Darren @ Mesa Verde... Amy @ Ogden Marathon

Darren started training down in the basement in January.  Lots of hours riding a stationary bike in the basement... at 5:30 in the morning.  he was pretty excited when he could finally get outside and start riding. He took some great pictures.  

 His first race of the year was in Mesa Verde Arizona.  He and Rob Hyldahl headed down there. They tried to set up a tent and shelter to prepare for 12 hours of racing the next day. It was so cold they had to get in the sleeping bags at 6:00 just to stay warm.  By morning it was snowing.  The race got cancelled.  

So I remember my mother saying as a child... when the cats away the mice play.  I had a great time while he was gone.  My dearest friend Pam(ela) was preparing to move to Oregon.  She was one of my very closest college roommates.  A friendship I will always treasure.  Ang came over and we spent the day together.  Talking about life... thinking about how we got so old... wishing for carefree college days again.  The kids kept themselves busy.  We fed them occasionally.  Put on a movie when it got late.  mostly we just wished it wouldn't get late, but it didn't.  We said our good byes and knew we would see each other again soon.  

The weekend after Darrens race was my big race.  I trained for a marathon.  I used the book "Run less, Run Faster".  It was some intense training.  Some days I thought I was going to pass out and die.  But then I would finish a workout and know I was stronger, physically and mentally.  I ran a half marathon at least every Friday.  My long runs started on week one with 13 miles.  then up and down from 20 miles.  I was ready when this race came.  Unfortunately my running buddies both got injured.  I had to run the race alone.  In the rain ... 23 miles of rain.

My great friend Amber finished in the lead pack of the race.  I was proud of her.  We tried to stay warm at 5:00 in the morning as we waited for the race to start.  My other friend Amber who was injured met me at mile 23 to save my life.  I was so wet by then, and my knee was killing.  But she ran me in.  She helped feed me food since my hands were basically frozen shut and I couldn't uncurl them very well.  I didn't make  my goal of 3:45 to qualify for Boston, but I ran 26 miles and felt good about it.  4:10 minutes.