June 11, 2011
My first half-marathon started when Bos was about 2 months old. One of my besties asked if I wanted to run the Utah Valley Half with her.... she said she would come up to Utah from CA just to do it. I have always wanted to do one, so I agreed and started training right then. I had 4 months to get into shape enough to finish it. That's all I wanted to do. Finish. My bestie had something come up and wasn't able to make it to the race, so she gave her spot to one of my other besties, Kathy. I forced her to do it with me. She had, oh, 3 weeks of training or so. What? That's plenty of time! She had done one before.
The day before the race I went down to Provo to spend the night at Kathy's house. We had to wake up at 3am to catch the bus to the start line. The race started at 6am. We woke up, got ready and headed out. I was more nervous the week before the race than I was the day of. I just wanted to get it over with. We sat at the starting line, freezing, yawing and trying to get mentally prepared for it.
The course was down Provo Canyon for 8 miles, then 5 miles down University. When the gun went off, the crowd of a few thousand started running. There were a couple of people I wanted to push over because they were bugging me, but I managed to control myself. At mile 2 there was a hill that lasted a whole mile. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. We managed to run it without any problems. Then the real downhill started. It was awesome and soooo beautiful. At mile 6 we couldn't believe we had already gone that far. It didn't feel like we had done anything. Then we came out of the canyon and had 5 miles of straight, hot, boring road to run. Yuck. YUCK. By mile 10 I was done. I asked my friend if we could just walk the rest, not that I really would have, but I was sooo over it! Just about that time a motorcycle cop came up behind us and asked us to move to our right. I thought it was weird since we were inside the cones, but we moved. Then I heard this loud, FAST pace coming up behind me. I thought, 'Who the freak is running this fast NOW? They should have finished by now if they are running that fast.' Yeah, it was 2 of the FULL MARATHON runners. They had started 13 miles above us, at the same time as us, and were passing us at mile 10! It might have been our mile 9, can't really remember. They weren't the last ones either. We got passed by probably 7 full marathon runners before we finished. They were amazing. Not interested in getting any cheers from us lame half-marathoners though. I guess if I had just run 23 miles in 2 hours and only had 3 to go, I wouldn't be interested in it either.
The finish line.... I swear it moved farther and farther away from us as we ran towards it. Just before we got into the shoot I heard a girl yelling for me. I don't know anyone in Provo anymore so I had no idea who it could be. It was my old high school friend, Michelle! She and her husband had finished a few minutes before me and were cheering on others. It was so great! We also saw Kathy's family cheering for us. But we didn't see mine. We crossed the finish line as they called our names. I almost died as we crossed the finish line. I wanted to take a nap right there.
Kathy went to see her family as I went to visit the porto-potty. When I came back, no Kathy, no Brett, no kids. I couldn't find anyone. I walked up and down the street and started to cry as I was looking for my family. I couldn't believe they had missed it. One of the biggest accomplishments in my life and they missed it. I tend to see the cup half empty, in case you didn't know. Finally after about 20 minutes I found them. They had seen me and had a sign for me. "My mom can beat up your mom!" Unfortunately they had forgotten the camera, so no pics, except for the really awesome fat shots that the race took.
After the race I got so sick, I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital. I had trained, I had run 11 miles before the race and not gotten sick. But this day I got sick, and I mean SICK. I couldn't get out of bed for the rest of the day and had terrible stomach issues all day and night and into part of the next day. That's why I swore I would never do another. But then I realized I wanted to beat my time. 2:44 isn't a good enough time for me.
The next one.... September 10. Mt. Nebo Half. The whole thing is in the canyon. I think you only run .5 miles out of it to the finish line, so it should be fun! Less boring. Training has started for it, which I hate, but I'm excited to see how my speed training affects my time. I better do better.
