Drop 13 Half Marathon 2015

June 13, 2015

This race was totally last minute and awesomely spontanious!! It was the Wednesday before the race, and someone on facebook was selling her spot for $60. She said they would transfer it over to my name for free, which is practically unheard of! I thought running down Big Cottonwood Canyon would be a really fun long run, and that this was a pretty good deal for a half marathon so I took her up on her offer! It was crazy! But crazy awesome!

Friday night I set my alarm for 3:30 so I could be at the busses before 4:30 to pick up my packet. I pretty much, got up, got dressed, made some oatmeal and packed it for the bus, then hurried out the door. I made it with plenty of time, and even had a lot of time to stand around at the start, and go to the port-o-potties twice.

It was really cold up there on the mountain, but it was also so peacful and the birds were singing in the trees. I was just happy to be up there.

The race started and I really did try to hold back and take it easy, but I looked down at my first mile and it was...

"Wow, that's too fast!" I told myself, but myself didn't listen and just continued to keep having fun and letting gravity pull me down the mountain. By the time I got to mile 5 my feel were burning, and I just knew I had big blisters on the bottoms of both my feel. Every step was so painful, but I just kept telling myself, "This is superficial. It's just skin. It's not going to leave lasting damage...." etc.

Like I said, I'm crazy.

Even with all that positive self talk, I did try to adjust my stride a bit so that I was landing on more of the middle of my foot, not so much the ball of my foot - which is how I normally run, and I really think that saved my knees. I'd rather have blisters than hurt knees.

Anyway, at almost the half-way point, I decided to stop at a port-o-potty, and I snapped this picture. It was really a beautiful run!!

The port-o-line was taking too long, though. Then I saw the 2:00 pacer pass me.

Ok, so I went into this race saying that I was just going to have fun and no pressure and everything, but inside I knew that this downhill run would be the one where I woud break 2 hours. So I just couldn't have that pacer pace me. I just couldn't.

So I jumped out of line and started running again. I caught up to the people I had been with before pretty fast, so that gave me confidence to try the next port-o-potty (because, if you know anything about anatamy, if you don't go, you still need to go 2 miles later...) so that's what I did. This time the line went a little faster! Again I was able to catch up to, and pass the people I had been with before so I felt like it was worh the stop.

My feet were really hurting, but I tried to ingore them. Then luckily at about mile 11, one of the blisters burst (I know, gross), and it felt SO MUCH better! That really helped me be able to keep the pace up and finish strong and happy!

It was such a good feeling to run under the finish line and see the clock be under 2 hours!! They even gave out extra medals if you got a PR!

FINISH TIME: 1:56

That's about a 9 minute PR and such a milestone for me to beat 2 hours. Wahoo! What a fun race! I don't know if I'll be doing any downhill half marathons again anytime soon, though. Ouch. I really need to toughen these baby feet up. And I was really sore the next few days. Yep, you've gotta pay for those PRs somewhere.

PS - I was really worried about how my feel would look when I took my shoes off, and I was totally expecting bloody socks by the way it felt. But when I got home, I was shocked to find my feet looking normal! There are blisters, but no blood and they aren't as bad as I thought they would be. See? Superficial! :) BUT I was much more sore after this race than St. George 70.3. Go figure, running faster hurts more.

I went up to Sundance that night with Pete for his birthday dinner and it was so fun to be in one canyon at sunrise and another canyon at sunset. It's beautiful up there too, and The Tree Room has amazing food! Also, Robert Redford was sitting right across the room from me so I pretty much watched him the whole meal... That was kind of surreal. I was so tired by the end of the meal that I was putting my head down on the table! We decided to get the desert to go and ate it at home in bed.

IRONMAN St. George 70.3

It is so strange. I've been wanting to do this race ever since it started as a full Ironman 5 or 6 years ago. It is a half now, and I have a couple friends, Chrystel and BJ, who go down every year. I was at a party with them during the winter and they convinced me to sign up! It was so great to have something big to work towards again, but at the same time I had done a half Ironman before so it didn't scare me enough to make me too stressed. It was perfect!

I trained pretty well, but gave my training plan a lot of wiggle room. Chrystel and I were also rehearsing for the upcoming ballet performance that my girls were going to be in. I was stressing out about that more than the race, and starting to feel like I shouldn't leave for the weekend and miss a rehearsal. Then BJ crashed his bike and broke his shoulder so he said he would just go if Chrystel went. But she wasn't so sure if she even wanted to go anymore. This made me not really want to go by myself. I had signed to go with them. So I couldn't decide...

