Mary asked me awhile back if I wanted to join her in the Ogden half marathon. I told her yes thinking it would help me stay motivated in running.  Sadly that didn’t really happen. I broke my toe, threw out my back, thought it was too hot at 9am, didn’t want to wake up at 5am to go running….the list of excuses is endless.  I seriously considered not going at all.  The thought of finding someone to watch my kids so I could participate in a race I hadn’t really prepared for seemed crazy.  However, our soon to be new neighbor was willing to watch the three youngest for me, and Curtis went to his friend, Travis’s house for the weekend.  So to Utah I went.

John had to be in Utah for a conference the following week so we drove up together.  We picked up Mary and then his mother before going to Ogden.  When we got to Ogden we picked up our race packets, checked into our hotel and then went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

We had to be up super early for the race.  We were bused up Ogden Canyon at 5am and the race didn’t begin til 7am.  It was cold but not as bad as Provo Canyon was but then again I had a lot of layers this time. I had my garments, a sports bra tank, a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeved shirt and a running jacket.  Right before the race began the rain started to fall.  It was too bad at the beginning but then it kept coming and coming.  Then the wind came.  I am not even sure it was 30 degrees out and then the pelting rain and the 30 mph rains about killed me.  My hands started to go numb pretty quick.  At one point I couldn’t feel my hands but every so often I would feel my pulse going into my thumb.  We probably went 8 miles in the this crazy weather.  At some point they gave all of the runners foil to wrap in. I seriously think this saved me from going into full on hypothermia.

Even though the weather was terrible we kept going.  We finally crossed the finish line completely drenched and delirious with laughter.  It is probably something I will remember for a long time.  My legs didn’t even feel tired until we stopped.  Then getting them to move again was hard.  Even after we finished the race I couldn’t feel my fingers.  I tried to grip a cup and totally dropped it. I tried to text Kathi to see how the kids were but my fingers couldn’t move to type.  It was so crazy.

John’s mom got sick the morning of the race so she couldn’t even come out of the car to see us cross the finish line.  Once we got back to the car we decided to just drive home.  As soon as we got home I stripped off all my layers of wet clothes and took a hot shower.  It felt so good. However, I still couldn’t get warm.  For a few hours I was just so cold.  I tried going under blankets but I still couldn’t get warm.  Finally John went to the gas station across the street and bought me some hot chocolate.  That did the trick. I finally felt warm again.

Sadly, my hands still haven’t returned to normal.  They started to get feeling back a week or so ago so I am hopeful they will recover.  I really hope I didn’t get some kind of nerve damage.  My foot also hurt for a good two weeks after. Not sure if I got a stress fracture or what. All I know is it was painful.

This all sounds pretty miserable but it really was a cool experience.  I am glad Mary and I could do it together. It is definitely something we will remember for a long time to come.  The crazy part is I remember the weather and the craziness of that but I don’t even remember the running/walking part.  But we did it.  We did 13 miles in the cold, wind and rain.