13.1 Miles - Utah Valley Half Marathon

Saturday the 12th was the big race. I hadn't been able to prepare as much as I would have liked for it; my longest run before Saturday was 7 miles, so I wasn't quite sure if I was going to be able to make it.

Friday night it was raining and the weather forecast called for rain on Saturday as well. I was dreading running this race in the rain, but I was still determined to do it. After all I had paid for it, and it was non-refundable, so why waste the money?

On Saturday I was up at 3AM. The race would be starting at 5:30 am and the last bus to the starting line would be at 4:30. I was happy to see that it was not raining and it didn't feel too cold either. I boarded a bus and was on my way to the starting line in Provo canyon, just before the turn off to Sundance. It seemed like it took forever for the bus to get there and made it seem like it was really far away.

I arrived at the finish line around 4:20 AM, still an hour to go before the race started. I met up with some friends that were also running so that I would have someone to run with. There were fire barrels to keep us warm and I had my sweatshirt on, so it wasn't too bad. We got word the race would be starting late because of the darkness. Finally at around 5:45 the gun fired and we were off!

We had a pretty good strategy so we would not wear ourselves out. Aid stations were at miles 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, & 13.1. We would run two miles until we reached the aid station, then walk while we drank our water or Powerade. It did start raining while we were in the canyon, but it was very light, almost like a mist, so it wasn't enough to soak you. We kept this up for the first half of the race and we were feeling pretty good. At about mile 8, my friend Charissa had to stop more often to walk, but she told me to just keep on going if I wanted to. So at that point, I was pretty much by myself. It was nice to see Mike and Lance at the aid station at mile 9. They had picked that spot to cheer me on and ended up helping hand out water until I got there.

At this point it started to get really hard as I was getting pretty worn out. I just told myself that all I had left was a 5K and I would be done. I pushed myself to the end, because if I stopped, it was really hard to start running again. With one mile to go, there is a hill to go up, which seems so brutal at this point in the race. I just forced myself up the hill and kept running all the way to the finish line. My goal was to finish in under three hours. My official race time was 2:42:57.2, so I came in way under my goal! I was 765th overall (out of 900) and placed 118th in my age division (out of 150).

I am so proud of myself for finishing with the time I did (about a 12 1/2 minute per mile pace). I really enjoyed myself and I am already looking for the next race I can sign up for. Mike and I will be running a 5K on June 26th, so my goal will be to beat my previous 5K time. It should seem like a piece of cake after running 13.1 miles!

5K Race

On Saturday I did a 5K race. It wasn't very big, there were less than 100 total participants, but I still wanted to do an actual race. It was at 8:00 in the morning, and it just happened to be a bit chilly. Okay, maybe not chilly...it was cold! The thermometer in the car said 29 degrees when I got out about 7:45. Since I pre-registered all I had to do was check in, then try to stay warm until the race started. I have "raced" a 5K before, but there wasn't any official time keeping, so it was different having a bib number that was unique to me.

I think it went pretty well, at least for my first official race and for how cold it was. I came in with a time of 34:46.7; 57th overall and 4th out of 6 in my age division. I am pretty proud of myself, I forced myself to run the entire time, something I have not been doing with my training runs. It seems like I always use an excuse to stop running; I can't breathe, my legs hurt, my side aches, etc. At least now I have a time that I can work on beating. The next race I have planned is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in May. It's not a timed race, although they do have a clock for those who want to keep track. I'm sure I will be able to improve my time by then.

I really need to start kicking my running into a higher gear for the Utah Valley Half Marathon on June 12th. I have already registered for it, so if I don't do it, it is just a waste of money. At this point, I know I would be able to complete it and probably within the time limit, however, I really want to make a good effort at it. I'm hoping this is the beginning of many races to come!