Utah 1: Half Marathon and Shopping Marathon

The Edwards and Nufer families have done fabulous work coordinating summer vacations. When you have 8 younger siblings, it is "dangerous" to plan anything in the summer until you are absolutely certain there will not be a wedding in the family. Thankfully, my brother Kevin's wedding and the Edwards Family Reunion fell in the same 7 day time period. Scott, whenever you read this, feel free to plan your wedding accordingly.

One of the main highlights of this trip was also meeting Joshua Monson, my sister's 8-week-old son. He smelled every bit the newborn, and reminded me so much of little Zachary.

Natalie was nice enough to drive all over Utah to pick us up from the airport, and she and Steve also hosted us later that night. We spent the day Friday running from store to store, trying to make up for lost shopping time over the past 8 months. We worked to find any 24 month summer clothes, but mostly we found autumn clothes that would never work in Kauai.

Friday night, we met up with my siblings, and had the privilege of meeting Kevin's fiance, Kristen. Kevin can't stop grinning with her around. I commented at their wedding that she apparently missed the "lay low" memo to new sister or brother-in-laws, because she really gets out there and makes the first effort getting to know her new family. It made Brady and I really excited about their upcoming wedding.

It is always my goal to find a race while we are on the mainland. For the second year in a row, I ran the Provo Half Marathon. It is a batter-your-legs, mostly downhill run that leaves you sore for a good week, but at least your time is fast! This year, Brady also trained and ran it. Kristen, Kevin, and my brother Eric (in town for BYU Volleyball camp) came in the early am to watch us, and even got some pictures.

Brady's first photo op:
Me at the same spot (mile 5), thinking that I'll hit my goal time:

Brady, after the uphill, counting the number of people he picks off (51, by the way):

Me, thinking, "This is by far the most exhausted I have ever felt in a half marathon":
Brady finished with sub-7s at 1:30 (WHOO-HOO!), and I squeaked by at 7:44s with a time of 1:41 (27 sec/mile slower than last year!). Eek. The only thing keeping me under 8s was Aaron Varney--who irritatingly told me stories of ultra-marathon runners not giving up, and blahblahblah! Ha! Just teasing, Aaron. You really did save me from a disastrous finish, and I can't wait to race you again. Rematch 2010?