Lake Tahoe Marathon

As many of you know, I spent this past summer training for the Lake Tahoe Marathon. I started training back in June. I felt so much more confident and knowledgeable this year than last year. I guess it was because I knew what to expect. Well have three months of training it was off to Tahoe. My parents and Brianna and I went up on Thursday afternoon so we could check in for the house we rented. It was such a cool house. I can't believe that we didn't take any pictures except of the one of me below marathon morning. The house was on a golf course. It was beautiful. Brianna loved watching the geese. Kalen, Dylan and Stephanie made it up on Friday. Both Kalen and Dylan were sick so they came up later than expected. I'm glad that they made it up though. I wasn't too nervous but as Friday went by I was getting more excited and nervous for the marathon. When I'm nervous I can't eat because my tummy has so many butterfiles that I think I'll get sick. It's hard when I know I was going to be running a marathon and should be loading up on calories. Anyhow....we ate at this great Italian resturant that was close to the house we were at. It was so good and yummy. Brianna even ate all of the food. She doesn't do too well out in public when it comes to eating. After dinner we headed back and waited for the rest of our group to arrive. I had to run, not literally, to the store. As I was leaving it started to hail. Not a good sign when I have to run in the morning. Little did I know I would have a surprise when I woke up Saturday morning.
After a pretty good nights sleep, I couldn't believe that I slept so well, I got up at 5:30am. I was in pretty good spirits.


Getting ready to get in the car. It was so cold up in Tahoe. Little did we know that it snowed Friday night. As Kalen and I open the front door we see snow. I thought this race is going to be crazy. I had never run in snow before or weather that cold. It was in the 30's when we left the house for Kalen to drop me off at the shuttle bus pickup. I thought I was going to freeze to death while I waited to get on the heated shuttle bus to take me to the start line in Tahoe City. We were in South Lake Tahoe. After a nice bus ride........nothing to hold on to and there was back ice on the road, plus snow, we made it to the starting area. The course at the beginning had to change a little because of the snow. I couldn't wait for the race to begin. I knew that my fmaily would be soon following me along the marathon route. At 8:30am the race began........it was so hard to run. There was ice and snow all over the road. We run south along HWY 89 and it was an aboslute nightmare. I really had to pay attention to my footing so I wouldn't slip. I was pretty close to my targeted pace. I was pretty happy since it was so cold and slippery.


The family found me. It was so nice to cheering a squad. Running a marathon is a lot more mental than physical. There were times that I was getting teary eyed but when I saw my family it gave me the strength to go on. I'm not sure what mile these pics were taken at, but they are along the race between mile 7 and mile 16. I'm feeling pretty good in the pic above or at least able to smile:)

My dad and my sister-in-law's brother, Michael Fry. He was up supporting some of his friends who were also running in the race.

There are some awful hills during the course of the Lake Tahoe Marathon. Runners have to climb 520' in about 1.5 miles. The altitude is really hard to deal with on that hill for me. I felt like I was going to pass out if I stopped so I just kept going. Kalen took this pic of one of the signs that are along the monsterous hill. At the top of the hill it is considered heaven, because you don't have to climb anymore insane hills for awhile.

Brianna loved to say,"Go Mommy. Mommy fast." She's still saying it and it's been two weeks since the marathon. She's so funny. I love have my own cheerleader:) We loved having Stephanie come up with us. She was a great help with the kids.

Yes that is snow on the ground. I told you I wasn't lying. There was still snow on the ground when I finished. It was a pretty chilly day.

After 5 hours and 44 minutes of running. I finished the marathon. I was so happy. My knee went out around mile 20 so I had to walk a lot of the last 6 miles. I did knock off a 1/2 hour off my time from last year. Yeah! but for me just finishing the race is what I wanted to do and I did it. Here's the link for my results of the race http://www.milliseconds.com/ResultsIndividual.php?varParticipantRecID=183&varRaceID=999

Kalen wanted me to smile and all I wanted to do was eat orange slices, take off my shoes, enjoy my accomplishment, eat, eat, and eat and of course take a nap.