The run

Two Saturdays ago, I ran a half-marathon.  I had been training for 3-4 weeks (maybe a total of 25 miles of running), and I went and did this.  Crazy!  Surprisingly, it went okay.  I walked about a mile or a mile and a half total, split up between sections of running, and it was fun. Here is a short picture documentary of the experience...

Kristin and I after a run in the rain one week before the half-marathon.

This is the only picture I have of us training.  I know it's weird, but I'm not really into taking pictures of myself when I'm sweaty and gross.

The morning of the race, we got up at 5 so we could be on the road by 6.  I made banana bread waffles for breakfast, and we were off!  However, before we left, we saw this on the door, drawn by Stacey:

For your visual pleasure, here are some close-up shots of each of us three runners in that picture:

Here's Megan, at the water station.  She has two different colored eyes, and so the guy at the station is excited about that.

This is Kristin, with someone yelling "Awesome!" behind her.

And this is me.  I didn't have a fanny pack or any other handy place to put my snacks, so....  Just kidding.  I did stuff granola bars down my leggings, but they were definitely on the sides of my legs.  No need to accentuate what's already there, right? :)

Anyways, we rode a bus to the beginning of the race and sat in the tent up at Sundance, which is a ski resort about 30 minutes from BYU.  It was pretty chilly, but we huddled together by the heaters and were fine.  The race started at 9, and we lined up with about 2700 other runners, many of them in costume (this was Halloween Eve, after all, and we were running the Provo Halloween Half Marathon).  Here is a map of the race we ran:

As you can see, it has a fairly steep downhill slope on the first five miles, but after that it evens out.  I felt like kind of a wimp beforehand, running a half-marathon all downhill, but afterwards I was impressed with myself. It hurts to run downhill!  After the first five miles, we crossed the highway and ran down the Provo River Canyon Trail, which was beautiful.  We ended at the Riverwoods Mall, right next to Borders.  So you know what I did after the race... :)

Anyways, once we passed the 4-mile marker, I was excited - I'd run further than I'd ever run before!  Our pacers looked at each other nervously.  At about mile 6, although I'd eaten two granola bars, I was getting low and Kristin was having some blood pressure issues, so we slowed down for a while, alternating walking and jogging.  I can't get my blog to load this picture, probably because it's copyrighted, but if you click on this link, you can see me at mile 6.5, checking my blood sugar (I only checked once during the entire race, crazy!).

At mile 7, I sped up again, and pushed on running through mile 9 before I walked.  I ran to mile eleven, and I had started to lose hope of ever catching up with my pace group (set to finish at 2 hours 20 minutes) before the end.  I was down to my last bag of fruit snacks after eating 3 granola bars and another bag of fruit snacks.  Finally, I caught back up to Megan!  She's a little bit crazy, and she'd decided to run the entire thing without stopping.  And you know what's even crazier?  She did it.  Whoa.  Anyways, we ran together till about 12.5, and we caught up to our pacing group at 12.  At mile 12, I started to push it.  I alternated running and walking, and I was very tired.  

I had just entered the civilized section of the trail, and I could see buildings of the mall.  People were lining the pathway cheering us on, when one guy stepped out, ever so helpfully, and said, "You can do it!  Only 200 yards to the finish line!"  Well, at the thought of 200 more yards, I had to walk.  So I did.  I managed to get back into a jog for the final push, but it was a struggle.  I walked as soon as I hit the finish line.  

Here are the results:

As you can see, I didn't come in the first half of the runners... but I'm okay with that.  Fish out of water anyone?  I got 95th in my division, and I'm even more okay with that.  Next time I want to get under 2:10, but I'm just happy that I beat my goal time of 2:20.  

Overall, it was a fun and exciting experience, and I'm glad I did it.  I plan to do it again next year, with maybe a little bit more training beforehand.  The race itself was perfect - I didn't start to feel overheated until the last half-mile, when the sun finally peeked out from behind some clouds.  It also wasn't so cold that I wasn't comfortable the whole time.  

One surprising thing: when I'd finished the race and was sitting drinking some water, I reached up to wipe some sweat away, and my face was grainy.  Hmm.  I couldn't figure out what it was until I licked my lips.  I had salt all over my face from sweat.  Gross.  But very interesting.  

Luckily, after a long nap that afternoon, I was only a little bit sore.  I even wore heels to church the next day!  I won't tell you how it felt to stand up after sitting in one place for sacrament meeting, though.  

Anyways, that was the run.  I feel like a beast for even contemplating running it, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.  I highly recommend running a half-marathon; it's a great self-esteem booster - even if you look a little lumpy around the hips.

<3

Eliza

P.S. Happy 100th post!!!