But then the week of the race arrived, I followed the advice of friends and Pete, (who knows me so well and reminded me that I would regret not going) and decided to go. I had put in the work, and I knew I would have fun, so why not go?! Then Chrystel decided to go too, and suddenly I was excited again! Yay! So, let the packing commence:

It had been a while since I packed for a tri!

With my new excitement, I did my nails to match my bike, and bought a new water bottle. By the time we hit the road, I was starting to feel pretty nervous!

Pete and I had my dad watch the kids, and we got to St. George Friday evening with not much time to spare to visit Ironman village...

Get my wrist band, pick up my packet, drop my run stuff off at T2...

And my bike stuff at T1.

Looking at the beautiful swim course at Sand Hollow Reservoir, and the nice smooth water, made me more excited!

I went out to dinner with my friends while Pete went with his friends for a work meeting. That was fun, and helped me calm down a little. We were just there to have fun, no worries. Then we slept at a friend's house and I woke up bright (er, dark) and early to meet Chrystel and BJ at their condo so we could all ride the bus out to the start together. Let's get this party started!!

It's so much more fun going to a race with friends!

The swim was so great. I was a little nervous since I hadn't even put my wetsuit on for almost a year, but I got it on nice and early and had a lot of time to stand around and get excited, watching a lot of waves go before me.

Chrystel started about half an hour before me, and BJ was starting about 5 minutes behind me so my goal was to beat him out of the water!

When it was time for my wave to get into the water, it was so cold! I kept trying to put my face in, but I just couldn't keep it there! I wondered how I was going to swim in that, but then the gun went off and we were swimming. I told myself to just relax and take it easy. I focused on 3 strokes, breath, 3 strokes, breath. Before I knew it, I was feeling good and breathing just fine! Whew! The water was really smooth so that helped! I also used some of the moves I'd learned in the open water masters class I went to a couple times with a friend. When I got to the last buoy, I pushed hard to the end, and like usual, part of me didn't really want it to be over. I wish I had tried to go faster, I think I could have...

I'm not sure if I beat BJ me out or not because transition was huge and I just had to focus on finding my spot, but it must have come pretty close because I swam a 39... and his swim was like 35 minutes (It was only that close because he had a broken shoulder btw... Tough guy!!). That was my fastest swim for a half (by like 13 seconds...), but I didn't find out until afterwards. I was so happy to see that I'd gone under 40 minutes!!

SWIM TIME: 39:57

I put on a long sleeve shirt for the bike because I realized during my Havasupai trip, that it really wasn't that bad to wear and that it would keep me from getting sunburnt. It was actually nice to have at first, since I was cold and wet at the start, and then it was nice to not have the sun shining on my skin. The bike was really fun! I got to see Pete two times on the bike, and the second time he was like, "already!?" I yelled, 'Yeah, I'm going SO FAST!" He took this picture of me:

Love him.

There were a lot of ups and downs, which I did not train for at all, but it was just so beautiful and such a nice day, and the hills weren't too long so it seemed just perfect. At least until Snow Canyon. Snow Canyon starts at about mile 40, so I was just starting to get sore and tired of riding my bike. The longest training ride I'd done for this was 50 miles, and that was on flat.

At first, I really enjoyed Snow Canyon too. It was SO beautiful! Unbelievably beautiful! I even saw some people stop to take pictures.

When they had us turn around and go back down, only to turn around and go up it again, the slow hill started to get old, though. A LOT of people were walking their bikes by the end, but I was determined to stay on mine no matter how slow! Working that hard and moving that slow, it really started to get hot and I just couldn't wait for the last 9 miles when we would get to zoom down the highway into St. George and feel the wind again. I did stay on my bike, and boy was that downhill delicious! I was feeling pretty sore, though, and ready to get off my bike!

BIKE TIME: 4:09:08

In T2, I sat there for a little while, feeling so tired and hot and really not wanting to go run a half marathon! It was about 1:00pm by the time I started the run, and of course, the long sleeves had to go now. It was HOT. The run starts out uphill right away. I was only able to get myself going by telling myself that I could walk on the uphills. As long as I was moving forward, that would be ok. So that's what I did.

