"13.1 Miles in the Dark"

Jana, my upstairs neighbor from this summer, once told me a story. It went something like this.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who hated to run. One day, the girl's sister asked her to run a marathon with her. The girl decided to give it a shot, even though she felt like she didn't have enough time to prepare. And you know what? The girl started to love running! And you know what else? She ran that marathon! And she ran more marathons after that! If this girl could learn to love running, anybody could."

I looked at Jana and realized she was giving an autobiographical account. I've always admired Jana...and felt relatively inspired.

Then Lucy looked at me across the table. "Jessica, you should do this with us."

I had never in my life considered running a marathon. But you know? This was only a half marathon that they were trying to convince me to run. 13.1 miles didn't seem nearly as daunting as 26.2 miles - although in my mind, it was still a sufficiently large number to handle on foot...

Then something clicked. It occurred to me that this wasn't an unrealistic goal. I'd have two months to prepare and a large support group to train with. I had never been into running prior to that moment, but what else was I going to do with all my free time that summer? Why not? I couldn't even think of an excuse to say no. It was instantaneous: as soon as I realized I had no excuses, I developed this secret longing to run a half marathon. I wanted to train and accomplish something big. I could do this!

So I agreed. :)

Thus, we began to train.
(Cue Eye of the Tiger music)

Lucy and Jana looked up half marathon training schedules online and we realized we were already behind if we were going to run the Mapleton Moonlight on August 27, 2010. We needed to start right away!

We had to ease ourselves into the training process. I attempted running in the morning by myself, and was fairly surprised at how easy it was to run...but I ran, and then realized I also had to run back. My lungs were burning and I could taste the blood in my throat as capillaries burst. It hurt! I got home and realized I had only been gone for twenty minutes...and I only ran 2 miles. This was not going to be as easy as I thought.

Then Lucy formed a running group! We ran in the evenings and we started small. 2 miles here, 3 miles there. There was always one big run throughout the week. Some people ran with us one night, some people ran the next. Tonight a group of 3? Oh wait, we're running with 10 this time around! We had a decent sized group set on running this half marathon with us. Some were natural runners who've all run their fair share of races. Some were like Lucy and I...okay...Lucy and I were the only beginners, but we were blessed to have people willing to stay with us and motivate us all along the way.

We became experts at breathing in through our noses, and out through our mouths. Our lungs learned to work with smaller amounts of air and our mouths began to lose the need for liquid if we breathed correctly. We ran in time to each other's feet pattering the ground. I found a breathing rhythm that worked best for me (in - 1,2,3 out -1,2,3). Sometimes we'd converse and sometimes we'd just run.

You should have seen the blister on the arch of my left foot. It was wickedly huge! But just as a scar marks your significance in a fight of some sort, my blister became my mark of hard work and worthwhile effort. I was proud of that thing -- don't judge.

Bill was willing to go running with me one morning...but I was quickly reminded that running just isn't for everyone. ;) Nonetheless, he was supportive of me when I'd go out running at night. (Dear Bill, Thanks.)

Then came the night of the milestone marker: The night of 11 miles. I had to mentally prepare myself for this one. In all honesty, I had no doubts that we wouldn't be able to make it. I just knew quitting wasn't an option when you're in that far!

It was me, Lucy, Is and his dog Porsche, and Aaron. Aaron Google-mapped a running route of 11 miles for us. We'd be running in a huge cross shape from the Logan Temple to the boundaries of Hyde Park. So we ran.

And we ran...
     And we ran...
         And we ran...

And then we missed a turn in the dark and took a detour in Hyde Park. This now meant we weren't running 11 miles. We were running more than that! But who knew how much more? We looked out into the city lights on the horizon and saw a speck that we call the temple. We ran all that way? Without stopping? Feeling good. ;)

Lucy and I pushed each other on. We were a great running pair!
Lucky for us, this monstrous run took place during the Perseid's Meteor Shower.  Me, Is, and Aaron saw a blindingly bright meteor shoot across the Southwestern sky. Oh my goodness! It was the most beautiful thing! We cheered and we laughed. Unfortunately, Lucy looked away as it passed, so we were bound and determined to keep our eyes on the sky in order to catch another glimpse of a falling star. We saw many, many more after that, but I have yet to ever encounter a shooting star quite like that one. :)

Our friends brought us water when we had but 2 miles left in our run. The drink break was wonderful, but at that point our legs were like jell-o, although we had the mentality and energy to keep pushing through! Mind had won out over matter!

And then we made it back to the Old Stilts (Lucy's place). We were exhausted, but you could just see in everyone's eyes that we had just accomplished something unbelievably great. We caught our breath and snapped a photo for the sake of memories and victory. We were absolutely victorious.

