This Week's Runs!

This week's going to be fun!

My momma and papa are coming to town on Wednesday cause my sister's gonna have a baby sometime in the near future (hopefully!). Plus, this weekend my mom and I are going to run the Salt Lake Crack of Dawn 10 miler. I can't wait! It's so fun to run with my mom. :) She's such a  tough woman and I'm so proud of her. She's going to be running her first half marathon this June at the young age of 59! How cool is that?

J was so funny today. He asked me what time the race was and where I wanted him to stand at the finish line on Saturday. He was so upset with himself for missing the finish and I have to admit, I gave him a hard time for a little while when I found him after the race. But, I forgave him quickly cause he's a good man and I know he tried to be there. Like Amy said, "On the plus side, J just didn't expect you to be so dang fast! :D There are worse reasons to miss a finish." The funny thing about that...he said the exact same thing and it's so true. I was just emotional after running that far, ya know?

I love ya, J. You're such a great man! Thanks for being there and supporting me in this crazy running hobby. I couldn't do it without you!

So, my runs this week are going to be:
Monday: 4
Tuesday: 8
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 5
Friday: OFF
Saturday: Salt Lake Crack of Dawn 10 Miler + 2-3 miles warm up/cool down or double day.

My goals this week are to take it easy, go one day at a time, enjoy my family, and have a fun race with my momma.

The Riverton Half Marathon

So...... I ran my first Half Marathon in 2.21.38!! Not too bad for my first official half! :)

Ok, so here's how it went:

It was a little chilly at the start. The car said it was 31º and the wind wasn't blowing much, it was a little cloudy though. But, when we were getting ready to start the sun came out and the weather was GREAT!

Miles 1-2: I started out pretty good. I wasn't TOTALLY warmed up, even after running a 1 mile warm up. It takes me about 2.5 miles to get in my groove when it comes to running long distances. I started out with my warm up jacket on, but I knew that I would ditch it at the first water stop. When I was getting close to mile 3 we were running down hill and I was sweating bullets. I don't know why, but I had sweat in my eyes and everything. Everything was flat until mile 2.5 and then we started going down hill.

Mile 3-5: I hit my groove, I ditched my jacket and I even did it while running. J got me a camelbak to run with since I HATE having things around my waist while I run. So, when I ditched my jacket I had to take off the camelbak, my jacket, and my watch all while running. Why you may ask? Cause I'm weird like that. I can't say "I ran 13.1 miles" if I stopped. SOOOO...I did all that and put the camelbak and watch back on threw my jacket at the water stop and kept going. We went down hill for a little while, went up a couple little hills, and ran flat for a while.

Mile 6-7: This is when it got fun. Mile 6 was nice and flat and then I see the mile 7 sign and look up.....HOLY CRAP! You want me to run up that?! It was a pretty steep hill. I kept on and figured that if I didn't look at the hill it wouldn't be so bad. So, I kept my head down and took it one step at a time. I reached the top of the hill and it was flat for a little while and then a little down hill.

Mile 8: Yay! The mile 8 sign and what's that? ANOTHER MASSIVE HILL! This one was even bigger than the last. Head down, one step at a time, made it up without stopping. Things leveled out and went down hill a little.

Mile 9-10: MORE FREAKIN HILLS! Up a BIG hill, leveled out, down a hill, then another BIG hill, leveled out again, and then down another hill.

Mile 11: There's a water stop, I grab a water and run with it. It's not easy to drink and run at the same time. I hear a guy tell his girl "One more hill and then it's pretty level from there." A little past the water stop and you see the hill. There's a sign that says something like "Welcome to the "S" hill! The "S" hill can stands for more than one thing. It's the "Oh, Sh....Hill" "Satan's Hill" "Stupid Hill". It was a hill that was "S" shaped and VERY steep! I had to keep my head down on this one. There was no way I could look at the hill and keep going. I made it up without stopping. When I reached the top it was level for a second and then went up a little bit more and then leveled out again.

Mile 12-13: I felt GOOD! I kept a great pace the whole time. There was a lady who used me as a pacer. She came up to me at the end and said thanks for the help. the last mile was flat and easy.

The last .13: I picked up the pace and finished at 2.21.38! While I was approaching the finish line I look around and J's NOT there. So....no finishing picture. I don't know if there was anyone taking pictures at the finish I couldn't find anything online.

I looked around for J, called my mom to tell her how I did, and then saw J waiting at the finish line looking for me.

He snapped a picture and this is my "I'm trying to fake a smile while I tear up on the phone cause J missed me crossing the finish line" photo.

This is my "FINE! I'll fake another smile, I don't care" picture.

Hey, it's REALLY emotional running that far for that long without stopping and then finishing and having no one there to see you finish. I was wanting an awesome "CHECK ME OUT!" photo for the finish. I was going to take Mel's advice and ham it up for the photo. I thought about it the whole time I was running. It ended up that he missed me crossing the finish by about 5 minutes. Oh, well.

Anyway, after a massage at the massage tables and getting some food in me and talking to my mom some more I forgave J for being late and missing out on a special moment.

They gave us a cool little towel and a nice metal. My first! :) I can't wait to collect more!

It's heavy too!

All in all it was a great race, I felt great, my muscles aren't too sore, just my thighs from those hills. I'm glad I did it. I can't wait to run the 10 mile race with my mom next Saturday, it's going to be fun. :)

I love my man...

You wanna know why? Because he kicked me out of the house, locked the door behind me, and told me I couldn't come back in until I ran 7 miles. :) How's that for support! I went through the usual routine of setting the alarm for 5:30, hitting snooze until 7, then getting dressed and not running until 9:30. He had to head out to work at 11:30 so he told me that if I didn't get out and get running then it probably wouldn't happen and that I would end up dreading it all day. So, he pushed me out the door, locked it, and told me to get it done.

It was COOOLD this morning and I wasn't as prepared as I would have hoped, with ear warmers and all that jazz. I even tried to use that as an excuse to get back in the house and he opened the door a crack and says "Start running and you'll warm up!" Hahaha! So, that's what I did....I started running.

I did a couple laps around the lake. It kinda sucks that it takes me 2.5 miles to get into my groove, but that just means that I will always have negative splits. I ran the 2nd half 5.5 minutes faster than the first. Crazy, huh?! My first mile was a 12.04 minute mile and my last mile was 9.04. I love it!

The whole time I was running I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome my man was for kicking me out of the house. He knows it's getting to crunch time and he doesn't want me to quit. He's such a great man.

Thanks, babe for being there for me and supporting my running!!

Now, I've got some sore feet and tired legs. Time for a nap! Oh, and things are so far so good for today's food. I even took a Reese's Egg (MY FAAAAVORITE!) that I was saving and gave it to my daughter so I wouldn't be tempted.