I pretty much walked the first 2 miles, then we got some really fun downhill! Then more up and more down and so on. It's a really hilly course, and so exposed! There was no shade whatsoever, and you're out there in the red hot desert! Luckily there were aid stations at about every mile, and I just kept myself drenched and ice in my bra and hat. That worked pretty well, and I stopped a couple times for sunscreen.

I asked a volunteer, I think at mile 4, if she had any Ibuprofen (meaning like at the aid station), and she dug in her own purse to get me some! That was so sweet, and really gave me a kick to get going! Then, either at that same aid station or the next one, the song "Shut up and Dance With Me" came on. I was walking so I could drink, and just as it got to the chorus, I came up alongside a guy who was also walking. We both yelled out, "Shut up and Dance With Me!" and I started running! For me, "Shut up and dance with me" became, "Shut up and start running!" Every time I'd want to walk, I would sing that to myself and I would give it a little more. I started running more on the uphills, though not on all of them, but I was determined to run now!

I think it was at about mile 5 or so that I finally saw Chrystel and BJ! I was so happy to see them, I gave them both big, wet hugs and we cheered each other on! It was hard to do the math while running, but I think they were about 3 miles ahead of me. The way the course zig zags and goes out and back up there on the hill, I was able to see them 2 more times! The second time, they told me Pete was at the bottom of the hill, at the half-way point! That was so great to hear, and I was so excited to see him again! He took this picture there, just before I turned around and had to go back up this hill.

I was feeling really happy. Only 6 miles to go. The second half of this half marathon was much better for me. I even pulled off a 9:21 in the last mile. Those last 2 miles are about the same as the St. George Marathon course, and I think the memory of running them strong after 24 miles really helped me be able to keep pushing this time. It was awesome.

Feeling happy when I saw Pete with the finish line in sight!

It was so funny, I saw a guy that I knew from when we lived in St. George at the very end, and he slowed down so I passed him and said, "Come on!" We both ran hard then, and he ended up beating me across the finish line, but that was a fun way to end!

RUN TIME: 2:37:34

I knew it was a hard course, and that it would take me longer than Utah Half, but I really had no idea it would take that long, or be that hard! It was great to have friends waiting for me at the finish line too!!

looking a little beat here...

FINISH TIME: 7:41:09

Woowee, that was a hard course! But the good news was that, since I was so slow, I really wasn't that sore the next day. Win! :)

Havasupai Falls 2015

For our 14th anniversary we went to see the Havasupai waterfalls at the end of March 2014. It was such an amazing experience that I will never forget! And I do hope to go back someday. 

We started out driving from Salt Lake at about 10:00 on Friday morning, and just spent the whole day driving. It was actually really fun with just the two of us. We talked and listened to music and podcasts, including the whole season of Serial. After we got off I-15, everything was new to us, and it was so beautiful! Even when we got into Arizona, I had no idea Arizona looked like that! I always imagined it as barren desert! But there were forests and mountains as well. I love seeing new places so this whole drive was just a treat.

This is just after we got off I-15. New parts of Utah!!

Our route from SLC to Seligman.

We stopped at about the halfway point in Kanab for gas and had to try the famous "ho-made pies" while we were there. Unfortunately, they weren't really worth the hype, and we ended up sitting in there for way too long for just pie and coffee. Luckily we weren't in a hurry, and it was a nice little break. 

We got back in the car and drove to Flagstaff, where we stopped at a BBQ place called Satchmo's for dinner. The food was really good and the place had a cool vibe too. It that made us feel like we could totally live in Flagstaff.

After dinner, we drove for about another hour west to Seligman, which is right on Route 66 and is the town the movie Cars is based on (according to our Hotel owner). There are a buch of old cars made up to look like characters from the movie so first thing in the morning we walked around to get pictures of them for the kids.

Our guide, Chelsea, from Pygmy Guides picked us up in her van at about 8am, along with two other women, a mother and daughter: Marcia and Tracy. They were all really cool and we had a great time spending the next 3 days with them!

We drove for about an hour and a half, out to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. At this trailhead you are able to drive down past the first layer into the canyon, which makes for a  shorter decent into the bottom so that's nice. But the view from the top was still breathtaking!

Our guide had some horses that they packed most of our stuff in on, and also nice backpacks for us to wear and put our day supplies in (basically our swimsuits, sandals, water and snacks). We got started at around 10am.

