St. George Marathon Trip: October 1-8

On Saturday, October 3, Andrea and I ran the St. George Marathon with my little brother, Adam. It was Andrea's and Adam's first marathon and my second.

We flew out to Utah on Thursday, October 1. Olivia is already starting to be interested in looking at the airplanes through the terminal window. It was her fifth flight and it went surprisingly well.
On Friday, we drove to St. George (in southern Utah). Even though the race didn't start until 6:45 a.m. on Saturday morning, the three of us woke up at 3:30 a.m. so that we could get to the start line in time. (Not a bad picture for a camera phone, eh?)
During the race, Olivia had lots of babysitters: my parents, Andrea's parents, my sisters Amanda and Whitney, and Adam's girlfriend Kristina.
Andrea's parents found a nice spectator spot near mile 9 on the race course. They never did see Adam (he must have been too speedy), but they caught pictures of me and then of Andrea.
They also got some good pictures of the course. While this may look like a lot of people, it is only a fraction of the marathon's 5,636 finishers.
I ran the first half of the race in 1:55, which was right at the pace I had hoped to keep for the entire race. But I ended up finishing in 3:58:15. I was pretty dead by the finish. But not quite as dead as Adam, who ran the marathon in 3:31:39 and came in 1,021st place. Way to go Adam!
Of the three of us, Andrea was in the best spirits coming across the finish line. She ended up running it in 4:15:12. (That's an average of 9:45 per mile--pretty good pace to keep up for 26.2 miles.)
Andrea even had enough energy to give high fives as she ran by the crowds.
Here's half of the family press crew documenting our big event.And here's the other half. We felt really grateful to have so much family support at the marathon.After the marathon was over, the three runners sat in bathtubs full of ice until we couldn't stand it anymore. Although the ice was torture at the time, I think it really helped my legs heal quickly. I remember hobbling for several days after my last marathon; this time, I was walking normal by Monday.

About 1:00 p.m., Andrea and I parted ways for a few days.

I drove back up to Salt Lake with my family and went to both Sunday sessions of General Conference (a large two-day gathering that the LDS church holds every six months in which our prophets and apostles speak to us). It was neat to attend conference live, something I haven't done for nearly four years. I then took a red-eye flight back home so that I could be back to work on Monday morning.
Instead of coming directly back to Salt Lake, Andrea and Olivia went to Las Vegas for a few days with Andrea's parents. After visiting Andrea's dad at a food trade show on Monday, the girls toured the city. One of their favorite stops was the Bellagio.
After all the warnings I gave Andrea about the evils of Sin City, she still couldn't help herself from visiting the chocolate fountain. At 27 feet tall, it is the world's largest chocolate fountain. It is full of 2 tons of chocolate--milk, white, and dark chocolate. The only disappointment was the inability to sample the chocolate.
On Tuesday, Andrea and Olivia flew from Vegas back to Salt Lake. (Andrea's parents stayed in Vegas for another day and then drove to San Diego to catch a cruise ship.) Olivia enjoyed spending Tuesday afternoon with her aunt Sharesa in Ogden. Sharesa gave them a tour of the Weber State campus and showed them her apartment. Sharesa did such a good job giving them a tour, Olivia was ready to enroll.
They also stopped by Cafe Rio, where Olivia fell in love with pork barbacoa.
Andrea and Olivia spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Centerville with my parents. On Wednesday, they went to Amanda's powder-puff football game, a Viewmont High School homecoming week tradition. Amanda was the kicker for the scoreless junior team. Though she never even got a chance to kick anything between the crossbars, I'm told she performed several amazing punts.
We're not sure who enjoyed snuggling in the bleachers more, Olivia or her grandma. Olivia was glad that her grandma made her a cute pink hat to keep her ears warm during the game.
After a hectic week-long trip, Olivia was glad to get a few minutes to relax and read her favorite book, That's Not My Fairy, with her grandpa.
On Thursday, I was so glad to have my girls back home!