see mom run

Our journey began Thursday when I packed up the car with luggage and kids and drove to Utah. Ryan had a closing argument Thursday night so he got to skip the ten hour drive and just fly up Friday morning. Here is Gwen in the Salt Lake airport rock climbing to pass the time as we waited for daddy.

One of the best things about being in Utah was getting to see cousins and take the kids to BYU! They LOVE BYU. They were not instructed to wear their BYU shirts, but picked them out this day because they knew we were going there.

And a trip to BYU would not be complete with out the kids rolling down the hill into the library basement windows. Finals were going on at the time, but the students inside were sure distracted from their studies by our rambunctious kids

Gwen wants to be an artist and have her paintings in a real art museum so bad! So we took her to see the Museum of Art at BYU to encourage her to go to BYU. Nothing wrong with that right? But I do believe I was not supposed to take a picture inside there. So don't tell.

Then we had to show the kids where mom and dad lived when we first got married. No, it was not inside this house. It was inside the basement apartment under this house. 400 square feet. Oh the joys of poor students. And yes...we're still poor students.

Then Saturday morning before the crack of dawn, Catherine and I geared up to run the Salt Lake marathon!!!!!!!

At mile two. Stripping off jackets and feeling GREAT!!

Mile nine. This was after our third uphill climb. Still feeling good mentally, but my left ankle is beginning to hurt. I pop two more Advils and count myself good for 17 more miles.

Mile 15. We run by our admiring fans high on running because we're more than half way there! Ankle hurts a little more, but I push through the pain because I'm running a MARATHON!!

Mile 19. Drake jumps out and starts to run too. I think it's cute and let him run a bit.

After almost a quarter mile, he's still trying to keep up and I tell him he needs to go back to daddy. He starts crying and says he wants to stay with me and grabs my hand.

Awww. Love my Buster Brown.

At 20 miles I was hurting pretty bad! We were at 3:12 so I figured even if we slowed to ten minute miles I should be able to finish right around 4:15 and I'd be happy with that. But at 22 miles the pain was excruciating! I sent Catherine on because I could hardly even jog anymore. It took me an hour and a half to do my last 6 miles! And honestly, mile 25 was just cruel. Pure uphill ugliness!!! So I barely hobbled across the finish with a time of 4:38:39. At least it should be pretty easy to improve on that time.

Gwen with Catherine's daughter Isabell. Couldn't they be sisters?!

My cheerleaders.

Check out the sweet shirts my fanclub were wearing. Ryan's says Team KRISTIN, and of course on the pocket, it labels him as the Captain.

And here I am. DUNZO!!!!!

McPhies and Griffiths.

Why am I holding so much junk in all these pictures? Oh, that other lady that Ryan's got his arm around is Colette. She's Kolby's mom and was so sweet to let us stay with her while we were there. Thank you Colette!!

Riding the train to the car. I'm starving and never want to stand up again!!

Marathon entry fee: $95

Gas to Salt Lake and back: $200

Clothes and shoes: $225

Peeing your pants while running a marathon: PRICELESS

My ankle immediately after is already beginning to swell.

Obligatory Beaver rocking chair picture.

And here's my ankle a day after. Still can't put any weight on it. Went to the Dr. today and am just waiting for him to get back to me about the x-rays. Crosssssssing my fingers it's just a sprain and I can start training for the SheRox triathlon next month!

It looks like an edema ankle. Just call me Cankle.