The hike down was really not bad at all. It's slightly steep for the first mile and a half with switchbacks, but after that it's just a pretty flat walk on dirt and gravel. We stopped every two miles for a short break and at the halfway point for lunch, where Chelsea got out delicious sandwich fixin's and chips for us. Man, it was so luxurious having a guide! It was also SO much easier to hike without kids! It was just a lovely day and the whole walk down was just breathtakingly beautiful! I felt like I couldn't look up enough at the canyon walls that were surrounding us, growing taller and closer as we walked. 

At mile 6 or 7, we reached the water! We changed into our sandals and cooled off a bit. I also dipped my shirt in and put it back on, and that felt really nice since it was getting pretty hot! 

At about mile 8, we got to the village where we went into the little cafe and enjoyed some lemonade, air conditioning and real bathrooms for a few minutes before continuing on.

Chelsea explained that they call these two rocks the mother and father of the village. They look completely different from opposite sides of the village.

After about a mile we got to the first waterfall and I was just blown away. This is technically called Navajo Falls, but Chelsea called it Rock falls because there is another Navajo falls just above it that we got to see the next day, and this is less confusing. As we were passing, we saw a guy getting ready to jump off, so we stopped and watched. I wondered if I would dare do such a thing. 

Words can not describe the beauty.

We walked down a little more before ariving at the most famous of the waterfalls, Havasupai Falls. The blue water here is just amazing. So unreal! 

We continued on a little farther to the campground where there was already a camp set up for us. Again, so luxurious!! It was in a nice spot, right by the blue-green river with the red cliffs towering over us.

This is what my watch said when we got there. So it took us about 6 hours. I don't know if I trust that 12.51 miles, though, everyone knows it's a 10 mile hike.

We dropped our stuff off, changed into our swimsuits and went back up to Havasupai Falls to swim. It was a little chilly since the valley was now in full shade, especially standing in the spray of the falls (as you can tell by my face in this picture)!

The pool at the base of the waterfall is pretty deep so it was fun to swim in, and you could feel the power of the waterfall pushing at you even at the edge. 

After we felt like we had explored that area enough getting pretty cold and excited to get back into dry clothes, we went back to our camp. Chelsea was making fajitas for dinner and it was really good! I felt so spoiled. Our campground was so nice, and these cute little frogs would hop through every once and a while.

The next day we packed some water, snacks and our camera and hiked down to see Moonie Falls. This one is really tall! Almost 100 feet, and it's morbidly named after a miner who tried to rappel down on too short of a rope and ended up falling to his death.

Do we look touristy enough? I'm happy to report that with the hat and longsleeves, I managed to avoid getting burnt the whole trip!

It was a fun adventure getting down there because you have to go through this tunnel that was blasted out of the rock many years ago. Then down some rickety stairs with chains to hold onto. It was all wet and slippery to make it even better! There was a girl (not little - probably collage age) in front of us who was really scared and it took her a while to get down. That made me more nervous for her than climbing down myself. But everyone made it down safely! 

Once we were down there we went on and explored another little break-off canyon called Fern Canyon, I think, if I'm remembering correctly. It was pretty in a different way, with all the green ferns and rocks with tiny waterfalls. It was so peaceful there, I really liked it! 

Then we headed back to the main river where we swam and played around in a section a little ways down from Moonie Falls. There was a smaller waterfall where I was able to swim in place at its base because of how strong the current was. That was fun! I wished I had brought goggles so I could have stay in longer.

We walked back up to the base of Moonie Falls to take more pictures before heading back up the old, rickety ladders. 

Favorite picture of the trip. <3 font="">

We stopped back at camp for lunch and a little break, then walked up to Rock Falls. Pete wanted to jump off this since we had seen that guy do it on the way in. We asked Chelsea if it was ok to jump (deep enough, and we wouldn't get pushed under by the waterfall, i.e. SAFE) and she told us right where to jump from. Again, so nice to have the guide for that! She even took pictures for us!

Here I am getting ready to jump. The photo of me actually jumping didn't come out too well, so you just have to trust me. :)

I can not believe I jumped! And I didn't even stand there deliberating it for too long either. That's the trick to jumping off cliffs, you don't think - just jump!

After jumping off twice, (and skinning my knee on a rock while swimming back the second time) we went up to Navajo Falls (sadly, my camera died just before this!) and just took it all in for a while before heading back to camp for a nice spaghetti dinner.

