Arizona

Well let me start this post with saying I am a TOTAL loser. This weekend my sisters Rebekah and Alli ran the Phoenix marathon. I was supposed to be doing it with them and that is why I am a loser. I could go on about my excuses and stuff of why it didn't work out for me but really what is the point. Anyway let me just get out of the way that I still want to do it and it is still a goal for me to do it one of these days.
ANYWAY my mom surprised me with a ticket to come and join them down in Arizona and help cheer on my sisters. No one knew I was coming so it was really fun to surprise everyone at the airport and at the hotel. It was a really busy weekend and a fast one but we had lots of fun. Beck's husband surprised her by driving down from Sacramento with all the kids to support her. So I got to see all my little nephews and nieces and that was fun. I hadn't even seen my brothers baby yet and he is four months old! My brother now works for a company called Ragnar. They run relay type marathons all over the country and it is a really fun company. We are trying to put together an all girls team this summer in June to run the Wasatch Back, their biggest race they do. So I think that will be my first accomplished running thing and I am going to start training for that soon. It isn't nearly as rigorous as a marathon and I think it will be a good starting point for me. Anyway he had to work at the expo they had going on so we spent the first day there looking at all the running booths. It was pretty fun.
Beck and Alli wanted matching running outfits so they got these really cute tank tops and jackets. This is obviously Alli practicing what she is going to look like at the race the next morning! I am sure that she will love that I posted this picture.

The next day I drove them to the drop of point to start the race. This is the funniest story though. So at like 10:00 the night before the race I ask them where they need to go in the morning and neither of them have any clue! I asked them who was taking them and they said they weren't sure yet. So we spent the next half hour going through all their pamphlets and stuff figuring out where they needed to go and it was just funny to me that they didn't know. So we get up super early to get them where they need to go and Alli realizes that she had left her chip that goes on their shoe to track her start and finish and her number back at her house that is like a half hour away from the hotel. So needless to say she was getting fairly upset and she calls her husband who has to come and rush it up to her at the race. So we sat in a parking lot for about forty-five minutes just trying to give Tanner directions to where we were so that they could get going. We finally meet up and they head over to where everyone had been walking but by this time it was 7:40 which was the time the race was supposed to begin and they weren't even at the start line. So we found out later that they stood around with some people for about ten minutes before they realized they were the half marathoners that weren't starting until later. All the full marathon runners had already left and started the race! SO the were THEE LAST people to start the marathon! How funny is that? Maybe it wasn't the best idea to let Alli and Becky run this together? jk

We finally made it over to mile 19 to catch up with them in the race and cheer them on. We waited there for quite a while and it was very fun and inspiring to watch all the different people running the race and to cheer them on. I had to take a picture of this man as he ran by BAREFOOT! I secretly hoped he stepped on a piece of glass or something because I just thought that was really stupid to run on streets through Phoenix with no shoes on! But whatever! Maybe his shoe broke or something and he was just really tough I don't know.
They finally came around the corner and we were so excited! They looked pretty good I think for going almost twenty miles!They were cracking me up before the race because in true Reber fashion they weren't going anywhere without their makeup on. So the night before they were getting self tanner on because heaven forbid they looked white while they were running! And then in the morning my sister asked me if she needed more makeup. She already had a full face on! I laughed and said, "You are running a marathon!" But they wanted to make sure they were the cutest girls out there and they succeeded! They looked hot even running 26 miles!

And then they were off to see Becky's husband a few miles down and my brother and his wife a few miles past that.Now you are probably wondering where the pictures are of them actually finishing the race. I am happy to report that they finished the race! BUT WE MISSED IT! We weren't there for the finish line! Isn't that the saddest thing you ever heard? There were something like 35000 people running the race and everyones car was on the road to the finish line. So we got stuck in traffic! I called Becky and she said they were on their last mile and I quickly hung up the phone because I didn't want her to know we weren't there yet! We were still trying to make it there. Finally Missy came and drove Ryan's car and Ryan, me and all the kids jumped out and started running to the finish line that was like a mile away still! I was carrying Georgia who is almost three and I had flip flops on so you can imagine how fast I was going. So I my phone rings and Becky is like, "WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" I felt so bad. So they went back and reenacted their finish line stances and faces but I didn't have my camera there I only had hers. So they did get pictures of it but it wasn't in real time! Anyway it was a fun weekend and I started crying when I left because it was too short and too fast and I HATE living so far away from my sisters and my mom. But I am so proud of my sisters and they are my inspiration and my aspiration! I love you guys and already miss you!