It's Hard Being an Athlete

I haven't told many people but this coming Saturday I am running in the Ogden City Marathon. I feel a little embarrassed to be doing it, but I did want it to come as a surprise when my friends heard that I killed over on mile 10 in the Ogden Canyon (we are only running half the marathon). My youngest brother Brian is leaving on May 21st for his mission and he came up with this bright idea about three months ago. He thought it would be something fun we could all do together. Let me fill you in on the "Fun" we all have been having the past couple months.

First of all I am not doing this entirely alone. My sister Andrea and her Husband Kody, Brian, and Jonny are all the idiots that signed the fifty dollar entrance fee. At first we were a little nervous and entirely out of shape. That first month we would sit around talking about how far we were running and how good it felt to begin getting into shape. We all went out and bought new shoes and began calling ourselves (joking of course) athletes. We would often start sentences like, " well now that I'm an athlete...." or "since becoming a marathon runner......" We all found that it was beginning to be a great bonding experience and pitied anyone who chose not to join us in our new found hobby.

Month two was a little different. We found that it was becoming a little more difficult to find time to juggle running. Andrea and I always ran together and would often have to wake up early to go first before I husbands could go. This made us a little grouchy but found that running early was really quite beautiful. By this time Kody had what looked like something that used to be a blister but blew up to be something much more disgusting on his foot and couldn't run for almost a week. Andrea began feeling a sweet little warm feeling in her shins and figured it was just pesky little shin splints, and Jonny was convinced that the new shoes he bought made him get the flu (seriously). Though we were getting a little weary of the time our running was taking and the little pains it was causing our bodies, we just kept thinking of how proud we would feel crossing the finish line with our dear loved ones waiting to greet us.

Month three which we are currently in couldn't end quickly enough. Our outdoor runs have been completly miserable due to the fact the wind hasn't stopped blowing for months and snow has even fallen during the month of May. Andrea and I can no longer run in the morning because we would have to wake up at 5:00 to make enough time for our Ibuprofen to kick in before we can even take one step. Andrea may not even be able to run a single mile of this stupid race becuase not only does she have the worst shin splints known to man, but she also has a bad hip that perscription drugs cant even dull the pain to. Brian, the genius who got us into this mess, hasn't ran in weeks because his ankles hurt too bad. Kody and Jonny just got kinda sick of running and can't even find their running shoes anymore (Jonny is actually staying away from his so he doesn't get the flu before the big day). Though my shins feel like someone has taken a baseball bat to them most of the time I have still tried to keep running as much as I can without my sister as my sidekick, but mostly I just sleep in now and dream of the days when I would eat donuts in the morning while watching exercise shows.
Wish us all luck! Yay for running!
P.S. I'm looking for a new running partner so let me know if there are any takers. The position should go quickly.