The weather last Saturday was beautiful. I really couldn't have asked for it to be any better.
In Ogden Canyon it framed the lake and the surrounding mountains with the feel of summer; yet the chill of the air and one glance at Snowbasin, with its runs still blanketed in snow and I was reminded that spring had only just made her debut. Still those subtle reminders couldn't keep me from recalling all the good times in summers past that I've spent in that same canyon. From night hiking & fishing at Causey, to waterskiing on Pineview Reservoir with the Young Men and Young Women, to sluffing school to lay out at Cemetery Point trying to bronze myself into looking like the Hawaiian Tropic model, only to end up looking like a lobster. They were good times. Really good times; all of them, but that day they were distracting me from the task at hand- creating another memorable time.
One that I hoped would be under 2 hours.
So with memories set aside, I got back to work on completing my first half marathon.
And never has 'work' been more awesome until I reached the point where the 5K portion of race starts and this happened...
I ran the 5K last year so I knew when I had arrived towards the last part of the course. I figured that I just got excited that there were only 3 miles left and..... tripped. As I fell I tried to save my legs because I needed them to take me to the finish line, so I caught myself with my hands, then my elbow, then rolled to my left side, and landed on my hip.
My legs were unscathed, so I kept going.
The funniest part is that I didn't care that my elbow and knuckles were bleeding, that my hands were hashed, that my hip would have a bruise the size of a softball on it, or that I took a not-so-little roll on the pavement in front of about 75 people (okay, that one bothered me a little), what I cared about was that it all cost me seconds on the clock.
Seconds to get off the ground.
Seconds to assess myself and my injuries.
Seconds to get back up to my pace.
And even more seconds when a half a mile later I almost did it again before discovering my tripping culprit- my blasted untied shoelace.
That meant more seconds to finish untying and then retying the darn thing and more seconds to get up to pace again.
Ugh!
Luckily, I still made it to the finish line in less than 2 hours. My official finishing time ended up being 1:59:02.
I was thrilled!
I managed to make another memorable time...despite seconds lost.
Family Finishers
Natalie- 1:59:02, my SIL, Shaleece- 1:57:00, my brother, Dan- 1:51:08, my brother Nate, 2:12:55
This was the first time running a half marathon for Dan, Nathan & me.
My time on my running watch. Check out my distance in the right hand corner. I went over a half a mile more than the 13.15 miles of the course. I guess I need to learn to run and stay in a straight line.
Things I don't want to forget:
*My mom was there to cheer us on and see us at the finish line.
*Richard had all 4 kids up, dressed, and there to meet me at the finish line.
*My brother Nate, who trained only about once a week and only got up to a maximum mileage of 7 miles on a treadmill came in only 13 almost 14 minutes behind me. He sucks, but I still love him
*The man along the course with the sprinkler and the other spectators that blew bubbles for us to chase.
*The site of clothes flying off up into the air and off to the side of the road as everyone started to heat up and shed their long sleeves as we climbed the one and only hill.
* That I came into the finish line listening to "Wonderful" by Gary Go. Not exactly the heart pounding, adrenaline pumping music I had planned on, but I found it very fitting so it became just what I needed to carry me across.
*And most of all, the tributes to little Ethan Stacy, who lost his life by the hands of his stepfather and whose mother tried to cover it up by burying his body in a unmarked grave at Powder Mountain just north of our start line. On Saturday, I think we all ran for Ethan. I know a part of me did.
