The Beaumont Gusher Marathon

Exactly a week after the wedding, we were in Beaumont, Texas where I ran in a 1/2 marathon. I had been seriously training for 9 weeks and was pumped and ready! (Although the day after we got home from Utah, I got sick and was only feeling better the day before the race.) Here is a picture of my training schedule. I have it taped to a bathroom cabinet door. Uncle Jeff, Rachel and Jared all ran in the Gusher 5-K race and Brian ran the 1/2 marathon like me. (He was a lot faster than his ancient shuffling aunt!:)) Brian finished in just under 2 hours and I finished in 2 hours 35 min.
There were 2,600 people who had signed up to run in either the 5-K, the 1/2 marathon, and the full marathon! I don't know how many of them showed up, but there were a LOT of people! Here I am warming up!

Here is a video we found on YouTube that shows the beginning of the race. You can see me at 1 min 11 sec. on the left. (I can't see Brian, but maybe you can find him. He's ahead of me. It gives you an idea of how many people there were! Only the 1/2 and full marathoners are starting here. The 5-K race started a half hour later.

I did really well through 11 miles, only stopping a couple of times at pit stops to stretch for 30 seconds. The last 2 miles were tough and the last mile I had to walk a couple of times for a minute. But I ran across the finish line with achy knee and hip joints. But I did it and it was really emotional. Shelby hugged me afterwards and she and I cried. I didn't expect to do that, I guess I was overwhelmed that I had accomplished a goal I never thought I'd do!