Ogden Half Marathon

I did it!

My goals for the half were to run the first six miles and then if I needed to, do a 4 minute run/ 1 minute walk until the end. My ultimate goal was to just finish, but I hoped that I would finish in under 2:23 and I would have been ecstatic to finish in under 2:10.

My friend Ashley knew a girl whose brother was driving them to the starting line and I was lucky enough to be able to go with them. Getting to the start at 6:30 was way better than having to be to the shuttle buses at 4:45 and then sit at the start for 2 hours!

After how terrified I was the night before I was glad that in the morning I was more nervous excited than nervous terrified. The race started and I felt pretty good. The hills at the beginning weren't bad at all; I actually kind of enjoyed them. After the first couple of miles I was getting warm so I took off my sweatshirt and threw it on the side of the road and as retarded as it might make me sound it made me giggle to do it. I was really enjoying myself, there is nothing like the race atmosphere!

I hit the half way point and I was ahead of my goal time which I was way excited about. Then I don't know if I had had too much Powerade up to that point or if it was just my regular stupid stomache, but by mile 7 I decided I better stop and use one of the glorious potties. I am still kind of frustrated about it because I lost about 3 minutes stopping, but what do you do? It was quite the weird sensation to come out of the potty and be right back in to running a race while your eyes are adjusting back to the light and your muscles are saying, "What the crap? We thought we were done!".

However, after using the potty I felt great in every way! I was really enjoying myself and I can't believe how fast the time went. I came out of the canyon and my mom and dad were standing there which was awesome and then my dad joined me to run the last 3 miles with me. I was feeling great like I had only ran 4-5 miles; then after we had been running for about .1-.2 miles my hip that I tore the cartilage in starting having shooting pains going through it. I just ran through it though so other than it being annoying and painful, it was all good. As we were running through the parkway this bicycle cop started taking pictures of us which I thought was really weird until I saw his face and realized it was my cousin's husband. That was really fun to see someone I knew!

Who the crap is this guy?
Oh, hey Will!

With about 1 mile left I picked up my pace and left my dad (sorry dad, but thanks, I really enjoyed running with you!). That last stretch when you come out on to Grant and can see the finish line, but still have around .7 miles left is brutal! I was searching the crowd for Aaron and the boys and my mom, but couldn't see anyone. Unfortunately there aren't any pictures where I don't have a dumb look on my face. Next time I'll have to remember to just smile while I'm running to the end. :)
My official finish time was 2:09:17, but if you take out my potty time then it would be 2:06. Both times I am happy with, but I like the latter one better. :) I ran the whole time which was way better than I thought I would do and I finished faster than I could have hoped, both goals met!
I would definitely do another half, but I still think people who do marathons are crazy! I don't know if it was adrenaline from being in a race, but it's definitely the best I ever have felt running a long distance like that. I had a great time and other than being insanely sore today (my quads hate me!) every bit of it was awesome!