At the beginning of 2014, I signed up for the Deseret News Marathon, and trained all winter long- pushing myself harder and further than I did the previous week. My goal was to finish by 3:35, and I was feeling pretty confident.
Here I am picking up my packet
Here I am at mile 7, sticking right with that pacer. The first 5 miles are super steep down hill, followed by miles 6-7 steep up hill. By mile 14 the hills have taken their toll on my poor right knee, and I can't even bend it any more. I hobble along to the mile 15 aid station, hoping to get some medical attention. They inform me that I need to go down to the finish to get it, and someone will be by shortly to pick me up. So for the next 45 minutes I layed on the pavement and stretched and watched runners run by. How depressing!! Months of training and here I am broken in a parking lot.
Finally a hill billy couple in their 60's came by and picked me up, and drove me and one other injured girl down to the bottom. When we were 2 blocks away from the finish, I see Devin driving our mini van right in front of us! I quickly ask to borrow their cell phone, and they say, "We have a ham radio..." Ugh. Then Devin turned before I could jump out and get his attention, and I realize- Oh no! He got all the girls ready and out the door before 8 am to support me, and I'm not even finishing!!
So we get dropped off right by the medical tent, which is right by the finish line. I made a split second decision and decide, I'll do a lap around and let them see me finish and then tell them later the real story. So by this time, my knee is at a low throb, but rested enough that it will bend. I take a look at my watch and think- this is about the time I was planning on finishing anyway. I trot around the block, and head in to the final stretch.
Devin, the girls and my mom see me and cheer for me. When this pic was taken, I start to panic because the timer says 2 hrs and 50 minutes... but then I realized- oh good, that's the half marathon timer, not the full marathon.
I'm given a medal and ushered through the gates. I scan the crowd looking for Devin, when this other girl runner comes up to me and says, "Where were you? I didn't see you the whole race... because you finished in 3rd place and I thought I was third..." By this time my family found me and hear this and start cheering for me. I am completely mortified and cannot think about anything except- How do I get out of here as quickly as possible???
And then My SIL Michelle shows up with her double stroller... And then my sister Jessica and her family stroll over... and then my brother Jake who made a surprise visit from Texas shows up with his family. Everyone is congratulating me and I am crawling out of my skin, but still don't say anything- I can't even manage to think practically. I'm still in my fight or flight mentality- and I need to take flight! We're taking pic after pic and I'm dying.
The real 3rd place winner finds me again and says, "I'm just so confused, because I really didn't see you the whole race."
We finally got out of there and get to the car and I finally can start thinking clearly and realize- what the heck did I just do?! My conscience weighed as much as a heard of elephants. So we got home, I emailed the marathon director, found the real 3rd place winner via face book and message her to apologize, and broke the news to the family. Unfortunately for me, the papers were printed with me the winner. People from just about every walk of life get in touch with me to congratulate me. My ward relief society sent out an email to the ward that said- We want to congratulate our very own Joslyn Rappleye who finished 3rd place in the Deseret News Marathon this weekend. Oh the humiliation!!
After the first few days, it's become a funny story, and one I want to remember to share with the kids.
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