Provo River Half Marathon

I did it! I ran my first half marathon. I ran the Provo River Half Marathon this past weekend. I have been training for this race all spring and summer, and now to have accomplished my goal feels so great! It was a beautiful run down Provo Canyon and right along the Provo River. I love living in such a pretty area. Here is the way this race unfolded for me...

3:29am- (one minute before my alarm clock was set to go off) Woke up to London crying my name. Went in and calmed her down and put her back to sleep. While in with her I noticed a bad pain on the right side of my lower abdomen. The pain got worse as I went down stairs to eat and get ready to leave. It got so severe that I couldn't stand up straight. I finally went up stairs and told Steve what was going on. I told him I thought I needed to go to the ER, then immediately started crying because I was going to miss my race.

4:00am- Steve googled my symptoms on his phone and we decided it was my appendix that was hurting so badly. He gave me a Priesthood blessing. We then thought about who to call to have come over while he took me to the ER. No one answered their phones. The pain was getting less and less. I didn't know what to do. Should I chance running the race? After a little while in the bathroom (yeah, TMI) I was feeling a lot better. I stared stretching, jumping, jogging in place. It all felt fine.

4:30am- I decided I was heading to my race. I threw on my running clothes and gear and headed out. Steve made me promise that if I felt any pain to go immediately to the ER. There was a hospital right on the way to the race, and I did promise to go there if needed. When I passed that hospital I was still feeling fine. Absolutely no pain. I called him to let him know I was going for it.

5:00am- I parked and jumped on the first bus I could find. I still felt fine. I sat next to the nicest guy who had run this race several times. He gave me some good tips and told me what to expect. He asked me what I expected my time to be. I told him I hoped right around 2 hours. Under two hours would be a dream, but 2:15 would probably be more reasonable.

5:30am- We unloaded from the bus that dropped us off at South Fork. There was a lot of waiting around, potty trips, stretching, chatting, etc. They were still busing people until 10 minutes before start time which was supposed to be at 7am. I still didn't feel any pain.

7:15am- The race finally starts. It was a huge crowd, so it took me probably 4 or 5 minutes before I crossed the starting line. We all had timing chips on our shoes though so that didn't matter. There was a lot of weaving in and out of people for the first 2 miles. I felt good though and quickly settled into my pace. The first 7 miles were really smooth and I felt great. I was at 1:03 at mile 7 and got excited that if I kept it up I could be under 2 hours. But that is when things changed. We ran in front of Bridal Veil Falls, and instead of continuing on down the trail, they turned us around heading north (and up hill) for a mile. We passed Bridal Veil Falls again, and on the other side of the street were the runners who had already done this mile up hill and were heading back to the trail now. That was tough mentally to see all these people ahead of me and done with this blasted up hill. I made it to the turn around and walked for probably 30 seconds while I chomped on my Cliff Bar. Then I was off again. This time I enjoyed seeing the people on the other side of the street that I was ahead of and that were enduring the hill. Mean, I know! We passed Bridal Veil Falls for a third and final time then headed on down the trail.

At mile 9 I was at 1:23. It was definitely getting harder, but I still felt really good. I just dug in and kept going. There were people along the trail cheering us on. At mile 10 I was at 1:33.36. Then mile 11 and 12 I was just over a 10 minute mile pace. With a quarter mile to go I walked through the water station, then dug in to finish it off strong. The finish line was getting closer I could tell because there were so many people lined along the trail. I was getting emotional. Then I saw Steve and the girls. It caught me by surprise to see them all of a sudden. And seconds later I crossed the finish line. My official final time was 2:01.14. I had mixed emotions. 1.15 faster and I would have been under 2 hours. But only 1.14 over 2 hours is pretty awesome!

Waving to Steve just before crossing the finish line. And below is what I found when I took my shoes off at home. I have a nice blood blister on the side of my right foot big toe. The blood in the picture is from another smaller blister that didn't hurt at all. I made Steve come take a picture of my foot when I saw the blood. He thought it was gross... I thought it was hard core!
Here are the stats from my race:

Out of 1,395 people, I placed 618.
Out of 338 people in my age division, I placed 157.
Out of 913 women, I placed 322.
Out of 239 women in my age division, I placed 98.

I am incredibly sore from this race and can hardly walk up and down our stairs or lift the girls. It was worth it though! I feel amazing that I completed this goal. I am looking forward to taking a break for a bit and then jumping right back into this madness again soon. I am so grateful that my stomach pain subsided and hasn't returned. I am also grateful for Steve's support through out all of my training. It was tricky at first to find the time for the both of us to get our work outs in each day. The last few weeks of my training Steve and the girls would meet me in different spots along my long runs to supply me with the nourishment I needed to keep going. I got London to say "Go Mom" when she saw me running. I have the best family! And I have so many wonderful friends who cheered me on all along the way of my training and who were anxious to hear my results. Thanks guys, I am so lucky!