We did it!!!

Well, it's official folks. I along with 3 of my sisters and my dad, am an official "marathoner"! On Saturday may 19th, we all ran and FINISHED the Zion's Bank Ogden Marathon.

So we met the buses at 5am on saturday morning and took the nice long drive up the canyon. It actually was not nearly as long as I thought it would be. I have heard that the drive up can be quite daunting, but it really wasn't for me. We got up there and huddled around fires, and waited in lines at the porta-johns, along with about 2500 other runners. The gun went off promptly at 7am, although it took us a few minutes to cross the starting line as we were towards the back of the pack. It is all very exciting, there are so many people, all shapes and sizes. It is also quite interesting to see everyone's stradegies. We saw lots of walk/runners. They would run for like 5 minutes and walk for 2 or something like that. But they were keeping up. I think actually, the two ladies I saw doing that finished before us. We also got a nice treat around mile 3. I guess some girl just couldn't wait another second to go to the bathroom, so she just popped a squat right there on the side of the road (there were porta-johns like every mile or so). It was awesome!

Ok, so on to the actual run...it was great! It really was. I really enjoyed myself, and kept thinking how great this was, and just loved all the support we got from onlookers. We even had a hill after mile 13 that was no problemo. Then we got to about mile 22, and all that went away...I hated the marathon, and couldn't think why on earth I was putting myself through this torture. But I had gone this far, I might as well go another 4 miles. Mile 23...I am going to die, I am going to barf, I don't want to do this anymore, just keep going. Mile 24...why on earth did the city Marathon have to be 26.2 miles away from Athens (see Origins of Marathon), just keep going, you can't stop running until you hit the mile 25 marker, you can do it, no I can't, yes you can, no I can't...ok, I'm there! Mile 25, 1 more mile to go. Dad's telling me this is all mental...ppsshh, what is he smokin'? Get a drink, take a walking break to get geared up for the final stretch...put off running as long as possible...start running. We turn the corner onto the final stretch...we can see the finish line, and OH MY GOSH, it is SO FAR AWAY. I can't do this, I want to stop, just keep going, speed up so we actually look like runners, my lungs are going to burst...oh my gosh, there's Asher and Nate, and Ashley and Whit and Ben...we are going to make it...smile, look like this is no problem! We did it, we're there...it's over...THANK GOODNESS!! We didn't do it as fast as we would have liked, but we did it. I just looked at the final results and my official time was 5 hours and 5 minutes and 29 seconds. Here is a video of us coming into the finish. Sorry, it is very bouncy, Ashley started running with us and in doing so, had a hard time keeping the camera steady. If you listen closely, you can hear the announcer saying our names as we cross the finish line. He realized after saying a few Busaths that it was "Team Busath...the yellow girls".

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So needless to say, this was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. WAY harder than having a baby (although I realize that that is not really saying much in my case). When I finished, I didn't think that I would ever run a marathon again. But just like having a baby, I was very quick to forget all the pain and suffering that I went through, and by the next day, I was already thinking, yeah, I think I could do that again. I guess we will see!





I would also like to thank Nate for all the love and support that he has given me throughout the past 4 months. (Sorry to get all cheesy on everyone) When I decided to do this, neither of us had any idea what we were signing him up for too. Hours and hours of babysitting when he had tons of things to do. Every saturday was basically shot. But I want you to know Nate that I could never have done it without you. I love you. Thanks for all you have done for me...especially the many cafe rio salads that you got for me after my long runs! :)


To the fam...Jill, Hailey, dad, it was so fun experiencing this with you. Whit, I could have NEVER done this without you. I was not a runner, but you made me believe in myself and pushed me to be better every week. I love you guys...GO TEAM BUSATH...THE YELLOW GIRLS!!

Asher was such a good boy. Ashley said he didn't cry once all day. I think he just loved being outside. What a cutie!

visit zazoosh.com and look up my number 2012 for more pics.