This last Saturday, I ran my first half marathon with my sister in law Brittany! I have trained for one before, but got a stress fracture a month before! The whole experience was so much fun- I'd have to say it started from the training. It was so much fun running with Brittany and getting caught up with her and also having some time to "relax" without having to worry about Luke. I also loved enjoying the warmth and sun rays of the outdoors!
The night before the race was an event in itself. Brandon and I went to Pizza Factory, where I carbo loaded BIG time- then went to pick up my packet, where it was fun to see all of the racers and eat free samples. Then I went to my in-laws where I added a whole new play list of music for my run. My iPod hadn't been updated for like 3 years, so this was a real treat. lol That night, Brandon sent me to bed at 9:00 and took care of Luke since I had to be up by 4:45 to make the bus ride. It was like Christmas Eve- I didn't fall asleep until midnight and then woke up every 30 minutes, thinking I had slept in!
Although I probably got about 2 hours of quality sleep that night, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning! My energy escalated when I got to the buses and saw the hundreds of people all anxious and excited to run this race! When we got to the start line, Brittany and I went to the very front of the group so that we wouldn't get caught in the crowd and start 10 minutes later. The guy in charge called us out on the megaphone and said "It looks like we've got a couple people in the first 5 rows that shouldn't be there!" How rude!! We just moved over to the side once it started to let all the hard core people pass us. unfortunately this move caused a pain in my foot from running on the curved side of the road that later turned out to be a stress fracture :( I thought I was totally screwed when I first felt it, but pushed through and after like 5 minutes the pain went away. The first 7 miles were in the Provo canyon and it was beautiful! That part of the race went by so fast- too fast! I wanted this race to last forever- I felt like a 5 year old on a trip to Disney World. It was so fun too see my family for the last part of the race- it was so nice of them to drive all around Provo to see us for literally 5 seconds! I had tons of energy throughout the entire race, but the last half mile, I started to feel the pain in my foot again. Luckily I could see the finish line, and knew that I was going to make it. We sprinted at the very end and as soon as I crossed the finish line I could barely walk on my leg! I was so so so grateful that I was able to finish AND at the fastest pace we've ever run at! Our 2 goals in this race were to finish in under 2 hours and to beat this girl who looked like one of my old roommates, and we did both of them! Our final time was 1:48:10!! We ran at an 8:15 pace.
I was a little disappointed in the after party. The last race I attended, there was a tons of vendors giving out free food and legit SWAG, but all we got was nasty fruit, a single piece of french toast, and chocolate milk in tiny sample cups. The website advertised it as a huge cinco de mayo party with free Magleby's breakfast, fresh fruit, and delicious chocolate milk. What a freakin let down! That was seriously half of why I wanted to do a half marathon... lol So we went to Magleby's restaurant instead for some REAL food!
That about sums up my half-marathon experience! I would LOVE to do that again!
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