The Burr's: 2008-10-05

Today we had a "Yard Sale"! ......Yippeee....it was SO much fun! We started out at 6:30 am, got the signs up on all the busy streets and put the things in order out on our driveway. Can you say FREEZING, COLD, FRIO, BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! What a day to pick.... I sat outside with my hot parsley brew, two HOT bean sacks that you put in the microwave one under my bum and the other on my stomach, a big down filled comforter wrapped completely around me, and bundled up in my WINTER clothes! What the SNOT?! It's not that time of year already is it? It had to have been in the 40's and wind blowing like crazy.

We had people coming sporadically here and there, sold quite a bit and made some money. We still have stuff to sell so I think we are going to do it ALL again next weekend. We are trying to get rid of just about EVERYTHING we are tired of having SO MUCH STUFF. It's been a little hard knowing how much we paid for some things and selling them for practically nothing. That's just part of life and our decision to downsize our "livin" :)

It all started first thing in the morning at 2:40am my alarm goes off, I get up take a shower still feeling very drained from the two weeks prior of having a tremendous cold. I get dressed making sure I rub Vaseline all over my feet and any place I may get chaffed. I eat a light meal and drink lots of water and head out the door by 3:15am to wait for my good friend and running partner Gail J. while I’m waiting I am trying to massage my quads with a rolling pin to relax them so my IT band doesn’t KILL me through the run.
3:20 – Gail shows up and we head to the park to get on the buses for our ride up to the “Starting Line”.
4:00 am – We load the buses and head up :)How exciting!
4:40 am – We are at the “Starting Line” There is music BLARING and about 40 to 50 fire pits not yet on fire, they had hot chocolate, coffee, gloves and Vaseline for everyone. They also gathered all the Portal Potties in Washington County for this event, they were lined up in a long row. I don’t even know how many there were. It totally felt like an outdoor concert like the “Lilith Fair” or something it was AWESOME!
5:00 am – We find our seats on the ground next to one of the non lit fire pits but it was closer to the starting line so we chose it anyway. I had a blanket so Gail and I sat down on it, at this point shi

vering because the wind was blowing and it was in the late 40’s lower 50’s and sprinkling just a little, Gail went and hooked us up with two trash bags that we used as raincoats….THANKS GAIL!
5:30 am – We see some other friends of ours Kathy and Ben and their 10 year old son Elijah, they sit with us and we chat for awhile, still sprinkling and windy, and more people starting to gather around the fireless fire pit.
5:45 am – A man comes with a blow torch and lights the fire pit…Yaaaaayyyy! More people gather around the fire pit and keep the wind and some of the rain off of us. Now it’s starting to change from the “Lilith Fair” to a Hobo Convention, everyone is around the fire pits with trash bags as coats. :)
6:00 am – Wait in line for 20 minutes to use the restroom before we start running.
6:30 am - People are singing the National Anthem that we didn’t sing because we didn’t hear it….go figure.
6:40 am – Get in line to run in the order time/hours and minutes you figure it will take you to run…we were right in front of the 5 hour crowd.
6:45 am – The gun goes off! I didn’t hear it over the people, the rain, and the wind. We were although right by the Portal Potties and someone REALLY REALLY used one before the race, because DANG! We started shuffling towards the “Starting Line” heal to toe with everyone in front and behind us, there were 5,000 plus runners.
6:53 am - We Finally cross the “Starting Line” YAAAAYYYY!!!!
7:00 am – We are running in the rain which is no longer sprinkling but now pouring with a head wind coming from the south, my eyes keep getting filled with water, it’s hard to see, but we still have our trash bags on us…can I get a HALELUAH for the trash bags!

8:15 am – We are coming up on Veyo Hill! It’s so nice to see the people of the town of Veyo out in the rain supporting us, and all of the Volunteers at every other mile marker in the pouring rain with bananas, Energy Gels, Gatorade, water, Vaseline and don’t forget the Icy Hot!
We take our time walking up Veyo hill which is a 6% incline for about a quarter of a mile, so we don’t ware ourselves out. (still raining, windy and butt cold! Yup! My butt was COLD!)
8:45 am – It’s so cold and by this time I had taken off my trash bag about an hour ago. I can’t move my hands to wave at any of the supporters, I have a tank top on and keep thinking someone is poking me really hard in my left arm I look down to find that no one is there it’s just so DANG freezing that my arm is going into spasm mode.
9:45 am – We make it to Diamond Valley! Oh ya? about a half of a mile back, Gail’s husband and daughter helped work at one of the aid stations. They were waiting on the sidelines with their raincoats on shivering cold. Gail got a HUGE hug from here husband and lots of verbal support to keep her going :) We start running again with smiles on our faces (well my face, I’m not sure about Gail I didn’t look :)
10:30 am – “The Ledges” or “Winchester” same area. Only 9 more miles to go! Feeling Good it’s starting to warm up a few degrees now, it’s not pouring rain but it hasn’t stopped raining. There are still many supporters

