The Haunted Half

Earlier this year both my sister and my father in law challenged me to do a Half Marathon. Sam's dad has bothered me before and I've always brushed it off. "That's way too long" I would scoff. Then when my sister wanted to do one with me, I decided to do it. We found the one we wanted to do and I printed off my running schedule that started the 2nd week of June. Unfortunately, my sister got sick partway through the training and had to put it on hold. Someday though we will run one together when she is feeling better!!

Anyway, all summer long I trained. Each time I got a mile further, it was a huge accomplishment for me. I posted a while back about finally making 10 miles. Now I have ran 13.1 and I am still on a high about it.

My morning started early, 5:30am. I got myself up, ate my breakfast, made sure I had everything and headed all by my lonesome to catch the shuttle up to Emigration Canyon. The race didn't start until 8:45 but the last shuttle left at about 7:30. Being the nervous person I am, I wanted to make sure I was there with plenty of time to spare, just in case something went wrong.

Waiting was the worst. It was cold and I had butterflies and the bathroom line was super long, but it was also really exciting people watching! At about 8:40 I made my way to the starting line and at 8:45 we were off!!

At first, so many people were passing me. SO MANY PEOPLE! I though for sure I was going to be last. But, I just kept running, pacing myself, and concentrated on how I was doing. At about 2 miles in, some people who had passed me started to walk, so I zipped on past them and as bratty as that sounds, it made me feel better. At about mile two, my bladder all the sudden decided to fill up, so just a little after mile 3 I had to stop and go to the bathroom. I was so mad!! In all my weeks of training I NEVER had to use the bathroom during my runs. I have a really overactive bladder when I am nervous though and it proved itself at that pit stop. There was a line too, so I had to wait, probably 5 minutes. After the pit stop, I was on my way again, and I feel like I made up some of that time stopped. From there on to about 7 and a half miles, I just kept running. I never had to stop and walk. I just kept going. I kept playing chase with a ninja turtle. She would pass me, then I would pass her and so on. It was a fun game to play and kept me going. Eventually, I killed her and she never passed me again. The scenery was also fun to look at and kept me going.

Shortly after mile 7, we hit a HUGE hill and I had to walk up it. The next two miles were like that. (not constant, but they were still hard work) So during those two or three miles, I had to stop and walk, and use the bathroom again! (so annoying!) But by about mile 10 I think it started getting easier again and I was able to run more. The last two miles I basically ran the whole time. In fact, I was so lost in my thoughts that all the sudden I was at mile 12 and realized I only had 1 more mile to go!! I started thinking about those people at the finish line and I just kept running. At this point we were running down Memory Grove, so it was a pretty easy downhill run. It was nice to end going down.

The view running down memory grove

 As I was nearing the finish line, I saw my dad standing there. He was standing away from everyone so he could get some pictures of me. I couldn't help it. Seeing him there supporting me brought unexpected tears to my eyes and helped me push myself further. It was a great feeling know the people I love were there to cheer me on. Right before I got to him there was a Haunted 1k we were able to run through, and a spook jumped right out at me. Good thing my bladder wasn't full again, because he got me good. Right as I got out of the haunted part, my dad was there snapping pictures of me.

Shortly after passing my dad, I saw my mom, sister, my friend Jess, and Sam with my girls standing there. Abby was so excited to see me and ran right up to me. It made my whole day! Again, cue the water works. Maddie was there bouncing in my sisters arms (i think?) and I know if she could have, she would have ran up to me too.

Seeing my family there made me full on sprint to the finish. I did it. I finished my first Half Marathon. And not in bad time either. According to my Nike+ app, I finished in about 2 hours and 40 min. My official race time is 2:49:12. My app paused at my potty breaks, my bib timer thing didn't. But I am still so proud of myself!! After months of training, of sacrificing my time of sleep, sacrificing my Saturdays, (because those were my long run days which meant I usually was useless the rest of the day) I did it. And I did it was my family (and Jess) cheering me on.

I never thought I could do it. But I did. And you bet I will be doing it again.