Running 26.2 miles was almost the death of me

Last Saturday I ran my first marathon, and it was quiet possibly one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life! About 5 months ago, Emily and I decided that we wanted to run a marathon together. We kind of set up a training program for ourselves and started running. About three months into it, I didn’t know if I was even going to be able to run in it because my legs hurt so bad. I experienced shin splints that killed. After taking about 3 weeks off from running, I started up again, and my confidence of finishing a marathon grew as I was able to run my long runs. The longest I have ever ran in my life was about 5 miles before I started training. About a month before the marathon, I was able to run 17 miles without any problems. (Except the occasional moment where I had to go to the bathroom and there were no toilets for miles) I had mild shin splits, but as long as I gave myself enough rest in between runs, I was perfectly fine. Emily trained for about 3 months, and her knees kept giving her major problems, so she wasn’t able to run with me.
Anyway, last Saturday in Logan was the day that I ran 26.2 miles, and it was almost the death of me. Here is kind of play-by-play of the day’s events. At 4:00 am, I woke up and drove to Logan. We stayed at my parent’s time share in Bear Lake which is about 45 minutes from Logan. (If I had to do it again, I probably wouldn’t stay that far away from the race) We got to Logan about 5:00 am. All 2,500 runners met at a park in Logan where we got on a bus, and they drove us to the starting line. At the park, I waited for Bryan, my brother-in-law, and his sister Heather-they were also running the race. Bryan ran the St. George Marathon last year, and Heather has ran about 5 marathons before this one. At 5:45, we got a school bus and for about 45 minutes-that is how long it took us to get to the starting line-we anxiously awaited the long run ahead of us. They dropped us off at the top of the canyon that we were going to run down.


At 6:50, they let the people in wheelchairs start. Yes, apparently you can run a marathon in a wheelchair-I guess you wouldn’t say “run” when you are pushing yourself with your arms, but I looked at Bryan and said, “The course is almost all down hill? That doesn’t seem fair, does it?” We just laughed and waited another 10 minutes before we could start. At 7:00 am, the gun went off, and the race was on.


Bryan and Heather were going to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon. To do that, they would have to run an 8 minute mile, so when the gun went off, they started on a full sprint, well it seemed like a full sprint to me! I decided that I was going to try to keep up with them as long as I could, and for the first 13 miles, I kept up with them pretty good. In fact, I was running at a 7 minute 30 second mile, which I hadn’t done throughout my entire training, and I was feeling really great. This feeling of greatness would soon change around mile 13 or 14. At mile 14, I started to feel a little light headed, and every time I looked up-I always run with my head down- everything started to become blurry. I thought I wasn’t getting enough oxygen and water in my body so I started to drink as much as I could at each aid station and breathe a little deeper. It also didn’t help that I was starting to hit my “wall” at mile 14 either.


At mile 16, I started to feel like I was going to pass out; my vision was blurred; I was having trouble running straight, and I was feeling exhausted. At mile 18, my conditioned worsen, and I really just wanted to quit. I couldn’t believe that I had 8 more miles to the finish line! I started to walk a little bit to see if it would help my situation. Miles 19 to 25, felt like I was walking/running the hallways of death! Never have I felt this way in my entire life! I started to envy the people on the sidelines watching all the runners, and how I wished that I was the one watching and not the one being watched.


At mile 25, I thought, only 1 more freaking mile, and I am done! As I stumbled across the finish line, I thought I was going to finally pass out. I made my way over to the water table, drank some water and tried to stretch my legs. I kept drinking cups of water thinking that it would help. I collapsed to my knees, and realized I might need to see a medic. I stumbled over to a medic table and sat down. For 3 or 4 minutes, no one knew I was there. I finally tapped one of the medics on the shoulder and said, “I think I am going to pass out.” He looked at me and said, “You look like you are going to pass out.” They took my blood pressure, which was high, figured out that I was dehydrated, and put me on an I.V. For 30 minutes I laid on the table just resting and soaking in the fluids. I looked up at Emily and said, “Never let me do this again!” I will say that I am really glad that I ran it, just for the sake of accomplishing such a daunting goal, but my body hurts so bad because of it.

Yard Sale Mania

It is sad to think that summer is pretty much over with now that the temperatures are starting to be in the 70s. I mean, just last week, we were still having days that would get in the mid 90s. Oh well, what can you do. And what would a summer in Utah be without a good old yard sale? Yes my friends, about 2 weeks ago Emily and I experienced our first yard sale as a married couple, and what an experience it was. It was actually a combined yard sale with my sister, Kiffin, and my mom. And I bet none of you knew that my mom is the “Queen” of yard sales, or so she says she is. She probably called herself the “Queen of Yard Sales” about 25 times, and that is no exaggeration. She had everything planned out to the “T”. If any of us gave our opinion about how to improve the yard sale, she quickly told us a story about past garage sales, and how her yard sales are the best in Utah. Let me give you a day-by-day plan the week before the sale.
Saturday, my mom had to put the yard sale in the paper because that is what draws all the people to the house. (Here is when one of my opinions was shot down.) I asked my mom, “Who looks at the newspaper anymore? It would better if we just put it on the internet.” Her response was, “TJ, I know how to run a yard sale. And we need to put it in the newspaper.” I said, “ok mom.”

Tuesday, Bryan brings over a trailer full of junk to my moms house to sale.

Wednesday, I put an ad on the internet about the yard sale.

Thursday, Em and I bring a trailer full of our stuff over to the house, and my dad and I went to the church and picked up 10 tables.

Friday, Kiffin brings over another trailer full of stuff, and all of us stay up until midnight pricing our items. I think Kiffin was done around 1:00 am pricing her items because she had way more stuff than any of us. All of us where getting a little annoyed with everyone because it was taking so long pricing our items, and we had to do it my mom’s ways.

Saturday morning at 5:00, Em and I woke up and headed over to my mom’s house to finally have this yard sale, and what a day it was. We had stated in our ads that we were going to start the sale at 8:00. Well, my mom decides to put yellow caution tape in front of our yard to stop people from looking at our stuff before 8:00. The caution tape didn’t really work. People just went over it or under it, and it was so funny to see my moms reaction. As soon as they crossed the tape, Trina was telling them that we don’t open until 8:00, and we are not letting anyone look at anything until 8. At times, it was a little awkward to say the least. We convinced my mom to start the yard sale at 7:45 because there were about 10 people crossing over the caution tape ready to purchase our used crap. Our stuff went like hotcakes. By the end of the day, we were very pleased with how much we made. The yard sale ended at 2, and all of us were ready to close up shop except Trina. I told here that she can stay out here and sell her stuff, but I am done selling our stuff. The day ended with a lunch at Café Rio and a quick stop at our local DI with a trailer full of junk.

Kiffin and Em being the yard sale cashiers.

Kiffin and Em accepting money for our junk.

Trina organizing the tables to make it look perfect.

Me and Aspen hanging out. Don't mind my skinny legs, and a sneek peek at my garmets.

Bryan wondering, "Who is showing up now?"