Me, Aaron, Lucy, and Is (and Porsche)

Later on, Aaron factored the detour into our mileage. We ran 11.9 miles. We decided to call it 12 for bragging rights. ;)

We had only a few weeks more until the big day. We had this thing in the bag!

Then I hit Limbo. I had to move out of dear Autumn Hills Cove and I couldn't move into Old Farm for two weeks. But I had to keep training in order to keep "in form."

So I had my mom, Jordan, and Shananaba run with me. :) Take that 5 miles!...Mom would not be running in with us in the night again any time soon. ;)

Another night, Jordan, Shananaba, and Val ran with me to Weber High and back. Val was awesome and Shanna puked in the gutter - each pushing themselves to their limits, but we rocked the streets of North Ogden.

Then Shanna was super cool and ran with me in the morning and sacrificed a lot of energy to do so. (Thanks Shanna!)

And now? Jordan runs cross-country. :) That makes me super happy.

Then came the big day. That morning, I packed my car and moved up to Old Farm. I met my new roommates Hilary and Melissa, said hello to Shanna and Michelle, and passed Taylor somewhere along the freeway as Bill and I headed down in my car to Mapleton.

Of course the weather was sketchy. Why wouldn't it be? It was raining rather hard when we went to go pick up our registration packets. I got a race number, a T-shirt that would fit my non-existent chihuahua, a bag full of coupons and goodies, and light-up gear to keep me visible as I ran the streets.

Heidi's parents were awesome and hosted us in their beautiful home. All of us had a place to sleep and a shower to use when the race was through. Heidi shuttled us up the canyon to the starting point. We were finally here and this was real life. Everything we had worked up for over the past two months, culminated here.

Jana, Jana's Mission Companion, Lucy, Is, Me, and Ryan

Ready? Set. Go -- and off we bolted at 9:15 PM. The goal was to leave at anytime, just so long as you crossed the finish line at midnight.

Ready?

I stuck with Lucy and we pushed each other like we always had. :) It felt good to run through the light drizzle of rain and through the winding roads of Hobble Creek Canyon. We had head lamps on, light-up necklaces, and glow sticks on our wrists. Jana and her old mission companion caught up to us, seeing as they left later than us, but we all stayed together for a bit. At certain mile-marker points, they had drinks for the runners and port-a-potties if you really needed them. But we stayed strong and didn't stop, we'd take our drink on the run!

Then Bill showed up on the side of the route and I ran by before truly internalizing that it was him. What a keeper he is for finding me. Aren't I lucky? Absolutely.

Lucy was starting to cave at mile 7. But I had a goal to run 10 miles straight through. I wasn't really working on cutting time, but rather I was running for the sake of distance. Jana stayed back with Lucy, but I continued on on my own. I felt bad for ditching Lucy, but this was really something I wanted to do for myself.

Then came mile 10. It was an awesome feeling to know that I had ran 10 miles straight without stopping. But now I was thoroughly and sufficiently exhausted. I alternated between walking and running for the last 3.1 miles. And then Mary, Lela, and Aaron caught up to me! These were the people I had trained with! It was fun to see them, but they continued to pass me by, I couldn't keep up with them. Heh heh.

Soon enough, the finish line was in sight. I could do this. I could push myself. I could really, truly do this. Jessica! Go! And next thing I know, I crossed the finish line at 11:53 PM! It was pretty anti-climatic seeing as I was by myself when I crossed the line, but I'm not really one for attention, so it was fine by me. :) I met up with Mary, Lela, and Aaron, and Ryan and Is (who ended up running 6 minute miles the entire way! Disgusting!) Then we went to the finish line as a group to cheer Lucy on. When she finally crossed, we high-fived...and died.

It hurt worse than anything to stop moving...so you just walked and stretched and walked. :) I drank a lot of liquid, and ate some orange slices. It was then that that feeling of success and accomplishment swept over me. Holy toledo! I did it. :) I ran a half-marathon. I can now check that spontaneous "secret longing" off my bucket list. Whop-atcha!

I found Bill and we continued to walk in circles trying to let my leg muscles relax. And he brought me flowers. :) We all got medals and more food and took pictures as a group! It was an awesome feeling knowing that we had all worked together to get to that point. I felt empowered. I felt good.

We are the champions!

But most of all, I loved the fact that this was not something I could do alone. I had people who convinced me to try, I had a group to keep me motivated, I had my family willing to train with me, I had Heavenly Father listening to the desires of my heart. I couldn't have done it without support and love. And these were two things I certainly, had.

Defining life experience - most definitely.

Need a running buddy?