I just wanted to use the training I had already done and continue increasing mileage and use it for a full marathon.

So, at midnight, Don went downstairs to see what marathons there were and where they were. We looked at the Top of Utah; it was full. We looked at the Ogden; also full. We looked at the Rock n' Roll Marathon in Seattle which my great friend Paige is doing; it was full! Then we were getting in to July and all of the marathons were moving North because of the heat and it would be just too far to travel.

There was one marathon in Palisade, CO, just outside of Grand Junction, but it was on May 8, only 3 weeks from my half. I looked at the pictures and looked at the results from the previous year. Only 23 people had completed the marathon in 2009. It was the smallest race I had ever heard of. I just felt really good about it, though. I decided that if I could run 19 miles that Saturday, just a week after completing my half, then I would sign up for the race in Palisade. I just kept thinking that I didn't know when I would be uninjured, healthy, not pregnant, and fit enough to do a marathon, so if there was a time to do it, it would be now!

I tried to run the Monday after my half and had to stop after about a mile because my knees and legs felt so terrible. Despite that, I ran 8 miles that Tuesday and then embarked on my 19 miler on Saturday. Two of my good friends in Smiley Court ran the first 6.5 miles with me. Don then came out and ran another 3 to the trailhead of a nice long dirt trail with me (I was trying to be as gentle on my sore knees as possible). I ran 7 on the dirt and then we ran home. I killed two of my toenails and had to drain the blood from under them several times, but other than that, I felt pretty good. I had run a full hour and 13 minutes longer than I had ever run and I knew that I'd have to run another hour and half more during the marathon, but I knew I could do it. I felt overwhelmed with excitement when I'd think about doing the marathon so a week and a half before the race, I signed up!

I called my cousin Olivia and asked her if she thought it would be too strange to ask her aunt (my aunt's sister) who lives in Grand Junction if we could stay with her. She said that she thought her aunt would be excited about having us come so we got it all arranged. Don was nervous about staying with random people who I hardly knew and he didn't know at all, but they couldn't have been more hospitable and kind. They even let Don's sister Christine and her husband, Josh, come stay. They had a crib for Sam and had beds for all of us and made us a wonderful lunch after the race. Also, they let me use their jacuzzi shower after the race and I must say, that was hands down the most refreshing shower experience I've ever had. Their house was gorgeous; it was far better than a five star hotel! I still can't get over how kind they were! Don, Josh, and Christine, also went mountain biking after the race with Livi's uncle and had a great time. The whole situation was absolutely ideal and we had such a great time! Thanks, Janalee and Dale!

On Friday, we packed everything up and headed down to Grand Junction. At this point, I was just feeling super nervous. All of the excitement I had been feeling got swallowed up in my fear that I wasn't nearly as prepared as I should be for the race and that I wouldn't be able to finish. We pulled in to Palisade and picked up my race packet. Don signed up for the 5k last minute because he realized after looking at the previous year's race results that he had a good chance of winning.

Then, we drove in to Grand Junction to stay with my aunt's sister, Janalee. We hung out and talked for an hour or so before heading to bed. I could not sleep. I was so nervous and on edge. When I finally did fall asleep, I had the weirdest dreams that all these random people from all different parts of my life were telling me everything I was doing wrong as I was preparing to run and while I was running the marathon. People would show up and say, "You can't eat oatmeal before a race! Don't you know that it causes you all kind of digestive damage?" Then, they showed me the oatmeal carton with a big warning label that said something to the effect of "Can cause serious digestive distress if eaten prior to an endurance event." Really strange dreams. I also had several dreams that my alarm didn't go off and I was late to the starting line so I'd wake up with a start, heart pounding, only to look at the clock and realize a half hour had passed.

Anyway, my alarm did go off and at 5:15 am I was up getting ready to go.

I got to the starting line and it was a seriously cold, extremely windy morning. The race began at 6:30 am and we started into a stiff headwind. As I began running with the pack, my hat blew off. Luckily, some kind man snatched it up and handed it to me.

Here I am just after the start. I am telling Don how cold I am.

From about the first half mile, I fell into stride next to a tall older man. We were going about the same pace. After about 2 miles, another older man joined us. He and I started talking and he told me he was doing marathons in all 50 states and this was his 47th. He'd done the Boston twice. The other man said that he had done the Boston just 3 weeks before for the twelfth time and this was his 40th marathon. Talk about good company on your first marathon!

Me and Bill at about mile 3.

We ran for about 4 miles and I knew from looking at the race course map that there was supposed to be a hill at mile 4. Don had mapped the course out on www.mapmyride.com, which is the website we use to track our running. It had said the hill was only a 5 % grade, so I didn't think much of it. When I saw the hill, though, I knew I was in trouble. It was ridiculously steep and really long. I found out later it was actually 14 % grade (yikes!) and about a quarter mile long.

