There are many reasons why I love running. Well, I should say running and racing. They're very much two different things in my book. Running is the journey. It's the embodiment of adventure, ambition, goals and just ... life. Racing are the short stories or chapters that capture the intangibles of those ambitions, goals and whys. I love lining up at races because to me they are each blank chapters ready to be written. I know that sounds disgustingly poetic and I suppose it is. But, I love how each race is a blank slate. You can plan for each race, train for each race and get yourself to the start line of each race, but what you do once you cross that start line is an unknown story that only you can write. My cousin Dulci and I at the start line of the Salt Lake City Marathon. Again, all of this is disgustingly poetic. And, all of this to say, going into this race, I didn't know how this story would enfold. I didn't have a goal outside of finishing the race besides hav...
This weekend I am running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. It's the eighth time I've done the half marathon ... and 11th time doing a race at the Salt Lake City Marathon (I did the 5K in 2011 and 10K in 2022 and 2023). I love this race. I've had a number of unique, fun and ... life changing ... experiences running it. I don't use the phrase life changing lightly here. The successive run of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Salt Lake City Half Marathon were life changing for me. And, not necessarily in shaping my running career, but in how I process grief, bring community together and just tackle and view life. Sure, I've had a number of amazing experiences over the past few years since 2022 that I will always cherish and love. I will never be able to forget seeing MaryAnn at the finish line in 2022, we weren't married yet and just having someone there to kiss (besides my mother) brought a lot of happiness to my heart in that moment. And, then two years ago running with ...