off to the sides of the road cheering, whistling and ringing cow bells :) Great Support! I’m feeling good we have taken a few bathroom breaks and stretching breaks to keep ourselves loose and moving. It’s been really fun so far. I was REALLY enjoying running in the rain, I felt like a little kid again! Seriously when was the last time you ran in the rain? More than just running to your house or to your car? We were DRENCHED head to toe, every time we would land on a foot it would “squish” “squish”. People were off at the water stations getting Vaseline rubbed all over there back and arms. There were people getting “Icy Hot “ rubbed all over their legs to keep the pain tolerant to keep going. The volunteers were AMAZING!
11:40 am. – I’m approaching Turtle Road and Snow Canyon Parkway, It has stopped drizzling rain and we see a little bit of a blue sky through the rain clouds. I have been texting Jason through out the run to let him know approximately where I was, so I knew he would be waiting for me there :) I run down the hill and see him waving and shouting and cheering me on! What a sweet husband he is, he gives me high five and we blow each other kisses then he takes off. He also mentioned my family was on Diagonal, that was the next street I was heading down (it was right by my parents house)
Gail had told me just to run as fast as I wanted to, it was probably obvious at that moment, because I knew my family was down the street so I really wanted to run faster… then and there Gail and I separated from our long journey of 24 miles…GO GAIL!
11:55 am – I see my family! All on the side walk, my mom screaming “Go AMY! Sitting in her wheel chair and her leg in a cast hopping up and down on her chair, Summer is holding David Josh is standing in the street with Summer’s husband Sonner. My Dad sitting in his camping chair whistling and Michael??? Where is Michael?? Oh there he is…sleeping….he’s sleeping on the sidewalk… Oh well :)It was still very exciting Jason was across the street taking pictures. I stopped for a moment to stretch my leg, catch my breath and started running again.

12:00 pm – I turn the corner on 300 west and start walking, then I think what am I doing I’m almost done and it’s all down hill from here, so off I go. Now I’m running through way familiar territory the part of town I grew up in and still live…my Ward :) I see some ward members here and there, Karlinda M and Jen B. are cheering, but cheer louder when I run by (at least in my head they did :)) I run by the Metcalf Mortuary and a sign that reads “Don’t even think about stopping here!” I keep running faster and faster thinking to myself It’s almost done it’s almost over! 1 Mile Left!!!!! I keep passing people left and right because I have so much energy left and I just want to finish this dang thing!
12:10 pm – I turn the last corner and start running down the last leg of the race I see the balloons to the “Finish Line” and start running even faster! I went from a 10 min mile pace to probably a 7 minute mile pace passing people again and again. I kind of felt bad for the people I had passed because I could see the pain in there eyes and the hope of almost being done they are almost done…and then WHAM someone passes them sprinting to the finished line. A few of them saw me from the corner of

their eyes and were trying to pick up speed, but I was just cruising!
12:13 pm – I CROSS THE “FINISH LINE”! It’s done I DID IT! I DID IT! They have volunteers at the end with a medallion that they put around your neck. The lady that put the medallion around my neck gives me a HUGE hug and whispering in my ear she says “You did it, you accomplished something unimaginable for many people

congratulations I’m so PROUD of you” WOW that was AWESOME! The volunteers are so AMAZING! There were others standing there with Blue Bunny Ice-cream bars handing them out…I had two. :) I was looking for Jason and couldn’t find him anywhere, so I called him and he said “YOU ALREADY FINISHED?!” he was sad he missed my picture at the “Finish Line” the traffic was crazy! He managed to kind of get me when he took a picture of the “Finish Line”. I was getting my medallion if you zoom in REALLY REALLY closely you can see my pink bandanna :) It was okay though I was in my own Euphoric world. I did it! I did it!
This was a HUGE goal of mine the past 6 months and I went from not running AT ALL to running 26.2 MILES! It has always been unimaginable for ME and I did it! I tell you what? I did it with the Lord’s help he knew my goal and my heart and he wanted to help me accomplish it and with His help I accomplished it. I was sick and drained from the two weeks prior; I had HUGE issues with my knees so bad I couldn’t run more than a couple miles for almost 3 weeks. I thought I would be in pain the whole run! I know now that I can accomplish anything with God’s will no matter how hard it may seem and how impossible it may be, I know I can do it. I just have to have Faith and motivation and it will be done. My knees didn’t hurt terribly bad and I felt like I had more energy than I had had in a couple weeks, like I hadn’t been sick at all. Thank You Heavenly Father…. thank You my Savior and Redeemer… and thank you to all who supported me through this, my husband Jason for watching the kids on Saturday mornings for a couple of hours and thank you especially to my dear friend Gail, with out your help and motivation this would have been a much harder goal to accomplish….you will always be my running buddy. :)

If asked again if I would run the marathon one more time? I’d say “In a Heartbeat!” I was already thinking today 2 days after the marathon I want to run another one soon! I could do it all over again next week ;) I’ll give myself time to recover though…..like a year :)