Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Finished the Race!

Saturday was our big day. We woke up by 4:30 am to catch our ride up the side of a mountain in Ogden Canyon. After our taxi--Thank you Tyler--dropped us off we huddled around the small campfires and waited for the beginning of the race. Warmed up and ready to go we ran around a nearby reservoir and then through the canyon surrounded by the most beautiful outdoors you can imagine. Mountainous backdrops with natural waterfalls spilling off the sides into the babbling brooks all along the road would welcome any runner. For the first 10 miles we refreshed our spirits as we soaked it all in. At the bottom of the canyon, we hit a park near town and realized with all the downhills we had run under 10 minute miles the entire way and were determined to make the next 3 miles count. Melinda being a good mile ahead of us and Tori's training aches setting in made for a long 3 miles as most 1/2 marathons seem. However, we visualized the huge fan club of family that were waiting for us at the finish and charged on! Melinda made it in just under 2 hours; as we followed her footsteps we could hear the bands of people and looked intetly for the ones we loved. All of a sudden, there they were! Mae and Jason and Robyn and Tyler and Caleb and David and Tiffany and all the kids jumping up and down, cheering us on to the finish! What a great blessing it was to have them there as we crossed the finish at just over 2 hours 10 minutes. We did it! Not only did we do it, but we hit our goals!
Thanks to all of you for your donations and support as we tackled this great accomplishment! We couldn't have done it with you and appreciate the donations of almost $300 dollars to help muscular dystrophy. Please feel free to go to our individual blogs to read our story and also to again visit our donation blog for the race to place your last minute donations! We will leave it open until June 10th for all those interested in helping us achieve this amazing day!

We love you all!

Tori, Dawn, and Melinda