Obviously that's not really me because I'm the one taking the picture, silly.

Last Saturday I ran 13 consecutive miles. On purpose.

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it. After my 12 mile half-naked run my right knee was shot. After a week of rest I could barely make it three miles – the pain was terrible.

Two days before the race I considered not going at all. Why waste my time if I couldn’t even run three miles?

Fortunately, my wonderful sister in-law who talked me into doing this in the first place (my pain is your fault Heidi!) convinced me that I’d put in too much time training to not even try. So off to Logan I went.

The race

The next morning I was up at 5:50, put on a knee brace, overdosed on Motrin and got on a school bus to go up a canyon (note: people over six feet tall should not be forced to ride school busses – ever). There was a lot of excitement amongst the hundreds of people who showed up to put their bodies through a grueling ordeal so early in the morning.

Everything was fine until about mile six when the knee started to get a little tender. I said a number of prayers to the effect of, “Take pain I would have experienced here and give it to me tomorrow. I just want to finish.”

Prayers are answered! Sunday I couldn’t bend my knee.

I finished the race in 2 hours 10 minutes which is roughly a 10 minute mile. I’m pretty happy with the results all things considered.

Thoughts from the race

  • I was surprised how many happy tingly feelings I got from all the people who sat along the side of the route and cheered us on. Even if they were holding up a sign that said, “Go Jennifer!” it was still very motivating.
  • There was this great lady who had a sign that said, “Don’t think, just run.” Excellent advice.
  • Nike+ = EPIC FAIL. First the app on my iPhone died so I spent another $60 to buy a wristband which worked great – until the day of the race. I looked down at it and it said I was running a four minute mile. At the end of the race it said I’d gone 21 miles. Piece of crap Nike stuff.
  • The person who won the race did it in 1 hour 16 minutes and that’s just not right.
  • I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see my beautiful wife and family at the finish line.

Later that day my father in-law asked me what my favorite part of the race was.

“The end.”