Goals met and things to be greatful for

This year I made my goal and ran in the Mesa Falls Half Marathon. I had so much fun and have been able to come farther than I ever thought I would with my running. I have so much to be grateful for. A year and a half I wouldnt have been able to do this because of my back and nerves, but because of the help I got from a doctor I am able to run. Destry says Im a health freak and that Im addicted, and maybe some of that is true, but it feels good to be able to work at something and accomplish it. I appreciate him supporting me every step of the way.

I had to be in Ashton at 7:00 on Saturday morning. When I got there, there were lots of unfamiliar faces and I felt a little out of place without my best friend there with me. Destry had to work that day. As we loaded the buses and started riding up, I started to get a little nervous. I met a few new people from different places, but I honestly dont think we ever told each other our names! When we went down the hill that we were supposed to run UP I started to get really nervous. Would I really be able to do this, or was I going to die in the middle of the hills? We reached the starting line, and got out of the buses. There were tons of people there all warming up that didn't ride the bus, so then I got even more scared!

Finally the volunteers had everything ready to start the race (thank goodness for them, they do a great job!). We all lined up, and finally we were off! We ran down the road and got on to the old trail by the railraod tracks. The trail was pretty and I had a lot of fun running on it. At about mile 3, I hear someone start talking to me, I turned my headphones down and was surprised to see one of my really good friends, Whitney Howard, running next to me! We ran together for about a mile, and I ended up passing her after awhile. Running up those hills was really hard, but I kept going, and had a great feeling of accomplishment everytime I hit a small patch of flat ground.

Towards the tail end of the race, I look up and see Brittany's tahoe pull over to the side of the road. She jumps out with the boys and Tamra. I was so excited to see them! I was a little bummed that I was running by myself, but they definately made my day! Thank you guys so much for coming out and cheering me on! It made my day! I am so grateful for you guys and that I married in to a great family. I truly do love you guys and am grateful for all that you do!

The last two miles were probably the hardest, I started to get some killer blisters on my feet. I would post a picture of my feet afterwards, but its really gross! Both of my feet ended up being huge blisters and I looked like I had up a board up my bum when I was trying to walk the next day!

As I got to the finish line, I was already happy that Tamra, Brittany, Kead and Axton came, but when I went across the line I could hear someone else yelling my name. I looked up and saw that my mom was there waiting for me! There is no better feeling than crossing the finish line and seeing your mom there waiting for you! I love my mom and I was so happy that she came! Thanks Mom! I can honestly say that seeing that there were people there who supported me, made this one of the funnest races and I will definately be doing it again next year! (I hope Brit gets to run next year).

I was sad that Destry couldn't come, but I owe him a HUGE thanks as well. He has been working so hard lately, and I feel really guilty that I havent been working as much because its slow at the Pharmacy. He has been putting in a lot of overtime, and he didnt even get home until about 11:30 the night before last. I miss him, but I appreciate the hard worker that he is. I love you hun!

On and ending note, I didn't think I did that good, but I ended up getting 2nd place in my age division! I missed first place by about 10 seconds! They gave me a cool little plaque. My name was in the paper, but no one would recognize it because they posted it as Florence Orr...haha. I hope I can do even better next year and beat my time of 1:57:22! Thanks again to everyone that has supported me in one way or another!