Ben and Courtney's Wedding

Pictures from Ben and Courtney's wedding outside of the Logan, UT temple on April 24th provided by Paige and Lorin.





The ceremony was perform by Rolfe Kerr, president of the Logan temple. The theme to his message was that the blessing of a happy marriage are earned through a life long commitment each other and the Savior. The reception in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake was beautiful from start to finish. I'm so happy for Ben and Courtney. They really do seem to be meant for each other and here's wishing them eternal love and happiness.

The Inaugural Illinois Marathon (#23)

When: April 11, 2009

Who: Me with Lesa as the support team along with Tony Oliver and Calvin Smith

Recap: I’ve run two other inaugural marathons. The Washington D.C. marathon in 2002 and the Tecumseh marathon later than same year. The former was never held again, the later continues to be one of my favorite marathons. So where does the Illinois marathon fall?

(1.5 miles into it wearing throw-away Lewis and Clark marathon T-shirt. I never ran it.)

We’ll despite the flat course, I didn’t set a PR but I have never felt less sore after running a marathon. Here are my thoughts on why:

• Walked more than usual in the first 10 miles. (I ran with half-marathoners Calvin Smith and Tony Oliver. Calvin was having blister problems.)
• Spring skiing in March strengthened by legs
• I drank only Gatorade at the water stops.
• I drank at every water stop but two and I walked through each one.
• I tried to drink more water in the 2-3 days prior.
• I focused on carbs including banans the 2-3 days prior.

(Tom Woodall snapped this picture of the three Mormons around mile 9)

However, I probably trained less for this marathon than most others. (Let me just say, it was a long, windy winter.) In fact, I waited until the final weeks to register not sure if I would run the half or full marathon but the half marathon filled up and the decision was made for me.

(Finishing at the 50 yard line in Memorial Stadium where Lesa and I saw Penn State's great comeback in 1994. Lions were down 21-0 at the end of the first quarter but beat the Illini 35-31 .)

So the Illinois Marathon gets high marks for leaving me feeling much better than average. It was also well organized. Marathon & Beyond was a sponsor and Jan Seeley, publisher, organize the entire expo. The shirt is a keeper. It's a navy blue, long sleeve, half-zip performance shirt. The medal is very nice looking but still not better than the Flying Pig medal. The course is okay. Running through Champaign-Urbana is nice but nothing special. No real ugly sections though like my first Memphis marathon. The strong crowd support was a surprise. Aid stations were well stocked. Finishing in Memorial Station was fun except they played Imagine by John Lennon as I entered. That’s the worse song I’ve ever heard played at a marathon. Even worse than when at the Washington D.C. marathon when they played, Another One Bites the Dust as I finished. At least it has a good beat and is easy to run to. The only other downer was that the post-race food was served up in the concourse of the stadium. This presented two problems. It was out of sight with no one at the finish line telling people where the food was plus you had to walk up stadium stairs to get to it. I followed a runner up the stairs who was nearly carried by a friend.

I did see more odd things than usual in this marathon such as a guy running in a cable knit sweater, another guy running in a short sleeve, button up dress shirt, and another guy running with shoulder bag.

Overall: I had a great time at a well run marathon. I may run it again because it's close to home.

Rating: 4/5 carbs.