A Child's Journey Out Of Autism

My first time meeting Clay was in the summer of 2008 while Trisha and I were still dating. We had both planned to be on vacation in Utah at the same time. Trisha had not seen the Whiffens in a long time and really wanted me to meet them. As we walked up to the front door I was really nervous about the meeting. Trisha loves this family like they are her own and she has a deep connection to them. I have never met them and at the time I am not sure how I feel about their story.

While we were visiting with Leeann and her boys, she was talking about a book that she just recently finished, documenting their family struggle and eventual victory over autism. She had just chosen the picture that would become the cover of the book. She walked us down the short hallway to this picture of Clay running out of the water with his shirt above his head and his pants soaking wet up to his knees. He has a look of pure and innocent happiness in his eyes.

Some time passed and Trisha got the notice that the book was finally completed and available for purchase. She immediately went out and bought it and read it quickly as she does with every book. When done reading she tells me, "This is really well-written, Leeann did a great job!"

Ever since then, the book has sat on our bookshelf. Several times as I have walked in and out of that room, I have seen this book and thought to myself, "I should really read that book." Trisha also urged me to read it on several occasions. Finally, I picked up the book and started reading...

Clay was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 years. As the concerns start to arise and the diagnosis finally comes out, the family was thrown upside down. Leeann especially seems to suffer through denial and pain. As a result, she becomes very isolated socially and spends much of her time obsessively researching the disorder and the many treatments for it. She is drawn to certain treatments and decides to put it all on the line to use a treatment called Applied Behavioral Analysis, or ABA, along with some other diet changes, vitamins, medicines, etc... She needs to hire instructors that will be responsible for a lot of hours of one-on-one time with Clay teaching him skills that will change his behavior.

We had already withdrawn our ad from the paper, since we thought we had the slots filled. So we either need to run the ad longer or find another candidate among those we've already met. Then, about an hour later, a young woman by the name of Trisha calls. She's very interested in the position. A friend of hers had given her a copy of the ad, and she had held on to it for a week, wondering if the job would be right for her. We ask if she can come to interview the next day.
Trisha is a breath of fresh air. Her cheery smile and upbeat personality are contagious. She's very genuine, with no fluff or cheesiness about her- just real, down-to-earth, and very caring. Her brown short curls bounce as she laughs. She is warm, friendly, and being from North Carolina, full of Southern hospitality. We bring Clay into the room to see how well they interact. She is very patient with him, and pursues him even when he seems uninterested. She flops down on the floor in her skirt and plays with him like he is her little brother. He half-smiles while still looking at the floor, and starts responding to her persistent gestures. She hasn't even left our home when Sean and I look at each other with that look of, "Yep, it's her."

From that day she was hired as an instructor for Clay. She would work with him for the next 3 years.

There are so many things involved with this program that Leeann and Sean are trying to run in their own home. Financial burdens, feelings of personal inadequacies and family balance are constant stressers. Leeann spends hours trying to stay up to date on all the latest research and treatment options. Consultations with doctors are constant. All behavioral sessions are recorded and reviewed by Leeann and Sean. Meetings with the instructors also review the progression and regression from week to week. It is overwhelmingly exhausting, but they adopt the moto, "Never Give Up," and they stick with it with 100% dedication and commitment to healing Clay. For them there seems to be no other option, Clay will get better. It's hard to believe at first, as Clay is non-communicative and tantrums most of the day. Progress is slow and steady. Milestones are reached and hope starts to creep in with each small success. As Clay starts to learn normal behavior and how to use that behavior appropriately, burdens are lifted and life seems to creep ever closer to the life the Whiffen's had before autism.

I hear music blaring from the schoolroom. The thumping of Trisha and Clay dancing above shakes the light on the ceiling. I run up to my bedroom to watch. They are dancing to the song "Funky Town." Clay yells into the fake microphone, "Wonchoo take me to funky toowwwn?" Trisha runs and takes the microphone and sings, "Won't you take me to funky town?" on cue. She shakes her hips back and forth. Her hands shimmy in the air. Clay hops up on the table. He stomps his feet to the music, and then sticks out a leg and twists it around in the air with his hands on his hips. Then he jumps down and hops around the room.

