Training for a virtual marathon

My older brother Luis and I were training to run the Revel Big Cottonwood Canyon Marathon in September (training each on our own as he lives in NY). They cancelled that marathon a few weeks ago. But since we'd gotten in our mileage(I only go up to 16 miles when preparing for a marathon), we decided to run one anyway when we got together for our family reunion in the end of July. Here are a couple of my training runs: 14 miles at an 8:55 pace; it took 2 hours and 5 minutes. 

15 miles (I increase every other week. So after my 14 mile run, the following 'long run' day I ran 12, then the next week increased to 15 miles). Done at a 9:39 pace, 2 hours 25 minutes. 

16 miles at a 9:23 pace done in 2 hours 31 minutes. 

Luis flew in the night before our run. He wanted to get it done with early on in his vacation. But the elevation change was a bit much plus he was dehydrated from the traveling, so that made things a little more difficult. We started our marathon at 5am. The first two hours went well. We kept around a 9 minute pace until mile ten. But then the sun came up. And it was hot. The hi would be 100 that day, and by the time we finished our run it was 90 degrees. We ended up walking the last few miles and stopping often to massage the cramps in Luis' calves and legs. 

We were so grateful that Scott met us at mile 16 on his bike (we'd planned it that way) so that he could replenish our water and fuel. He also took some pictures for us :). 

This marathon was something Luis has been wanting to do for awhile, and something he'd told my mom he'd do with me, so we're so grateful he was able to finish, even though things got really tough there at the end. I felt my parents presence with us. And I knew mom was there encouraging us to slow down and just finish, and not to worry about the time. And finish we did at just under 5 hours. I made medals for us :). Unfortunately, I was in sweaty, wet underwear for so long that I got a UTI. My first in I can't remember how long; probably since I was a kid. My sister Pepa, who had just flown in the day before, just happened to refill an antibiotic for UTI (which she didn't need but keeps on hand just in case because she gets them often), just before she flew out, and had AZO, a pain relief med for UTI on hand. My brother Fred looked over the meds and said I could take them, so I was only uncomfortable for a couple of hours as I was trying to figure out what it was and then as I waited for the meds to kick in and then I was good to go. God was watching out for me and used Pepa as a tool in his hands to help me. Blessings. 

Our family met us at the finish line with crepe paper to run through and cowbells. Once done we went home, showered off and then went for brunch at Penny Ann's Cafe. I was uncomfortable and in pain this whole time because of the UTI, I didn't really want to go to breakfast, but I knew it was important to the others (Luis hasn't eaten out since March with Covid and living in NY) and it turned out being okay because it was during our brunch that we figured out what it was and I was able to start the AZO.