I slept so good that night, and Chelsea made sure we were up at 5am to eat, pack up and leave by 6am. This was so nice because we were in the shade for most of the hike out. I don't think we were in the sun until the last 2 miles. Of course the last little bit is the hardest and was also the hottest! It was cool watching all the horses run up and down the canyon. 

We got to the top at about noon and had sandwiches at the van before driving back to Seligman. 

What a wonderful trip! I can not wait to go do it again someday!

Pete and I drove to Las Vegas where we stayed at the Red Rock Hotel. We stayed there for 2 nights to relax, go to the spa, and eat some good food before driving back home. I love our little trips! Honestly, anywhere we go together has been so much fun, but Havasupai Falls was extra special and I will never forget it!

2014 St. George Marathon (or The Best Race of My Life!)

I'm having a hard time putting this amazing race experience into words, so I will just start with Thursday night when my leg was still feeling achy and I was icing it while getting laundry folded for the weekend, trying not to worry. I decided I would go to St. George and just see what I could do, but not get my hopes up or stress out about it. It's amazing how thinking that actually WORKED! I felt so relaxed and slept so well Thursday night! They say that's the night to get the best night's sleep so this gave a good confidence boost.

I also bought a big, 3 serving, coconut water on Thursday. I drank one glass of that before bed, then the rest of it during the day on Friday. I had been hydrating really well all week, drinking as much water and Nuun as I could. The coconut water was a new thing to me, but a friend suggested it (swore by it even) so I gave it a try. I don't love the taste, but I managed to drink it all.

My leg felt good Friday so I didn't really have to worry about that as Pete and I traveled down to St. George. We stopped in Cedar City to do some carb loading, which I took VERY seriously...

Also, more water. I actually shared that bread twist with Pete and had a delicious bowl of pasta that I saved half of for after the race.

We we got to St. George, we went strait to the race expo. The parking lot was packed! Once we got inside, it didn't seem very crowded, though, and there was no line to pick up my packet.

When I registered for the race, I paid something like $5 to add an id band so I got that along with my race number and shirt. It is really nice, I was really happy I ordered one! (It's by MyId, here's a cool video they put out) On the inside is just a number that you (or whoever finds you) enter into their website to get your medical/emergency contact information. It's really comfortable and I can totally see myself wearing this anywhere, plus it's got the St. George Marathon logo on there. Pretty cool.

We stayed with some friends in Santa Clara, who were so nice to put us up even though they were just getting back from a trip themselves! Again, I couldn't believe how NOT nervous I was and how well I slept, even though we had to get up at 3:30am! Pete dropped me off at my friend, Chris' hotel room where she gave him the key so he could go in and sleep a little more, which was really nice! We walked down to the huge line of busses together where we met up with another friend of hers before getting on and taking the looooong ride out to the start.

It was pretty cold and windy at the start line, so we spent most of our time hanging out at either the port-o-potties or the bonfires. Chris was the perfect person to hang out with because I feel like we both had the same attitude about this race. We just wanted it to be a party! We both wanted to enjoy it and be able to feel good the whole time and not worry about time. Of course, inside, I wanted a PR, but I wasn't going to hope for it or really even shoot for it - at least not for the first half.

Bonfire party time with 7800 of our best friends!!

Chris was so laid back, and declared that she was going to stay at the bonfire (well, hot coals at this point) until everyone was out of the way, and we also waited until everyone lined up at the start to make our last trip to the port-o-potties. This was such a good plan because the lines were pretty much gone by then. Once it looked like the mass of people was almost past the start, we started to make our way over, which was really nice because we didn't have a huge crowd to fight through or slow us down. Knowing the race was chip timed, we didn't feel a need to start as soon as possible.

I have to say that this was the one point in the day that I felt sad. Dissapointed even. Usually I'm really proud to be part of the running community, and I think for the most part runners are courtious and want to keep nature clean. But, as we walked to the start, the whole area was just strewn with garbage. It was ridiculous. It was like everyone just decided to leave their water bottle and foil blanket and gloves (that they were handing out which was nice!) right where they were standing. Come on guys, you're about to run a marathon, you can't walk your water bottle to the garbage can? We looked over and we saw a group of inmates getting ready to clean up this huge mess and Chris said, "That kind of makes me feel even worse." So yeah, that was sad. I hope no one reading this contributed to that...

