The whole reason we took this trip, was to support Nicole as she ran her first full Marathon in St. George, Utah. A full marathon is 26.2 miles and believe me, that .2 is a LONG distance at the end of such a race. Here she is, front and center, at the 23 mile mark where her Dad was waiting for her.
Around mile 20 she said she started having a hard time, but she knew her Dad was waiting for her at mile 23 and that is what kept her going.
Paul couldn't believe she could be smiling after running 23 miles.
Then he was amazed that she stopped and chatted and gave him some funny poses. She still had her sense of humor. Paul said, "You have way too much energy for having run 23 miles" after he looked at everyone around her painfully struggling along.
Baby Soren and I were camped out about 1/2 mile from the finish. I took this picture of her as she ran by. She said that seeing us gave her a lift to push on to the finish.
This is what the finish line looks like. Melissa got Nicole's finish on video. Nicole was sprinting all the way down the home stretch. Her goal was to finish in 4 hours 30 minutes. She finished in 3 hours and 59 minutes. Way to go Nicole!
She was proud of her medallion, as well she should be! (It's a shoe print on the medallion and says St George Marathon 2009). She wore it all day and the next day too. I think she should wear it all year!
Here she is with her two friends Ashley and Ashley that she ran the marathon with.
Ryan was very proud of his wife.
Melissa was so excited and happy for Nicole.
A proud Father with his daughter.
Here is Nicole with all the Wilder side of the family that came to support her and cousin Ashley.
Here is Nicole with her parents and sister. It was definitely worth the trip to be part of this event with Nicole. She told me "I can't play the piano and I can't sing, but I can run!" Running is definitely a talent and she has many others that she just doesn't recognize as talents and many hidden ones that she has yet to discover throughout her life. We love you Nicole. Way to go!
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7 comments:
Hooray for Nicole! So proud of her! I can't even imagine running around the block, let alone 26.2 miles...and smiling about it! (And I also think she has MANY undiscovered talents!)
Wow! Way to go Nicole! :) How exciting!
Just AMAZING!! Hats off to Nicole for completing such a challenging goal. I'm happy just to make it up the stairs every morning. Yes, we all have different talents and running a 26+ MILES marathon is quite a talent!! Very impressive. You must be quite proud of your daughter, Susan. I love the photos. She is smiling in all of them!
Aunt Susie I am crying because this was just too sweet! Way to go Nicole and to see how proud you all are of her and that you went to support her! No wonder she finished so fast. There's nothing more motivating than love! How wonderful. Plus I'm inspired to keep trying my hand at running! Thanks Nicole and thank you for sharing it! Xo
Yay Nicole! I am still amazed at how awesome she did! I hope she lets us watch her run another marathon sometime.
Thanks Salina, Jessica, Debbi, Ambyr and Melissa! Mom, thanks for posting all the pictures from the marathon. I love to look at them and remember that day. I'm so thankful I had family there to watch and support me. Thanks for being there!
That's awesome! I can't believe she's putting on such a show at mile 23!! Impressive!! :)
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