This was one of my favorite paragraphs in the book! I read it and it made me laugh as I pictured Trisha doing her famous shimmy that she makes fit into any genre of music. After I finished laughing, I just thought to myself, "That is Trisha. That is the reason that I married Trisha. That is the Trisha that I love."

It is 3 years after the treatment started that Clay goes to see a neurospecialist and get his behavior analyzed, only to find that he no longer meets the DSM-IV criteria for autism. He has improved to the point that he will no longer be labeled as autistic. His life will be different now. All of the stress, grief and pain are gone and hope shines brightly for the Whiffen family. It is shortly after Clays 5th birthday that the program is faded out. Trisha says goodbye to them, no longer needed as an instructor but the bond that she has created with Clay and Leeann and the whole Whiffen family is as strong as ever and the relationship remains to this day.

We met up with Leeann and Clay again a few months ago. He is now an 11 year old young man. We met them at a little book store in Salt Lake City at a book signing party. He loves to read. We walked into the bookstore and found him and his mom standing in line. We greet them and embrace them. It is a little chaotic for a minute, but we find ourselves alone with Clay, his mom standing a few feet away. He says to Trisha and I, "So, how you guys been?" We look at each other and giggle a little bit because of his adult natured question and then proceed to have a conversation with him. We continue on to another part of the bookstore and Clay wants to hold Sam, who is still pretty young. He sits on an antique chair, holds out his arms and says, "Serve 'im up!" We all start laughing together. Some of the affects of autism still linger in very subtle mannerisms and behaviors. However, it is very hard to believe that this same kid was once diagnosed as autistic.

Clay is a different person. Because of some of the interactions and the many hours that Trisha spent with him, he is a differnt person. She impacted his life. I could not be more proud of her! I could not be more happy for him! It is humbling for me to read about my wife in a book. It is inspiring to know that she has changed a life for the better. I am filled with faith in her abilities. I am honored to be a part of her life. Most of all, I am proud of her!

I don't think the book changed my views on the causes of autism or it's diagnosis, but it did open my mind to the more personal effects of having a child with autism. It helped me realize that it doesn't matter what I think about what does or does not cause autism. The suspected causes are so various that it is hard to prevent it and once your child has it, there is little worry about how they got it. The only thing you can do at that point is whatever you have to do to help your child reach their full potential. If that means a second mortgage or any number of other personal or family sacrifices, it is worth it in the end to do everything you can for your child.


I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an inspiring story of faith and hope!! It was a fantastic book!

The book is available at amazon.com and more information about the Whiffen's is availablet at http://www.leeannwhiffen.com/

A Growing Family

The blue jelly bean was a good car but a growing family requires an upgrade from a 2 door mini car

To an SUV that can accomadate a few kids.

Introducing our new ride, the Nissan Pathfinder

It's been 1 week and we still love it. We bought it in Salt Lake and Trisha drove it home as I followed behind her in my car. I couldn't keep up with her going up the mountain passes at 90 mph. She kept calling me saying, "I love this car, it's so powerful!"

November Project

Trisha left town for most of the month of November to visit her family. And it just so happens that I can get a lot done while the wife and kid are gone so I set out to accomplish something that has been on my list for a long time. I really wanted some storage space in our house and I really wanted shelves in my garage. I figured I would do both. It started with many hours of planning out what I wanted to do. I know that many people can just do this without really thinking about it or drawing anything up. However, I am the kind of person that needs to draw it up with every detail or I won't be able to do it. I have about 10 pages of notes on the project.

Next, I had to compile a list of what I needed to get. I soon realized that all of the supplies would not fit in my car, I had to enlist the help of my neighbor and his truck. His whole family accompanied me to the local Lowe's and helped me get a lot of lumber and some random other things. I would also make another half dozen trips back to the store, so maybe my initial planning wasn't even worth it. My plan also changed a few times over the weeks that I worked on it but now it is done and I think it turned out really well.