Anyway, our plan was to run the first 3 miles (where the aid stations started) nice and easy, then we would start a rutine of running for 6 minutes then walking one. I would stick to that rutine for at least the first half, then if I felt really good, I could speed up. We both wanted to negative split the race, and especially with this race where the uphills are mostly in the first half, that means holding back as much as we could for the first half.

During those first 3 miles, we met this older man who told us that this was his 171st (or something like that) marathon and his 71st St. George Marathon! He was a fun guy to talk to. He also told us that he always picks up coins when he's out running and that he's collected somewhere in the thousands of dollors over the years! Wow! I should start watching for money more! We asked him if he had any advice for us and he said to not go out to hard and not take a popsicle 2 miles from the finish.  We were very careful to follow his advice. :)

Chris had a little app that timed our run/walk intervals and it would talk to us, which was pretty entertaining. It (she) would always say "go... faster" when we'd start running, along with periodic "faster," "slower" or "steady." Whenever it would say "faster," Chris would say, "whatever!" and one time it said that while we were passing some ladies who were like, "Tell your phone to be quiet! Doesn't she know we're on a hill!" It was pretty funny. We really did try to hold ourselves back, and it seems like every mile we'd say, "That was too fast," and kept reminding ourselves to take it easy. Especially on the downhill. Chris had to remind me that I'd have plenty of downhills to go fast on after the halfway point.

Here we are at the town of Veyo where you can see the big hill of the course, winding up to the left in the distance. We decided to walk for 3 minutes instead of 1 while we were on it. But we were ok with that. We were feeling good and wanted to keep it that way!

Here are my splits through the hill: 

1. 10:11

2. 10:01

3. 9:52

4. 9:48

5. 11:59 (bathroom break here)

6. 9:22 (getting a little too excited...)

7. 9:41

8. 12:17 (no shame in slowing waaaaay down for this big hill)

Here I am, victorious at the top of the hill! I was still with Chris and we were still plugging along with our walk/run method. Both of us were feeling good!

This walk/run method really made the miles fly by! I tried to be really good and ate either a honey stinger chew, which has caffeine, or a margarita shot blok, which has salt, every mile. But, honestly, I probably wouldn't have noticed when we finished every mile if it weren't for the mile markers with star balloons tied to them. We passed one aid station where they had cliff bars and I said, "who would want a cliff bar while running?!" Then, at maybe even the next aid station, I heard someone say, "crunchy peanut butter!" and found myself grabbing and eating half of a little cliff bar! Haha, it was really good too! I saved the other half for the next aid station. They had aid stations every 2 miles and port-o-potties every mile so that was really nice.

Here's the view from one of my next walk breaks, probably at around the half-way point, with the volcano coming into view. I said I was hoping to hit half-way at around 2:15ish and we hit it at 2:16 so we were happy with that!

Here we are right next to the volcano at about mile 14 with Snow Canyon coming into view. I was now past the half-way point so I had permission to speed up if I felt like it. Knowing that I wanted to stop at the aid station for the bathroom, feeling really good, seeing this amazing view and feeling the nice downhill, I really DID want to speed up! I pulled ahead of Chris here, but we met back up at the mile 15 aid station just in time for her next run interval. I had a volunteer slather me in sunscreen here, and I also took some Excedrin even though I was feeling really good, with only the bottoms of my feet hurting slightly, I wanted to keep feeling good! I ran with Chris for a minute, but it was another good downhill so I decided to say goodbye and let myself GO!

Here are my splits for miles 9-15:

9. 10:21

10. 10:45

11. 11:53 (this was another pretty good uphill, no big deal, slow and steady)

12. 10:34

13. 10:02

14. 10:06

15. 9:23 

After leaving Chris, I put my music in and just had a blast! I decided to keep making myself walk every mile, though I didn't time it anymore. I would either take water at the aid stations or check my phone on the even numbers, then start running again as soon as I was done. At mile 16, I sent out texts to Pete, Katie and Shannon telling them that I was feeling GOOD!

