Timpanogos Half Marathon

Saturday, July 30th Paul and I ran the Timpanogos Half Marathon. This was the first half marathon for both of us and I am very happy to say that we survived! After I had Caitlin I made a goal to run a half marathon by this summer. I started really training in May and I will admit I didn't train as much as I probably should have with the craziness of summer but i came to like (i'm not going to say love yet) running lot more, especially having this goal in place. It's fun to think that after having Caitlin i started out just going for walks, then those walks became little jogs and then those little jogs became training for and accomplishing a half marathon!
So here's how it all went down (in all of it's detailed glory):
-Woke up at 4 AM and got ready then headed to the AF High School to get on a bus. That bus took us 8 miles up American Fork Canyon to the Tibble Creek Resevoir. We all waited there and stretched and got ready. We also saw our neighbors up there. We think there were about 1500 runners and we started toward the back of the pack.
-Miles 1-8 I felt really good. The canyon is a solid downhill slope so it was a great way to get into the race and gain momentum. We felt solid and were ahead of the 2 hour pace time.
-After mile 8 we exited the canyon and got on a paved pathway by our house. Things got a little more difficult as we encountered some rolling hills, and I started feeling more challenged.
**I'll stop here and say that i absolutely COULD NOT have done this race without Paul. He was so nice and stayed with me the whole time (well, about 5-10 feet in front of me) but he really could have gone way faster but he wanted to help be and be there for me and watch me through it. He said it was more fun for him that way and I am so appreciative. He was awesome. He motivated and coached me through the whole thing, he carried my gels for me and told me when to take them and paced me the whole time. Even when i got a little snippy towards the end when i felt so spent, he just helped me and never left me.
-Mile 10 i hit a wall (probably because the longest run i had ever done in training was only 7 miles). I felt so tired and just wanted to end. From 10-11.5 i felt like i was just trudging along.
-Mile 11.5 we hit a downhill and Paul turned to me and said "ok, you can do this. We're almost there. Turn up your music and fly down this hill." That was just what i needed.
-Mile 12-13 I couldn't really feel my body but I was so motivated by being so close to the finish. When i hit the mile marker for 13 i thought to myself "ok, only .1 miles, i'm gonna try to sprint because i'll either collapse or i'll get there faster and be done sooner." So i did. I caught up with Paul and as i listened to Katy Perry's "Last Friday night" blaring in my head we sprinted across the finish line. There were a ton of people lining the sides cheering us on.
-Such a rush! I was so happy to cross that line and even more happy that i could do it with Paul at my side. It was so much fun to accomplish it together. So my official time was: 2.01.24

 Don't even care that i missed the 2 hours mark by one minute. I did way better than i thought i was going to. I finished pretty much in the middle of my age group and of all the women overall.

After we finished we got a bunch of food and goodies and then headed home. As a congratulations/anniversary gift, Paul had gotten us massages for right after and it probably saved my life. It felt so good!
I'm so glad that i was able to achieve this goal for myself! There is such a satisfaction that come when you set out to do something and do it even better than you think you're going to.