Before picture. Dirty garage full of cardboard boxes from when we moved to Vernal over 2 years ago.

The first little project was a shoe storage bench. It took me about 3 hours to build this, mostly because I have never done anything like this before and it took me a minute to get the hang of what I was doing.

I continued on with the next small project which was building a workbench/craft table that could roll away from the wall so that it is multifunctional. My original plan was to build it with 2 shelves near the bottom and then have a space to put 2 drawers at the top. However when I built it and realized that it was up to my chest already, without the wheels on it, I realized that I need to modify my plans. I ended up cutting the top drawer part off and just leaving it with the 2 shelves instead. I put a solid wood top on it and attached the wheels for mobility.

This is a picture of it before I cut the top off.

The next part was a food storage cupboard. It was more complicated because I wanted it to be 8 feet tall and have 7 shelves. I started off cutting the posts and then assembling the 2 sides seperately. After both sides were done I stood them up and started building the front/back crossbars and putting the shelves together. After everything was done, I encased 5 shelves with plywood and will eventually put a door on it.

Next, I built my last coponent. A four shelf unit (3ftx8ftx5ft).

Then I placed it all up against the wall according to my plans. I don't like it at all. So I decide maybe it will look better if it is arranged differently...

Arranged differently, and I still don't really like it.

So I went back to the drawing board and figured out my options. I decided to add another full size shelf unit against that wall and move the craft bench to a different corner of the garage where it would fit better. That means another trip for more lumber and a few more hours of work.

For this other full size shelf unit, I decided to make it 5 shelves and build it the same length as the craft bench.

That looks much better! Just had to mount it all to the wall and then I moved on to the workbench. I wanted to build shelves around it and also have some peg board to hang things on. So I wrapped it around the corner to give us more shelf space and make it look a little better.

And then it was time to take all of our crap from various parts of our house and garage and start filling up the space.

THE FINAL RESULT:

I am really proud of myself for building these all on my own and it makes me want to build lots of other things because I enjoyed it so much. I am also happy to have some storage space.

Specs on the project:

Hours:

Planning- 8 hours

Building- 52 hours

Organizing/Cleaning- 2 hours

Lumber:

56- 1x4x8

18- 1x4x10

35- 2x4x8

17- 2x4x10

2- peg boards

3- plywood

2- 2x10x8

Tools:

1 miter saw

1 table saw

1 new drill

4 driver bits

2 drill bits

Coloring Contest

I decided that my work needed to do something for halloween that involved the community. So I set out to do a coloring contest for all kids ages 0-12. I didn't realize what a project it would become but it was really fun by the end. I got 1500 coloring pages and handed them out to the two elementary schools in town. I printed an additional 300 copies and we started giving those out to customers when they came in for prescriptions. The kids had 4 weeks to hand in their entries and they started trickling in the day after we started giving them out. By the end we were running out of room to display them. We ended up with just over 200 entries which is about what I anticipated.

Employees from the store judged them and we had 10 winners. 3 grand prize winners from 3 age categories and then winners for things like 1st entry, most creative, most halloween themed, etc... All of them got some pretty cool prizes/toys (purchased from Oriental Trading) and lots of candy.

The kids were so excited when they came in to get their prizes!! It was like seeing little kids at Christmas. The whole thing turned out to be a huge success and it made work a little less mundane for a few weeks.

Halloween Party

I don't know what happened to the last month but I have to post a picture of our halloween costumes, cause they were sweet!

Mary Poppins, Bert and Bert Jr. with his chimney sweep (a toilet brush spray painted black).

