Provo City Half Marathon

I'm not honestly sure at what point I decided I wanted to run a half marathon. Probably about the time that I decided I was going to lose all of the weight I had gained and then some I knew that my life was going to change. But even after all that has changed in my life because of my weight loss and how my body has changed it is still completely amazing and wonderful to me that I was able to completely RUN 13.1 miles.

Saturday morning started bright and early. The race began at 7 AM and we had to be on a bus up to the start line up Provo Canyon by 5:30 AM at the latest. The Husband and I live about 40 minutes from Provo and we had to pick up The Husband's sister that morning too. So that meant our alarms went off at 3:30 AM. Holy cow I am not a morning person...but it was like this didn't even count as morning because it was SO early. We picked Niki up and then headed down to the buses. We were on one of the first 4 buses or so up the canyon.

Once we got to the start point they had about 8 fires going in the fire pits that were near the start. It was awesome that they had those fires going because it was seriously freezing and still dark outside. We got to the fires about 5:10 and just waited until 7:10 when the race started. We went to the bathroom and eventually walked around just to keep warm after getting pushed out of the crowds surrounding the fire pits. There was a bag drop for anything we weren't going to be running with but I didn't even think about wearing extra clothes and my legs and hands were totally freezing! I don't think I started feeling my hands until mile 3 or 4 of the race.

A little before the race started we met up with my brother, Ryan, and his bromance friend, Dave. They had signed up that week to run the race "with" us. Finally, we took some pictures, watched the full marathoners start their race at 7 AM, threw our bags onto the bus for the bag drop and lined up for the race to start!



It only took about a minute to reach the start line and then we were off. Ryan and Dave almost immediately went on ahead of us and Niki went behind us. The Husband and I stuck together...or more like The Husband stuck with me. I had told him a few times it would be ok if he went ahead cause he's so much faster but he told me even before we were running that he was going to stay with me the whole time. And he did. He's kinda awesome.

The first 8 miles or so of the race were down the canyon on a running trail. It was really pretty. And the weather was absolutely perfect. After the first 3 miles we found our rhythm and were mostly by ourselves. We had a couple women we kept leap frogging but we eventually lost them. I'm so grateful I had The Husband with me. About mile 9 I was just tired and wanted to stop...only I didn't want to stop because I promised myself I was going to RUN the whole thing. Having The Husband with me made sure I did that because I wasn't just accountable to myself but to him too.

For quite a while we had the 2:05 pacer right behind us (that's a runner that is running the race purely to help runners finish in the time they want to. They are required to run the whole thing and set the pace for those people with that goal time). He was very enthusiastic. He kept yelling things and saying "We are strong!" and once even said "Slow cars to the right!" I wanted to yell at him right back and tell him to shut up! If I was ahead of him then he was the slow one! Although...they did eventually pass us.

I kept telling myself I wasn't really that concerned with my time but I did have a goal of about 2 hrs 10 minutes or 2:10. At about mile 12 the 2:10 pacer passed us...and I won't lie, I was pissed. I tried to keep up with her and meet that goal but honestly it was just enough that I was running at that point.

As we came into the finish chute I got really emotional. I kept thinking about how amazing it was that I had just run 13 miles. I hadn't walked at all. I never ever thought I would be capable of something like that and I had just finished it. We crossed the finish line with The Husband's arm around me at 2:11:54. Averaged of a 10:04 minute mile. I am honestly so completely happy with that time. Especially for it being my first Half Marathon.



I was crying. I was so happy and so proud of myself. My mom was at the finish line with my girls and my sister. And The Husband's family was there too. Plus Ryan and Dave stayed to see The Husband and I finish(only 40 minutes behind them haha)! I was so happy to have my family there to support me. It was so important to me to reach this goal and it was everything I hoped it would be. I'll definitely be doing one again.



I was also so proud of Niki for running the entire race and making her goal of under 3 hours! She had only run up to 5 miles before the race and she ran the whole time! She even met a friend that helped her make it. So proud!

On a side note-One of the blogs that I follow Runsforcookies.com does a series called Motivational Mondays. She has people post on her facebook wall or email her with their accomplishments from the week. This week I decided to send in my picture and brag a little about the half marathon and she used my picture in her blog post tonight! You guys should go check it out :) There's a link on the right hand side of my blog.

Thank you all for reading and continuing to support me. It is honestly the support I receive that keeps me going.