Half Marathon, Baby!

Prep-time

   After I had Ell-Bell, I knew I needed a fitness goal to keep me motivated. So when my sister suggested signing up for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon, I jumped on board. What made it even more fun was that my best friend, Karlee and my little brother, Forrest (I know, I know. "Run, Forrest, Run!") signed up too.
   At numerous points throughout my training I wondered what the heck I was thinking. I hadn't ever run more than 6 miles at once, and that was two years before at the Spudman Tri in Idaho (I just did the 10K). But I did remember that amazing feeling of accomplishment that burned in my chest when family and strangers cheered me on as I crossed my first finish.
   The training was really tough at times—physically because I was running on the all-too-frequent sleepless nights that come with new-momdom and mentally because 13.2 miles just seemed so long and at times I didn't even know why I wanted to run that far.
   But I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it—despite sleeplessness. Despite the frequent lack of motivation. Despite never having run even half as far as I would on the race day.

Race Day

   The night before the race, we enjoyed a carb-a-licious pasta dinner (Pasta Carbonara). Karlee came over to spend the night, and we spent some time talking excitedly about the day ahead and not so excitedly about the impending early wake-up. We charged our ipods, put our race clothes and food in neat little piles and said good night.
   I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep until 3:45, so 4:30 a.m. came much too soon. But luckily I had already mentally prepared myself for racing after a sleepless night, so I got out of bed and got ready. We picked up Rachel and Forrest on the way and despite a minor setback due to a forgotten ID (I won't name any names, Rachel) we were on our way.

Car pic + 5 am = flattering photo. I think not.

   Once at Mapleton Park, we got our race packs and loaded onto a bus, which stopped in the middle of the canyon for about 20 minutes for an unknown reason. Kind of annoying. But finally, we made it to the top and got into the race line-up. It was freezing, so we were jumping up and down and chattering our teeth. Right before the start some guy told me "It looks like you're packin' a biscuit!" He was referring to the bulging "tail" I had due to the race gummies, GU, headphones and ipod that were stuffed into the little pocket on the back of my shorts. Kind of funny looking. Karlee had the same thing going on, so we officially named ourselves "Team Biscuit" and hit the road.

   It was so pretty to run down the canyon and I loved running with a herd of almost 2,000 fellow race-lovers. There is something so motivating about getting cheered on by kind strangers as you pound the pavement toward the finish. Because of that, I didn't even need to touch my music. Rachel kind of sees music as the epidural of races anyway, so I felt a little more hardcore going without it.

High-five from Rachel right after I finished. You can spot the "biscuit" in all it's glory.
Minus these yummy gummies I ate on the road.

   When I saw the "Mile 12" sign, I got a new burst of energy. I couldn't believe we only had one mile left. There were tons of people cheering us on during that whole last mile. I picked up my pace and once I saw the finish line, started semi-sprinting. I saw 1:54 on the timer when I finished and was so happy to have met my goal of finishing in under two hours. My pace was 8:42 and I finished as number 467 out of 1150 runners.  

It made all the difference to train and race with a good friend. She was a huge motivator! Love ya, Karls.

Forrest, Rachel and I post-race. Don't we look alike?

I especially love this man, who trained with me, helped a LOT with Ellie and cheered me on all along the way. I don't know how I got so lucky.

Afterthoughts

   As cheesy as it sounds, finishing your first half marathon can be life-changing. It was for me, anyway. It reminded me that I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, no matter how difficult it seems. The hardest part was not the race itself, but the months of preparation to get there. I'm convinced that racing, and achieving pretty much anything in life takes more mental than physical strength.   

 did it, and I can't wait to do it again! 

I followed my own combo of these two training schedules and they worked great for me:

http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm (Thanks Kim E.!)

http://www.marathonrookie.com/half-marathon-training.html (Thanks Dayna!)

Last but not least, some snaphots by Karlee of our babies. She did them a favor by getting a jump start on their wedding photos. Thanks Karlee!