kbn: half marathon recap

i woke up at 4:00 am, ate rice mashed with bananas and agave nectar {weird, but good, and agrees with my belly}, a piece of toast with almond butter and drank a big glass of water and a coffee. i went back to bed for about an hour and a half, though i couldn't sleep because i was getting nervous. i got back up, got dressed, stretched, and waited for husband to wake up and drive me to the race start at 6:30.

i found a friend at the start. hi kelsey!

we luckily found an open building while we jogged to the start to stop in for a toilet break. good thing, because the lines for the porta-potty's were ridiculous! she was planning on finishing in about 1:30 and i figured i would come in about and hour after that, so i made my way to the middle of the masses and she made her way to the front.

the weather was perfect! flowers blooming, blue skies, about 55 F at the start. i was feeling great and found a pacer that was doing a 9:55 minute mile, planning on finishing in 2:10. i started running along side him and felt like i could keep that pace. the first 10 miles, i felt great. my legs started getting tired as we were running out of sugarhouse park, but a girl named grace, who also had an injured leg, was encouraging me to keep going... thanks grace!

i was way ahead of my planned pace and looked for my husband along the way, but figured he might not be expecting me to come in to the finish when i did. the uphill along state street was brutal! it seemed a lot steeper than it was, and my pace really slowed down at that point. i turned the left at the top of the hill and saw the finish in the distance, i knew at that point that i did it, and slowly enjoyed my last bit of the run into the finish. the salt lake city half marathon was organized so well, lots of support, and a band playing at the finish. it took a while for me to find husband, but i was enjoying the warm weather and atmosphere while i waited. i did it in 2:12, not the fasted, but faster than i expected.

happy first half marathon to me!!

after the finish, we headed up to park city. it was husband's turn to race! some friends of ours organized a training bike race, and kelsey and i got to be the support.

here is the group at the montage at deer valley.