The Pink Series Half Marathon 2011

Time travel back to October 8th with me. That will make this post seem like its not completely outdated.

Back in July I was talking to some girls in my ward. A couple of them said they had completed a marathon and I was very impresed. They also all agreed that it's mostly a mental challenge. So then I got to thinking that maybe it was possible for me to do it. I decided to start with a half marathon though in order to decrease my odds of dying. And that is the story of how I signed myself up for a half marathon.

I created a training schedule for myself and stuck with it pretty well...even though it involved waking up at 5 am everyday for a 12 weeks. Naturally, the day before my race was the first day of snow this season. Troy and I had to take a last minute trip to the store to get warm running clothes. I was planning on wearing my tank top and shorts but clearly Mother Nature had other ideas.

The race was in Park City so it was even colder than I thought it would be. When I got on the bus to drive to the starting line, I probably had 20 layers. I regreted this decision once I was on the sweltering bus for 30 seconds. Our bus driver got us lost on the way too which was exciting. We almost crashed into a mountain. Seriously. Who would have thought it was even possible to crash into a mountian? We finally got to the start line and froze a little while longer until they would finally let us run.

The first 4 miles went SUPER quick. I was shocked. The snow wasn't as bothersome as I anticipated either. I actually didn't get tired until mile 9 or so. But by then you're so close to finishing that you want to just keep going. Pretty soon I was finished. Weird. It actually wasn't that bad! I wanted to finish in 2 hours and 10 minutes. My time ended up being 2 hours and 15 minutes but I was still happy with it. Considering the weather, altitude, wind, and it being my first one I think I did ok.

And now for the pictures...

Troy was my awesome photographer. This is the finish line area before being invaded by runners. 

Apparently I run with my thumbs up. I'm such a cheerful runner. 

Getting my "charm". It was an all women race so we got charms instead of medals. 

Best part of running 13.1 miles is eating all the free food after. Totally worth it.

All in all it was a great experience. I'm totally converted. Right when I finished I thought that I'd like to stick with half marathons rather than doing a full marathon...but now I've changed my mind. Who would have thought I'd ever like to run.