I could not believe how good I felt! It was fun waiting until the end, when I was ready to push it, to turn on my music. It really helped me speed up and keep motivated. I remember at one point Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons (my favorite band!) came on and they say, "Weep for yourself, my man, You'll never be what is in your heart," and I thought, "Yes I will!" Then they say, "Weep Little Lion Man, You're not as brave as you were at the start," And I thought, "Yes I AM!" :) 

Let's call these the "Party Miles":

16. 9:57
17. 9:10
18. 10:15
19. 10:00
20. 9:17

I really felt so good, and the miles just kept ticking off. I was kind of waiting for the pain to come and to hit the wall, but it never really happened. I felt like I had to start focusing a little more as the time went, but nothing hurt too badly and I kept feeling happy and good. It was awesome to have so many people out cheering this time! When I ran this last time, no one really came out onto the course to cheer because of the pouring rain and I couldn't even see the scenery because it was so gray. It was all so lonely and miserable. Not this time! I also really enjoyed all the signs placed along the course. I felt really supported! I just kept wanting to look at everyone around me and yell, "This is so FUN!" I also thanked the volunteers profusely at every aid station.

I usually don't like to spend money on race pictures, but I feel like this one totally captured how I felt the whole time. I'm not sure exactly when this picture was taken, I'm guessing at mile 22 by the looks of the scenery. 

Feeling good and smiling at mile 22? What the what?!

Here are my splits for the last 6 miles - the 6 miles that I had to walk last time, that I was determined to run and enjoy this time! To be fair, 21-25 are really downhill, but I was glad I wasn't hurting too much to enjoy that, and I had a blast running down them!

21. 9:06
22. 9:39
23. 9:18
24. 9:29
25. 10:06
26. 10:11

There were a couple times, I think when I hit mile 20, and again when I hit 23 (maybe because it's easy to do the math from there) when I realized that I might be able to finish 4:30, or even go under that! I would get emotional and start to have a hard time breathing when I'd think this so I'd have to make myself relax and focus on breathing for a minute, then I'd be ok.

I was so happy that I was able to keep my pace up! Even after it flattened out for the last 2 miles, I still felt really good and like nothing was going to stop me from moving forward and hitting that 4:30!! I was Pete a few blocks from the finish line cheering for me and I was so happy that I was running strong and able to smile at him and raise my hands in the air. He ran along with me and cheered for me at a couple more spots, but I had my eye on the prize and didn't even let myself slow down! I crossed the finish line then hit stop on my watch and just could NOT believe that I saw 4:24:40!! I had started my watch a little late so I knew that wasn't exact, but I was SO happy.

Pete had been getting text updates for me and it's pretty cool to see them and watch my pace and projected time speed up!

So he knew my chip time as soon as I finished (I was about 15 minutes behind the clock) and he sent me a text that said, "4:25:30!"

I was practically in shock! :) That's a 55 minute PR for me! Unbelievable!

Chris came in about 10 minutes after me so we were both really happy and feeling great!!

It seems like we both started to feel the soreness at about the same time as we were walking to the car too! Haha I was so sore for the next few days, but it was totally worth it! I am still floating on Cloud Nine. What a perfect day. :)

Thinking back on this race, I'm so proud of how well we stuck to our plan. We wanted to take it super easy at the start, negative split the first and second halves (which I've never done), and we wanted to feel good at the end. We more than accomplished those goals!

At the start, Chris was saying how she thought she could do 4:45 if it was a good day, and I thought, "Well, she'll finish before me then." I was still just hoping to finish in under 5 hours. We hit the halfway point at 2:16 which is funny because I was kind of basing the first half on The Striders Half that I did this spring where I took it really easy and finished in 2:18. Then, I based the second half on The SLC Half that I did 2 weeks later and pushed really hard, finishing in 2:08. My finish time here was just a little faster than those two halves put together! I kind of feel like those halves are what gave me the confidence to do this race, and now I realize that they gave me so much more than that. I feel like I'm a different person than the person who ran this marathon 6 years ago. I have so much more running experience, and I also feel like I'm tougher mentally - which is a big part of the marathon - and much more confident.

Another thing that I think affected how good I felt was how rested I was. I was worried about hardly running for the 2 months leading up to this marathon, but I think I must have hit the sweet spot between getting enough miles in and good recovery!

I'm sure being really hydrated going in and fueling really well during the race helped a lot too.

Basically everything really came together for me on this race and I'm just so happy. I thought that if I had the marathon I wanted this time, I would be able to say I'm done with them. But I really don't think that's true. Now I can't wait for my next one!!

Pete and I decided to drive home that night, and look at the beautiful view we got on the drive home. Southern Utah is just stunning.

It was a tough drive home. I was so tired! But it was worth it. It was so nice to be able to sleep in and relax while the kids were at my dad's then go out to Sunday Brunch to celebrate!