A person without a dream never had a dream come true

Yesterday one of my dreams came true. And let me tell you, it was the greatest feeling I've ever felt! 

For almost as long as I can remember I've wanted to run a marathon. I really don't know where the dream came from. Maybe it was just because I've heard like a million people put that on their bucket lists, or maybe I thought of it all on my own. Either way it's the first dream I can ever remember having. 

My sweet sister Rachel and I have talked about doing one for a long time. We've both done halfs and LOVED them so thought the next step would be a full. We'd started training a couple of times before and stopped part way into the training. But near the end of November we started training for the Salt Lake City Marathon and stuck to the training like it was our job. Seriously though, I can't remember a time before we were training. I even had to stop my wedding plans because I felt like the marathon training took all of my time. I don't mean to sound like it was a bad thing though, I LOVED training for it. I felt closer with my sister and I've never felt stronger. It was awesome.

 So the race itself was good. I'm not going to lie though, it was so dang hard. I felt every emotion during it. I felt joy, anger, sadness, even craziness. There was one time that I was running along and looked on the side of the course and there was this tall skinny woman standing there with long blonde hair and I thought it was Matt with a blonde wig on. When I realized it was a woman I felt really embarrassed. The finish line made it all worth it though. I felt like everyone was cheering just for me and I've never felt my hard work pay off like I felt it yesterday. And to run across the finish line hand in hand with my sister was such an awesome feeling. I love her and I'm so grateful I had her through all of this. Thanks to all of you who gave words of encouragement and showed love for me. I don't mean to get cheesy here but seriously, if you have a dream DO IT! Almost nothing will make you feel better.

Right before the race started

I think this pic is so cute. Just snugglin right after our run

We crossed the finish line hand in hand with matching glee tees

Me and Rae with dad and Lynell

Me with Matt and his mom, Dodi

Right after we finished. I'm embarrassed that I look pale as a ghost. I guess that's what I get for running 26.2 miles though