First Half Marathon...

On Saturday May 21st, I ran my very first HALF MARATHON! I actually didn't sign up for it last year because I was pregnant and wasn't sure if I would be able to run that soon after having the baby. Well two weeks before the race my sister Rachel had a friend that was looking for someone that wanted to take her place. I was very excited and very nervous about it! I had been running for the last two months but was not training for 13.1 miles. I had the pleasure of running with my sister Amanda the entire race side by side! I had two other sisters that ran it but they were considerably faster than me. Also two brother-in-law's ran the half and two other brother-in-law's ran the full. It was a way fun experience! The atmosphere was great and all the people that run and show up to support was amazing! I had a goal in mind before the race as to how fast I wanted to run it in and I did it! I ran it in under two hours, 1 hr. 57 min. & 16 sec. I think that was pretty good for my first time and hopefully the other races to come I will be a little faster each time. I wanted to thank all the family that supported me and showed up to the event. It was so fun to have so many family members involved and supportive.

TJ was great and ventured up to Ogden with both girls to watch me finish the race.

So we had a very scary thing happen to us while up at there later on after everyone in my family had finished the half. We were all over by the playground talking and hanging out. Our Friends the Amos' were also by us. Trae their little boy and Olivia were playing on the playground with about 40-50 other kids. It was a mad house there with thousands of people. The Amos' decided to head home and we were going to watch my brother-in-law run in from the full. I told TJ to go get Olivia so we could put her in the stroller and go. Well about a minute later he comes back and says that he can't find her. The first thing that I thought was there are a ton of kids and he just can't see her. So I put the baby down and went over to look for her. Well I can't find her either. The most horrific feeling came over me and I started to panic. Olivia was no where to be found! There were so many people that it was hard to see anyone. We all started immediately looking for her everywhere. I was a mess! I was bawling my eyes out! A lady I know was walking past me and asked what was wrong and I told her Olivia is missing. She started looking for her with us. I was truly thankful for the strangers that were so concerned and willing to help us look for her. Well time kept ticking away and by now she had been gone for about 5 minutes. That doesn't seem like that long but when your child is gone it feels like eternity. I searched for a police officer or someone with a radio but I couldn't find anyone. I think I was so panicked that I couldn't think straight. Time kept passing and we had searched everywhere and no one had found her. I kept saying a prayer that she was okay and that we could find her. When looking for her all I could think about was if someone had taken her. I'm not sure how personal this is but I feel I should share it because it was a big testimony builder for TJ and I. After 15 minutes of Olivia missing, TJ went behind a tent and knelt down and said a prayer. After getting up he had a feeling to go to the nearest tent and ask someone that had a radio. He continued looking and got the same feeling to go to a tent. He listened and went to the first tent by him. He asked if they had a radio and if they could help with a missing girl. They said no but the tent next to them did. He went over and asked what do I do if I have a missing child? They looked at him and asked if he was looking for Olivia? He said yes! She had been found my the lady that I had run into at first. She found her wandering around not quite aware that she was lost yet. She called her name and she came to her. She had no idea the scare that she had caused. She knew her name and what her mom's name was when they asked her. I was still out looking for her when I got a phone call that they had found her. That had been the longest 20 minutes of my entire life! I never want to feel that way again. Thank goodness for great people that were willing to help and for the power of prayer. I know that Heavenly Father was looking out for her while we were frantically searching for her. We think that she had tried to follow our friends when they were leaving. Since she was playing with Trae, I think she just tried to go with him and none of us noticed.

Overall it was none the less a very emotional day for me and my family.