My weekend

The big exciting news from the weekend is of course about what Stephen and Mark did on Saturday.  Their runs were phenomenal.  I am so glad I was there to see them both finish.

But while the boys were either driving the marathon course or resting their legs for the 2 days before the race, I was not just sitting around.  I had planned to read a lot, and knit about 5 hats while lounging around the pool at the hotel.

And then we ended up renting a 5.0L GT Mustang convertible at the airport, and that all changed.

Mark never got a picture of me with the top down and wind blowing through my hair, but that is how I spent the entire weekend.  St. George is such a beautiful area, and I drove that beautiful car all around, north, south, east and west of the city.  And I didn't get any speeding tickets--which is amazing.

On Thursday morning Mark and I went to the St. George temple, and then we picked up Stephen from the shuttle.  We went out to lunch and then Mark and Stephen decided to drive the marathon course.  This is one thing I definitely do NOT enjoy doing with Mark.  He stops and analyzes the course over and over, and it is very frustrating for me.  So I just don't go along on those pre-race trips.  I turned the keys over to Mark and Stephen, and I went shopping.  Within walking distance of our hotel were:  Ross, Target, TJ Maxx and an outlet mall.  I hardly bought anything, but it was fun just to walk around and look without Zachary in tow--he does NOT like shopping.  After a couple of hours Mark and Stephen called me and said they were going to drive the course again, so I walked over to a nail place and had a pedicure.

This was the most unusual pedicure.  I have only had 4 pedicures in my life, but they have always been from women.  This time a cranky woman up front yelled something in Hmong to to back room, and out walked a 50-ish year old Vietnamese man.  I thought for sure he was just filling the foot tub on the chair with water, but then he sat down and pulled out his bucket of supplies and told me to sit down.  So I did.   And it was interesting.  But he painted some beautiful flowers on my big toes, so that was good.

Friday morning the three of us decided to go to the temple again, and then I went out to lunch with a friend I grew up with but haven't seen in about 17 years.  She was also it town to run the marathon, and it was so fun to catch up with her.  She drove me to the race expo where I met back up with Mark and Stephen and took possession of the Mustang once again.  I dropped the boys off at the hotel, and I took off on a 3-hour drive all around the hills, plateaus and valleys around St. George.  It was a blast.  I love the red rock and painted hills.  I love to try to figure out what events and forces occurred to create the stunning geologic landscape of southern Utah.  Wow!

I then stopped at Olive Garden and got take-out for their pre-race dinner, dropped it off at the hotel, helped the boys pin their bibs on their tank tops, witnessed the official "arm-swish test", and headed back out for some more driving in the dark.  After a trip Iceberg for a grasshopper milkshake, I headed back to the hotel and quietly snuck into the room where Mark had been asleep for a couple of hours.

Saturday morning we all woke up at 4:00 AM to get ready for the race.  The boys took the hotel shuttle to the race busses and I went back to sleep for an hour.  I got to the finish line around 7:00 AM and picked out a prime spot for photographing the end of the race, even though Mark and Stephen had just crossed the starting line 15 minutes before that.

I've already written about the race, but I didn't tell you about the sweet medals.  Best medal I've ever seen.

Maybe because it's not a medal.  But it is also not cardboard....remember this?


It's a rock.  A beautiful piece of red rock formed into a shiny disc.  I love it.  Perhaps it is the geology nerd in me, but I do love a good rock.  I'm a sucker for igneous rock especially.  I am in love with this "medal."  Am I in love with it enough to actually train for a marathon myself?  I don't know.  I never thought I would ever want to run a full marathon, but this rock has me actually considering it just so I can have a rock.  There were a bunch of perfectly normal-looking people in the finishers' area wearing these beautiful rocks around their necks, and I must admit that I thought to myself, "If that person can do it, surely I can, too."

First I have to see if I can work my way back up to a half-marathon without hurting my knee again.