My first half marathon

*Warning, this is long and may be boring to many

A few weeks ago we ran the Provo Halloween Half Marathon and it was my first time ever to run that far. And it wasn't too bad. Of course, I say that 3 weeks later. At mile 10, I would not have said that.

Why on earth would I ever run that far? I don't know. I asked my sister Candace the exact same thing in August as I watched her cross the finish line in her 2nd half marathon here in Logan. Crazy, I thought. Just crazy. But deep down inside, I thought it was pretty cool to see all those people cross the finish line having just accomplish something so huge. Just ordinary people. Some young, some old, some larger than others, some for the first time, some for the 20th time. It was sort of neat. I guess I always thought only extremely athletic and die-hards would do something like that. And I had in my mind that I am the sports type, not the running type. Yuck, not ever would I be the running type. I mean, I do run often, but never more than 3 miles and I never would have classified myself as a runner. But as I watched all those ordinary people running that day, the competitive side of me started to rise. I thought to myself, "Self, if all 'those' people can do this than surely you can do this too." But I still didn't have the desire to run a race. And then September came. I went running one morning and came home happy. Why? Because usually when I finish my runs I am huffing and puffing and feel like I am going to die. No exaggeration. I hate it. But that day it was like I finally hit a point where my body could keep going. I seriously don't know what it was. Maybe I had been running enough that I was finally used to the elevation here (or all the blasted hills I am forced to run) that I felt like I could run farther. So I tried 4 miles the next time, and it wasn't too bad. I toyed with the idea of doing a half marathon, but still not serious about it. And then I ran 6 one morning and it wasn't too bad either. Nate had been running lots too and we decided to follow a training schedule to prepare for a half just in case we decided to run one. St. George had one 8 weeks out and that was really pushing it for us (most training schedules are at least 10 weeks). And then my sister called and asked if we wanted to do this Halloween one and it really worried me because it was even a week earlier than the St. George one. But with Nate's work schedule and babysitters for kids, we decided on the Halloween one. I tried to train as much as I could, but really feel like I wasn't trained enough. I missed quite a few long runs in my training and I had no muscle training. But anyways, to move this story along, I finished my first half marathon! And I actually really enjoyed it, minus the last 3-4 miles. I could definitely tell the point where my body just wasn't trained enough. About mile 9-10. I hurt bad and really, really, wanted to stop. The first 5 miles of the race were extremely down hill, and some might think this is a good thing, but it gave me the WORST blisters ever!! I even had on some mole skin to prevent them, but it didn't help. Wow, my feet felt like I had raw flesh being scrapped and dug into. That is about the best I can describe it. And my legs were killing me. But I kept trekking along and the main reason I did was because of my sister. She pushed me the whole time. At mile 12 I stopped because I could no longer run. I told Candace to keep going because I couldn't finish the last mile. I was done. She felt bad but kept running and as I watched her run off it gave me an ounce of motivation to catch up to her. I really, really, really, wanted to finish the race with her and so I forced myself to catch up and finish with her. And I did it! We finished together! She literally pulled me across the finish line. I wish I had a picture of that. And as soon as I crossed the finish line I just stopped. I couldn't move any further. And the race people kept telling me that I had to move out of the way. But I couldn't. I forced myself once more to walk a few more steps out of the way and then I just stood there some more until I could get my feet to move again. And where was Nate you might ask? Oh, he had been finished for over a half hour already. I think he finished in 1hr 34 (or 38) min. Crazy. Candace and I finished in 2:09, which I was happy with.

And I may or may not have been able to move any part of my legs the next day.

And a big thanks goes to my brother Jesse for being the favorite uncle of the day and watching my 3 crazy kids for us. Even if his teeny tiny little dog scares the crap out of Cassie.

And I highly advise getting a massage after running that far. And a Garmin GPS running watch. Those 2 things saved the day.

And one more thing: This race was a Halloween race so a lot of people dressed up. It was so funny because we would be running down the road and all of a sudden a random spider man would go sprinting by, or a chick with a full on wedding dress that had a sign on her that said "run-away-bride". And I kept seeing random parts of costumes that people would shed on the road, like wigs. It was pretty funny. To see some more funny pictures of the runners click HERE.

And yes, I may end up doing this again to myself in the Spring. Anyone else want to join?

And no, I will never run a full marathon. Ever.

Okay, and one more little thing. It was a freezing 24 degrees when we started this race. COLD!!!!

P.S. - I will try not to bore you with long descriptive posts like this again.