Deseret News Classic Marathon

Bailey decided to run another marathon, but this time she wanted to run for a cause. She trained for 18 weeks, and after each of her long training runs, she made a post on social media about sex trafficking. She shared information, contributing factors, and measures people can take to fight sex trafficking. She worked her butt off, and did this all while working at least 60 hours a week (sometimes up to 75 hours a week). She never complained, or missed a long run. She amazes me! Hannah decided to run it too, so it was perfect for them to end their days of running together this way!

They decided to run the Deseret News Classic in Salt Lake City on July 24th. Bailey did this same marathon 3 years earlier, when she was 15 years old. She ran 25 minutes faster this time, and was like a totally different person at the end. It's amazing what a little experience, and 3 years more maturity can do! She even amazed herself with her results! She was shooting for around 4 hours, but finished in 3:35:16, and she felt great at the end!

Results:
Overall finish place: 53 of 371 runners
Gender place: 8 out of 124 females
Age group place: 2 out of 6 (15-18 year olds)
Time: 3:35:16
Pace: 8:13 min/mile

Day before check in! Look at her cute shirt!

They had to be on the busses at 3:30 in the morning!

5:30AM start time!

They started up Immigration Canyon, and the canyon was closed to vehicles, so we couldn't see her until mile 15. She looked really strong and had a great pace going! She stopped for about 5 seconds to take a drink of water and then was off again!

We were amazed at how strong she still looked when we saw her again. We were worried that she was pushing too hard, and that she would hit a big wall.

The last time we saw her before the finish, was at mile 20. She was still cruising! We knew she was in the top 10 for females, which we weren't expecting, but we had no idea what her pace was.

Lance filmed her coming down the home stretch. This video is so different from 3 years ago. She had a smile on her face, looked alert, and was still keeping up a good pace. Three years ago she was in tears, shuffling along, just dying for the finish line!

Finishing strong!

We found out after she finished, that her time was only 16 seconds off of the Boston Marathon qualifying time! I wish Mark and I had known, so we could have told her along the way. Skipping one aid station might have done it! None of us (including her) had any idea she would run it that fast. Maybe she'll set her sights on Boston in a couple years. Next year she wants to try a half ironman.

I'm so proud of how she did, but even more proud of why she did it! I love the shirt she ran in!

two more medals to add to her collection!

It was fun to have Lance at the finish line cheering for her!

Hannah finished in 4 1/2 hours, and is now officially a marathoner! Whahoo!

So proud of these girls!

Just to prove how good she felt at the end, we went to East High when they finished, and she still have enough strength to do the High school Musical jump!

I never doubt Bailey when she says she's gonna do something. A half ironman is the next thing she wants to tackle. We don't know much about them, so the research will start soon! Stay tuned...