The sun is shining in Phoenix

My "Aunt Yvonne," really my great aunt died a few weeks ago. When I heard about the funeral, in Phoenix, I thought it would be really great to be there. I had the weekend off, my parents were going down, Trisha has lots of family and a really good friend that live down there. It could not have worked out more perfectly. We briefly looked at airline tickets before we decided that $450.00 per person was not gonna work. So, a road trip it was. Scary to take a 1 year old on a 13 hour drive, but he ended up doing really well.

We left friday morning at 6:00am. We hoped that leaving that early would allow Sam to sleep more while we drove. That certainly didn't happen. He actually only slept for about an hour of the entire drive. We drove out of town and in to Colorado. Through Rangley and down in to Grand Junction. It was an absolutely beautiful drive when we arrived at Douglas Pass. Once we got to Grand Junction, we headed back into Utah and down through Moab, Monticello and Blanding. Our first stop was in Blanding, 5 hours into the drive, where we had lunch and got back on the road. Trisha drove us down through Bluff and past the 4 corners region, into Arizona and onto the res. For this stretch of road I tried to sit in the back of the car next to Sam in order to entertain him. I tried to watch a movie with him on Trisha's iphone but it didn't work out that well. He was only interested for a couple minutes and then he just wanted to eat the phone. I played with him and we had lots of fun but I think I distracted him from sleeping. My bad.

Our second stop was in Tuba City, Arizona. On the reservation. BIG mistake. That place is beyond crazy. It was a friday and I swear the entire Indian population was uniting in the "city." The traffic was terrible, the place was trashed. We pulled in to a gas station for a bathroom break and some water. I went into the bathroom and Trisha changed Sams diaper in the car. I waited in line in gas station, which was packed. I was looking around when all of a sudden my eye caught hold of a hand written note posted on the bulletin board. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I took a picture of the sign. Here it is:

Written: "TCRHCC Navajo's T/C Want to run their own hospital, out with the Whites, in with the Navajos. Self Determination"

Once I was done, I walked out to the car. Trisha hurried and went into the bathroom. She was gone forever and when she finally came back to the car, she said, "hurry let's get out of this place." As we were driving away, two gentlemen tried to approach our car and ask us for money. I just waved at them and hurried and got out of town. Apparently they had already approached Trisha while I was in the bathroom and they wouldn't leave her alone. While she was in waiting for the bathroom, 3 teenage girls were giving her death stares. She was afraid for her life. Point of this story is that if you are ever driving through Northern Arizona, DO NOT STOP in Tuba City!!

We continued our drive down through Arizona. Flagstaff and then on into the greater Phoenix area. Sam did so good until the last 45 minutes. By then he had had enough and he cried the remainder of the time in the car. Once we got to Phoenix, we went immediately to Vicki's (Yvonnes daughter, my moms cousin) house where the family was gathered for dinner. Sam was so happy to see grandma and papa. He was even saying "papa" on our drive there. We had a great dinner, talked with family and watched a video that was put together to honor Yvonne and her life. Then it was off to see Trishas uncle and aunt, Bob and Christi, where we would be staying for the weekend.

Saturday started off early with the viewing and then the funeral. It was a really good funeral. There are a few things that stick out to me, that I will remember about the funeral. One is that Aunt Yvonne was loved by everyone that knew her. She had a way to make people feel special, like they were the most special person. Second is when two great-granddaughters stood up on the stand and sang, "Families can be together forever." They tried so hard to make it through without crying, but there was not a dry eye in the crowd. As they looked around, the younger girl just started to loose it, then pulled it together, then lost it completely. It was so sad and so touching. Third was the other great granddaughter (age 3 or 4) that stood up and gave a memorized speech about Jesus and how he loves us and died for us so that we can be ressurected like her grandma. It was a really good service. We had a police escort to the gravesite and then returned to the church for a luncheon put on by the ward. We got to hang out more with family and got to see some of my cousins, the Downs'. Although a sad occasion, it was a really good opportunity to see and talk to family.

