Merrell-thon

Merrell-thon: a noun describing a day of family, friends, fitness and fun beyond your wildest dreams. (that's my friend, Alison on the far right).   How did this all begin, you ask?  Well, my sister Cindy (featured above in the sweet shades) and I decided a few months back that we wanted to run another 1/2 marathon.  But typically you have to pay a hefty registration fee for these events, and we thought that it was crazy enough to run 13.1 miles all in one day, let alone have to pay to do it, so we  decided to do our own...for free.  And somewhere in the midst of our training, all our family members got excited about it too.  Momma Merrell made T-shirts and everyone committed to participate in some way; run, walk, bike or hike with a 20 lb. pack (Dad). Cindy and I routed the course along the canals and surface streets of Mesa, and on a lovely April morning the race began! 

Joel met up with me for the last 4 miles and we crossed the finish line together.  It was nice to have a fresh set of legs to keep the pace (and believe me, they were FRESH :)) Can you tell I'm hating life in this picture?  Finish time: 2hrs. 12 min.

Tyler (Megan's baby), Savannah (Cindy's baby), and Shae.  

These babies are so YUMMY!

That's my awesome 17 yr. old brother Blake on the far left.  Cindy and I trained for this for months, but Blake pretty much just woke up that morning and sprinted the whole way and beat us all.  Punk.

The kiddos had a race of their own at the park.  

Claire and JoLynn with Baby Puppy in tow.

Jake, Ben, JoLynn, Cindy, and Joel soakin' their feet in the pool. 

 It felt soooo good!

The End.

Anyone want to join us next year?