Here I go!

Well, this is it! Tomorrow (Thursday) I will fly to Utah to run my first ultra marathon (50k!) (Saturday). I'm really excited for this experience because 6 of my immediate family members will be running with me! So awesome!

Mike and Zoe are staying home. Crazy! I can't believe I'm leaving them for 4 days! Mike has been practicing doing the 'Princess Medicine' with Zoe. He has never done the shot before (it's always me doing the shot with Mike holding Zoe) and this weekend he gets to do it by himself.

As I increased the number of miles I ran each Saturday (that's the day I did my long run during the week), I noticed that my pile of 'things' kept growing. I typically would start getting my stuff together on Friday morning and throughout the day would remember things I would/might need for my run in the morning. By the time I did my 28 mile training run, this is the pile of stuff that I had ready for Saturday morning. Crazy, right? I'm excited to just run with a single water bottle this Saturday and be able to rely on aid stations every few miles that will be stocked with all of these things.

Zoe is posing in front of my pile of things in my bathroom. The more organized and ready I had everything for Saturday morning, the faster I could get out the door and start my run. This really helped on hot days when I was racing the sun and trying to run during the coolest part of the day.

This is my motivation poster. I started this when I was training for my first marathon a year ago. I love adding new quotes, pictures, and my favorite...cards from some of you (shout out to Natalie and Jen!).

Also, a big shout out to Sheri who ran many, many miles with me over the past few months. Sheri and Rachel who let me drop stuff off on Friday nights so their houses could be my aid stations. Mike who is my biggest fan and support (I look forward to being able to function on Saturdays again).

And to Dad, Scott, Adam, Jen, Travis, and Lisa: Nnnever give up! Nnnever surrender!