Aunt Yvonne's obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?n=emily-yvonne-dahl&pid=154037372

Near the end of the luncheon, Sam decided to poop (diarrhea) his pants and get it all over his pants and then decided to vomit all over his shirt. So, we left the church with Sam only in his diaper. We ran to Target, and looked like the biggest white trash family ever, as we pushed Sam around naked in his stroller trying to buy him a pair of clothes to put him into. Then it was off to Schnepf Farm with Chelsee (Trishas cousin) and her husband, Ben, and their son, Brayden and some friends of theirs. It was so much fun. A fall carnival. We watched bikers in a stunt show, went to the petting zoo, ate really good food, rode a roller coaster, ate more good food and had a great time! Sam was scared to death of the little goats that I tried to make him pet but he warmed up to them after a minute and laughed when he petted them. It was fun.

Sam stripped down to his diaper at the lunchean

Sam smiling at Schnepf Farms

Sam scared to death by the baby goat

Finally warmed up to them enough to pat them down

Our family at Schnepf Farms

Sunday we went to church with Trisha's cousins, then went to visit Trisha's life-long friend, Ashley, and then back to Bob and Christi's for Sunday dinner with the family. The whole family in the Phoenix area came and it was a blast. I loved meeting all of the family and Trisha loved seeing them all again. After dinner we sat around talking and singing and just enjoying one another. Then we stayed up really late talking with Bob and Christi, an event that happened several days in a row.

All the little boys gathered 'round Sam to eat his food

Monday was a little more laid back. We drove around Phoenix seeing the sights. We visited the Mesa temple, went to South Mountain Park, tried to see Mystery castle, went to a shopping center and took a stroll through an aquarium.

Trisha and Sam at the Mesa Temple

A view of the city from South Mountain Park

What is more Arizona than a cactus?

Mystery Castle

Sam smiling at the fishies

Sam touching the star fish

What a cheese ball!

Sam giving kisses to the crabs

Blow fish?

Monday night was the last hoorah. We had Family Home Evening at Brad (Trishas cousin) and Lael's house with their kids and Chelsee and Ben. They live on an orchard and they started a bon fire in their backyard where they cooked tin foil dinners for all of us. We ate outside under the stars in the light of their garage. After dinner we all pulled our chairs over to the fire where we had FHE and roasted marshmallows and ate 'smores. We used Reese's instead of chocolate and it was delicious!! Then we went inside and laughed ourselves silly as they reminisced of their days growing up and the funny things that have happened in the Worsley family. It was seriously so much fun. We are so glad that we got to go down there and that we got to hang out with family. They were so good to us. Thanks to all the Worsley's for letting us stay at their house and be a part of their family for the weekend, it was extremely fun for us!

The family gathered around the fire

Tuesday we headed back as early as we could get out of bed. The trip back was an adventure in its self. We stopped at Montezuma Castle, which is ruins built into the mountain by the ancient Indians. We drove through Monument Valley. We did not stop in Tuba City. We stopped at the temple in Monticello and walked around the grounds. And then it was straight home, through Price and Indian Canyon and on into Duchesne. Sam was sick the entire drive. He started to get sick on Monday, but during some points in the drive, he was wheezing so bad we were scared we would have to find a hospital in the middle of nowhere, or even worse on the res. Luckily he made it through the drive and he slept quite a bit, which also seemed to help with his breathing. I think he liked the noise of the wheezing so he would push it out while he was awake and then when he slept he would just breathe normal and it wasn't so bad. Crazy kid.

Montezuma Castle

Monument Valley

Mexican Hat

Trisha and Sam at the Monticello Temple

Sam spent 2 whole days in the car seat, he is the best little boy!

We were all extremely exhausted when we got home but it was a great little trip to Phoenix. I did't mention that my favorite part of the trip was that it was nearly 100 degrees the entire time we were there, fantastic.