At about mile 15. I wasn't feeling so great here but seeing Don, Sam, Christine, and Josh gave me a much needed boost. The mesas surrounding the course were really spectacular. The race ran through rural orchards and vineyards surrounding the Colorado river. It was a really beautiful and brutal course.

I had made a goal to run the entire race, so even though the two men that I was running with stopped and walked up the hill with all of the other smart, seasoned marathoners, I ran up the whole thing. By the time I got to the top, I realized how dumb that was. I should have conserved my energy rather than stick to a silly goal I'd made. I felt like it had taken five miles out of me. I really felt pretty bad for about 5 miles after that. Bill, the guy doing marathons in 50 states, caught up to me as did Ed, the tall Boston marathoner. They both ran with me and would switch off running up the hills with me. Ed kept taking off and then Bill and I would catch up to him. Bill stuck with me the entire first half of the race. He would tell me when to slow my pace because I was breathing too hard, when to eat, what to eat, and what to drink at the aid stations. He was seriously an angel. He kept encouraging me when I'd hit a rough patch. I expected at any minute that he would take off but he stuck with me and kept me on pace.

On the mild side of a huge hill we ran up at mile 10 and are running up again at mile 16.

Oh how I loved seeing Sammy at about mile 20. He was so excited to see me. He was waving his arms and bouncing up and down on Don's shoulders.

It was an out and back course, so we turned around a little after mile 13 and headed uphill and straight in to the stiff wind. It really was terribly windy and very cold. As we were running in to the wind, Bill said to me, "Get off my shoulder!" We were running side by side and I thought he was tired of me tagging along with him, so I quickly dropped behind him and felt really embarrassed. Then, he said, "Now get behind me so I can block the wind for you." I couldn't believe it. He was offering to let me draft off of him. I ran behind him while he blocked the wind for 11 miles until we turned out of the wind. When I started feeling bad, I would just turn up the music on my ipod and watch his feet. I'd kind of go in to a trance and follow his footfalls and just keep moving. Running in to the wind like that by myself would have been incredibly demoralizing. I can't express how this man saved me and my race. He really was an angel. He kept coaching me through my eating and rehydrating and stuck with me right up until there were two miles to go.

Only 3 more miles to go. Running behind Bill into the wind.

We turned to head back in to town and Bill could tell that I had quite a bit more energy left. He had used so much energy running in to the wind and had let me preserve all of that energy and he was spent. He told me to take off and finish the race strong. I told him I didn't want to leave him and he said that I needed to just go! So, I started running as fast as I could. I was finally out of the wind, so I took off my jacket and threw it on the side of the road in a pile of rocks and ran my heart out. My last two miles were my fastest miles and I felt really good. I hadn't felt that great the whole race because of the big hills (there were several more after mile 4 and then I had to run down that huge hill at mile 4 again on the way back which was very hard on the knees) but I felt great at the end. I caught up with Ed and passed him and had a great finish. Don and Sam and Josh and Christine were there cheering me on and it was an amazing feeling to cross the finish line.

Just a few more feet to go!

I waited for Bill to finish the race and he came in just a couple minutes after me. He had stopped and picked up my jacket and carried it the last two miles. Seriously, the man was an angel. I could not believe how he sacrificed for me, a total stranger.

When I gave him a huge hug and thanked him for carrying me through the race, he told me to help someone out in a future marathon. You better believe I'll pay it forward, Bill!

Don asked me if I was emotional when I crossed the finish line. I wasn't emotional at all but thinking about the help that Bill and Ed gave me makes me emotional. It was such a neat experience having total strangers give so unselfishly, especially when they were sacrificing finishing faster or stronger than if they'd just left me alone. Experiences like this restore my faith in humanity.

Here I am with Ed (L) and Bill (R). They both said that this was an unusually tough marathon course and congratulated me on my strong finish. I wouldn't have made it without them!

Don did run his 5k and got second place! He ran it in 19:15, which is a 6:12 min/mile pace! He is insane! They gave him a cool little trophy. He is really excited about the Bolder Boulder this year because he feels really good about being able to do it sub-40. He is amazing!

Don flying in to the finish.

Don getting his award. What a fast and very handsome man! I'm so lucky!

He and Josh and Christine came and cheered for me during my race before and after Don's race. It really helped me to see them and to see Sam. He was so excited to see me each time I passed. He is such a good, happy boy!

Sam was my greatest fan. He looks so much like his daddy as a baby in this picture.

So, I finished my marathon in 4:22:25. I got 2nd in my age division and 11th place for the females overall (there were 37). I felt great about my finish and was able to run the whole time and keep to my 10 min/mile pace. It was a really rewarding experience and I'll definitely do another in the future.

For now, though, I'm excited to play in my old ladies' tennis league and get out on my mountain bike again. Don gave me some clipless pedals for Mother's Day yesterday (he also brought me breakfast in bed and made me dinner!) so I am really looking forward to hitting the trails.

I am hobbling around a little today but I really don't feel that bad considering I ran 26.2 miles. Hurray for a big life accomplishment! I'm just excited to say that I did it! I ran a marathon!