Yep! I did it! 13.1 miles, and it was AMAZING! I am so freaking proud of myself. My goal was to do it under 2:30. My official time was:
I woke up at 3:00am and took a hot bath just to relax a little bit. By the time I got to Provo the wind had stopped and it was a chilly 45 degrees.
I loaded the bus with a bunch of other crazy early people and they took us to the starting line. Way up Provo Canyon. It was pitch dark and FREEZING. The race didn't start until 7:00am. So we spent a lot of time bouncing around to keep warm. Note to self: You don't need to be 3 hours early to a race. They were able to get over 1000 people up there on time.
I drank some coconut water, some pre race Gatorade and a power bar.
They let the Marathon runners go 15 minutes before us so we were able to cheer them on as they took off. Then it was our turn to line up. I was looking for a pacer and found one with a sign that said 2:20 and thought that would be a good goal to try to keep up with.
The first part of the race was down hill. I wanted to go fast but kept telling myself to stay with the pacer and relax. I actually had to stop myself from crying a couple of times because my legs were feeling good and my breathing was amazing.
Around mile 4 I was tired of running with the pacer. He was going too slow, so I passed him. I never found another pacer but I knew I was above 2:20 so that is all I needed to know.
They had water stations at just the right places and I took a cup of water every time. At first I tried to run and drink. I was afraid if I stopped I wouldn't be able to start again. I think I spilled more water than I drank so I just had to tell myself to calm down and hydrate.
Around mile 8 I started to get nervous because last time I tried to run that far my body hit a brick wall. I took a GU. Wow, those things are crazy thick. It is like trying to eat peanut butter. So I choked that down and found my second wind.
Around mile 12 I could feel myself slowing down and had to really concentrate. I took out my head phones and just listened to myself breath and loved hearing everyone clapping. It is so motivating having people cheer you on, even if they are perfect strangers. Unfortunately Dave and the boys didn't make it in time. I was pretty sad about it and Dave felt so bad, but I was just so proud of myself and amazed at what my body will let me do that I got over it pretty quick.
I pushed it pretty hard and got into a full on sprint. I don't even remember anything going on around me, all I could see was the finish line!
TestOut had food and drinks for us and it was fun to hang out with my coworkers and talk about how each other did.
I stayed for a while and cheered on a couple of people that did the Marathon. So proud of them!
It was such a great experience and I will for sure be signing up for another one!
And later that day, after I took a nap, I treated myself to one of these!
Bib: 1040
Chip time: 2:17:24
Pace: 10:29
Overall Place 807
Gender Place 473
Division Place 67
My sweet friend Malinda brought me a little package of goodies the night before...love her!
Along with this darling necklace
I tried to go to sleep early because we had to catch the buses at 4:00AM. The wind was blowing really hard so that kept me up worrying about our dumb trampoline flying away.
I woke up at 3:00am and took a hot bath just to relax a little bit. By the time I got to Provo the wind had stopped and it was a chilly 45 degrees.
I loaded the bus with a bunch of other crazy early people and they took us to the starting line. Way up Provo Canyon. It was pitch dark and FREEZING. The race didn't start until 7:00am. So we spent a lot of time bouncing around to keep warm. Note to self: You don't need to be 3 hours early to a race. They were able to get over 1000 people up there on time.
I drank some coconut water, some pre race Gatorade and a power bar.
They let the Marathon runners go 15 minutes before us so we were able to cheer them on as they took off. Then it was our turn to line up. I was looking for a pacer and found one with a sign that said 2:20 and thought that would be a good goal to try to keep up with.
The first part of the race was down hill. I wanted to go fast but kept telling myself to stay with the pacer and relax. I actually had to stop myself from crying a couple of times because my legs were feeling good and my breathing was amazing.
Around mile 4 I was tired of running with the pacer. He was going too slow, so I passed him. I never found another pacer but I knew I was above 2:20 so that is all I needed to know.
This was about half way. Feeling good!
Around mile 8 I started to get nervous because last time I tried to run that far my body hit a brick wall. I took a GU. Wow, those things are crazy thick. It is like trying to eat peanut butter. So I choked that down and found my second wind.
Around mile 12 I could feel myself slowing down and had to really concentrate. I took out my head phones and just listened to myself breath and loved hearing everyone clapping. It is so motivating having people cheer you on, even if they are perfect strangers. Unfortunately Dave and the boys didn't make it in time. I was pretty sad about it and Dave felt so bad, but I was just so proud of myself and amazed at what my body will let me do that I got over it pretty quick.
At the home stretch
TestOut had food and drinks for us and it was fun to hang out with my coworkers and talk about how each other did.
I stayed for a while and cheered on a couple of people that did the Marathon. So proud of them!
It was such a great experience and I will for sure be signing up for another one!
And later that day, after I took a nap, I treated myself to one of these!
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