Another day, another marathon

I have wanted to run the St George marathon for a while because I have heard so many good things about it and it is a nationally known marathon. The down side is that you can't get in without either being a veteran runner of it or entering a lottery. I always hated the idea of paying money up front to enter the lottery, so I never did it. However, this year I decided that it was worth it so I signed myself and my brother up for the lottery. A few days later, the lottery was done and we got in! I was really excited. I started training for it soon after running the Ragnar relay in June. I decided that I wanted to really work on my speed and try to get the fastest marathon time of my career, since my training time was improving a little and I felt like I had a little momentum after the Ragnar. That is until I went to Lake Powell for a week. I lost all momentum and when I started to run again (ended up being 12 days after my last run), I felt like I was starting my training all over again. It was slow and steady but it started to feel good again after a few weeks.

About 6 weeks before the marathon I started to have terrible shin pain and had to start resting more during the week. It ended up forcing me to do only 2, sometimes 3 runs each weeks so that I had ample time after each run to recover. My left shin hurt so bad somedays that I could barely walk on it without limping around. I tried stretching (which I generally never do), I tried icing it frequently and taking ibuprofen on a scheduled basis to keep up with the inflammation and pain. I was afraid that I was going to have to stop running completely. I had to rest the entire week leading up to the half marathon in Logan. I was scared to run it but I think the week of resting really helped and I was able to run the half in great time. After the half I tried to get right back into training but that was harder than it had ever been. I just kept getting more and more nervous about it and dreading my runs more and more because they hurt so much. I looked up lots of information on shin splints and have even tried to change my running style/technique, all in an effort to eliminate the problem. Although I still have no idea what the problem actually is.

Two weeks leading up to the marathon, I had to cut out all mid week runs and shorten my long runs. I was struggling physically and mentally with running. I had already paid for the marathon so there was no way I was gonna back out, and I knew that I could finish it, it was just a matter of time.

Friday, September 30 we headed down to St George with Shayne and Chalise. Once we got there we picked up our packets, ate dinner and headed to the hotel for some shut eye, very little shut eye. We had to wake up at 4:30am to get ready and leave. A van picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the finish line. When we got into the van, it said that it was 81 degrees! At 5:00am! Can you imagine? We loaded onto buses at the finish line and they took us up to the starting line.

There were so many people! I have never run a race that has this many people running it, it was crazy. There was lots of flashing lights, spot lights, enormous lines to an endless line of toilets, etc... We headed right for the toilets and it's a good thing we did because we barely made it. I finally got into a toilet and realized that the one that I got in to didn't have a lock on it. So, I had to hold the door closed while I did my business. Then the tricky part came when I realized there was no toilet paper on the roll, just a roll of toilet paper sitting near the toilet. So, with one hand still holding the door closed, I had to try to unroll toilet paper with the other hand and use it. All while trying to keep the door closed. It was rough but I got it all done and out of there just as the gun went off for the start of the race.

We aligned ourselves with the pacer to finish in 4:15. The first part of the race was really good, we made really good time. I was thinking it was going to be a really good race. At mile 6 we started heading down into Veyo and could see the dreaded Volcano and it's climb that comes just after mile 7. We had caught up to the pacer for 4:00 at this time and we decided that if we could keep ahead of this guy past the top of the hill we would be in good shape. That hill was rough and I am pretty sure Shayne paced us up most of the hill. It was like climbing a really steep mountain. It felt like everyone was going at a snails pace and even though we were running, we didn't seem to be moving up the hill at all. Finally at the peak it starts to level out a little bit and gets much easier, but you realize how much energy you have just expended to get up that blasted hill. We were able to stay ahead of the 4:00 pacer so I thought we were in great shape. But by mile 10 we had slowed down quite a bit, and the 4:00 pacer paced us. I also had to stop for the bathroom so I told Shayne to keep going and I would just try to catch up with him. Luckily I was able to catch up with him about a 1/2 mile later and we continued to run together. I never thought I liked running with other people but sometimes it is really good to have a partner that can pull you along at times and vice versa. It seems easier to keep going when someone else is with you.

