13.1 MORMathon

Months ago, our friend Sam Spencer, had a "bee in his bonnet" about doing a half marathon that was free and not on Sunday. We all like to do races but alot of them are on Sundays. Plus, races get expensive ($45 and up).

Sam told Jake about this idea and the next thing we knew, there were 30 people signed up. I have chosen not to go down the running path (I love a good bike) to take care of my knee so I volunteered to be the support team/water girl.

Jake and Gage were up until midnight at Walmart last night getting running gear (I don't know why this happened last minute). Then, we all got up at 6:30am this morning and headed over to the Spencer's house. It was in the 40's I believe, and I was thinking how happy I was in my sweat pants and sweatshirt. I designed a poster that we are hoping to make t-shirts with for our event. We called it "13.1 Mormathon". I used the CTR (Choose The Right) symbol to encase the "13.1".

I love that Sam gave "Twinkies" as the first place prize.

Sam is a hospital administrator and worked it out so that we could have some of the medals that they give for a marathon his hospital sponsors.
I had the opportunity (with my friends Aubrey and Becky- Aubrey get's all credit for hooking us up with this opportunity) to try out some new health food that will hopefully be hitting the shelves here soon. The owner wanted our opinions about what we liked and what we would change about it. It is made by a company named "Eoni" (although, I think he just recently changed the name). We met the owner when we were sampling and told him about this race (He is also the owner of the "#1 sports fan foam finger"). He donated healthy energy bars and cheese for everyone. It's really good food and is great for athletes so we were grateful for it.
The race started at 7:00am and Gage ran the first half mile with Jake. I drove the loop multiple times, in my car loaded with drinks, Daxlee, and two dogs. I think I had the best part because I got to cheer everyone on, eat all their "energy" treats (which consisted of gummy bears and worms - thank you Mortensen's!), drink their water, and enjoy a beautiful morning. One part that was a little nasty was that as I was driving by, everyone threw their jackets in my car when they got hot. I put them on Molli's carseat and when I picked Gage up later to take him out to Jake, he moved the jacket's to sit in her seat and said, "Mom! I'm not sitting there, it's wet!" The jackets were soaked with sweat and now so was Molli's seat! It was really funny.
This is Jake and Sam. Side note: Jake has been doing P90X for the last 2 months and is looking awesome! I'm pretty sure, in this picture, he is asking "which way to the gym?"
This is some of our friends who ran as well (Kate, Rebecca, and Aubrey). Aubrey (in the green) is the race founder's wife. Just thought I would point that out...She'll be happy I did. :)
Jen at the last few miles, is thinking, "why am I here again? Why am I doing this? I should totally get in the car with Sabrina and ride the rest of the way." But like a champ, she made it all the way...even though she might have a fractured foot... ignorance is bliss!!
And then there's my twin Becky. Yup. That's right. Squatting in the bushes. Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go! She and another friend ran half the way and had alot of fun.
Look at this handsome little devil! Oh, and Gage too...j/k! Aren't they so cute? He and Bogey have been running to school every morning. Here, they are waiting for Jake so they can run the last 2 miles with him.
Daxlee-Do was a champ! She stayed in this seat the whole two hours. She helped me with the cheering. She was done at this point. Where was Molli? She wanted to stay at the Spencer's house and watched a movie. She lives a plush life.
Aren't they super!?!
Everyone at the finish line (plus a few family supporters).

Actually we were missing the star runner because she wasn't back yet. Our friends, the Scholes, ran the 13.1 miles as a relay. Their father, Rob, told the kids that if anyone ran the whole thing, they would get $50 (he has 6 kids!) However, only one of the kids did the whole thing. Josie, their 7-year-old daughter ran the whole way!! She did awesome and was so excited to see us cheering for her when she came around the corner at the end that she sprinted the last 100yds! AMazINg.

The first place winner was our friend Chad who just recently returned from Iraq (I can't remember which place exactly). While he was there, he started running everyday. He says it helped him deal with everything. He finished the race at around 1 hour 30 mins!

We really had a great time. Races like these are what makes exercising worth it and fun.