A Goal Accomplished

Just to warn you, this is kind of long and detailed, but I felt it was an experience worth documenting well.

After I had Becca, I decided I wanted to run a half marathon. I figured it was an attainable goal for me at this stage of my life, and an opportune time (hey, I’m not getting any younger)! I also figured it would be a motivator to lose my pregnancy weight. I decided it would just be a one-time thing to just be able to say I had done it. I knew it would be tough because I was pretty much starting from scratch. I had not been a regular runner since I got married. I went running for the 1^st time when Becca was 1 month old, and boy was it tough. I jogged like 4.5mph on the treadmill for 2 miles and was dripping in sweat. I ran a 5k a month later, and finished in 36 minutes, and it was tough. I took a break till New Years and started training for a 10K on St. Patrick’s Day.

The Lord blessed me during this time…I didn’t have a gym membership so I guess I had just planned on running outside, probably in the dark (before Jeff left for work or after he got home) and in the cold. Since I got this gig helping Alayna’s dance teacher, our family has had a pass to the rec center since February, for free.

The 10K went well; I finished in 1 hour 3 minutes, and felt great. I took off a couple of weeks and started training for my ½. I stuck to my training schedule pretty well, thanks to Jeff and a couple of friends who watched my kids for me so I could run. By the time the race came around, not only had I reached my pre-pregnancy weight with Becca, but with Alayna! I hadn’t ever gotten rid of the last pesky 5-10 pounds between babies. The farthest I ran during my training was 10 miles. I started getting a little burned out towards the end of the training, so I was ready to get the race “over with.”

Race day finally came on June 9^th. I woke up at 2:50am (and actually had gotten a few hours of sleep that night), ate ½ a bagel with peanut butter, and drove to the Provo Towne Centre Mall to get on a bus that would take me up Provo Canyon, just past Vivian Park. I got there just after 4am. They had lots of small fire rings set up to keep warm on the mountainside, so everyone was just sitting or standing around. A little while later, I managed to find Jeff’s aunt and cousins who were also running the race, so it was nice to have some company.

The race started at 6am. Thankfully it was a beautiful day, because early June in Utah could bring any kind of weather. I was ready. I’ll tell you, it’s really nice to know you have people at the finish line waiting for you, because I was thinking about my family being at the finish the whole time. I felt really great so the training must have paid off. I had a pack of energy chews that I ate periodically, and grabbed water every couple of miles till I realized I had to pee so I had better stop drinking. I had a fun surprise waiting for me about 5.5 miles into the race. My sister in law and my niece, Emily were waiting for me! I was so happy to see them, and felt bad that Stacia (a photographer)’s camera battery had died! So she got her phone and took a picture with that (the above photo is the one she took).

You run just over 6 miles till you reach the mouth of the canyon, then you are just running down University Avenue until you get to Center Street. By the last mile, I started to feel like I was ready to be done. The sun was pretty bright and there was a glare off of the pavement on University that made my eyes hurt. It does help that strangers are camped pretty frequently over the last 2 miles, cheering you on.

I saw Jeff and my girls about 40 yards before the finish line. It was great to see them, and gave me the drive to sprint the rest of the way. Crossing the finish was an amazing feeling. I finished in 2:19, and I hadn’t stopped running the entire way. My goal was to be under 2:30, so I was happy with my time. I feel like I could have done it a little faster, but several people advised me to take it slow so I wouldn’t burn out toward the end, especially for my first race.

I couldn't have done this without a supportive husband who was willing to watch the girls so I could go running, drive me to a starting point so I could run a route home, and was encouraging me the whole way.

Would I do it again? I plan to. Not anytime soon, though. I know I need to give my knees a rest, and the training took a lot of time away from my family. I might even be crazy enough to do a marathon….we’ll see.

Tips to I would share from my experiences:

Get some good, energizing music on your ipod

Energy chews are great…energy gels taste AWFUL

Don’t drink too much powerade before your race…I had to wait in line twice for the port-a-potty before the race started, and the lines are LONG!

Don’t underestimate the power of good running shoes (and they need to be a little big on you or you will blister horribly and might lose toenails)

Reward yourself with a pedicure after your race….you will need it

I really liked that my race started early, just at dawn, so we were running when it wasn’t hot

You will note that I took a couple of breaks in between races. Don’t do that. It is amazing how quickly your body gets out of shape.

Just spotting Jeff and the girls before the finish line


Feels so good to wear that medal and weird that the whole thing is actually over

Glad my girls were there and were (relatively) good sports. Apparently Becca kept reaching over and pulling Alayna's hair in the double stroller while they were waiting at the finish line