Around the half way mark I looked at Shayne and said, "Come on, we're losing a lot of speed. We have to pick it up." And he replied, "This is my pace!" I started to pull ahead a little, thinking that he would stay with me, but he didn't. So I moved forward alone. I didn't want to but I felt like if I didn't keep up a certain pace then I was going to lose it all and just start walking. In the time that I have been trying to improve my time, I have also adopted a new theory: No matter how bad it hurts, if you run faster, the pain is over faster. If you run slower, it just drags out the pain. So I continued. I still had quite a bit of momentum and the course was generally nice to me. I was trying my hardest to stay ahead of that 4:15 pacer since that was my goal time. But I also knew that there was one last hill to conquer at mile 18 and then 8 more miles after that. I got to mile 17 and started losing the mental game. Although my body felt pretty good, my mind just wanted to be done already. It was a battle for the rest of the race.

By mile 18, it felt like it was 9,000 degrees outside and no matter how much water and gatorade I would drink at each aid station (I was literally downing 2 glasses of gatorade and 1 glass of water at each station. Along with a banana and several orange slices for the road), a half-mile later, I was thirsty and had cotton mouth. They also had misters/showers set up which were absolutely glorious to run through, but nothing relieved me from the heat that was blaring down on the pavement. By the last few miles, not only was I running through the showers, running next to all the kids that were squirting me with water bottles, and drinking like a camel, I was also dumping buckets of water on myself and eating free popsicles and ice cubes whenever I could get them. It was the crazy hot!

At mile 21, after walking almost all of the way up the hill at mile 18 and stopping to walk for a few minutes after every aid station, the 4:15 pacer caught up to me and passed me. I was disappointed because I knew there was no way that I was going to be able to keep up with him. Believe me, I thought about it for a minute after I saw him pass me. It just wasn't going to happen. Then I thought to myself, as I always do near the end of the race, "I am going to finish the marathon and it doesn't really matter how long it takes me because I AM RUNNING 26 FREAKING MILES!" After that it was just about finishing for me. I still wanted to get a decent time, but it didn't really matter. I struggled the rest of the race, switching between running and walking. It was awesome to reach the last few miles and have so many spectators along the route, it helped me run a little more than I think I would have otherwise.

At mile 24, there was a live band playing from the high school. The song, "Sweet Caroline." The mood, amazing! It made me shout, "So good, so good" at the top of my lungs and gave me the energy to make it to the finish line!

I have never seen a finish line like this before. It was a solid wall of people for the last 1/2 mile and I didn't think there was any way that I was going to see or hear Trisha in the crowd as I passed her. But I did and she cheered me on and I crossed the line!

Me about a 1/4 mile from the finish line

Me with the finish line in the background

Shayne nearing the finish line

Once I crossed the finish line, I stayed under the water sprayer for a minute and it felt so good. I proceeded to the runners area, where I ate an ice cream sandwhich, a rocket popsicle, had a few glasses of cold water, a large glass of soda, some more glasses of gatorade and a second popsicle! I had to keep sitting down on the grass because I was gonna vomit and pass out. I watched as lots of people were carried into the first aid station. I listened as many people talked about how HOT it was and how it was the hardest St. George marathon that they have ever run. It took me a while to find Shayne and when I did we got a few more drinks and a slice of bread with butter. I only point out all of this food, because it was ridiculous how much I ate that morning. I never eat/drink that much during or after a marathon.

I went to pick up my packet and passed a booth that was collecting shoes. I decided to retire my shoes and donate them right there on the spot. These shoes have been awesome to me but it was way past time to retire them. They have run me through training for and completing 3 marathons, 1 half-marathon and the Ragnar. I do realize that you should not wear a pair of running shoes that long, and that they were probably contributing to my shin splints, but in all the running it never seemed like a good time to break in a new pair. Anyways, I walked to the car in my socks and it felt so good. The gravel and loose rocks rolling along my feet felt like a personal massage.

My finish time was: 4 hours 28 minutes

Here I am two weeks out from the race. I really think I need a small break to allow my leg to heal and allow me to find new shoes but I am already thinking about what is next for me and running...