Race Report

A little over a month ago I decided to give up running.....for good.  I was out on a long run and was struggling physically and mentally.  In the past four years I have had two kids and two separate surgeries and am feeling every one of my forty four years.  Running have become hard and the "highs" are much less common.  So, feeling very discouraged, and just ready to be done, I texted Tim that I was finished with running.  I must have sounded convincing because he immediately offered to come pick me up.  I told him that I could make it home and gradually shuffled, cried, and whined my way home.  For a few days I really thought that I could leave the running behind, but it is too much a part of me and I knew how awful I would feel if I just quit.  So.....a few days later I laced up my shoes and headed out the door.  I made sure that I was better rested and hydrated, and little by little it started to feel a little bit better.

HOBBLE CREEK HALF MARATHON

Hobble Creek Half Marathon was the first half marathon that I ever ran and has become a yearly tradition.  This year I seriously questioned whether or not I was ready, but decided that I would go and race without expectations and try to find some of my former love of racing.  Race day morning I met Jess at the park and we jumped on a bus to head up the canyon.  She let me jump on her mantra bandwagon and decided to run with dual thoughts of "Run Happy" and "Find Your Strong".  The race started and I of course got caught up in the hype and speed and quickly found myself running way too quickly for what I could sustain.  My new Garmin has a wrist heart rate monitor and I decided to switch to the heart rate mode and focus on staying in the proper zone and ignore my speed.  I have never run that way, but ended up running based on my heart rate for the entire race and completely loved it.  The heart rate focus allowed me to run much more consistently and I felt so much better physically and mentally.  The miles seriously flew by and suddenly the race was over, and I still felt pretty good.  I ended up finishing at about 2:12 overall.  At one point in my running history that would have seemed very slow to me, but was actually about 15 minutes faster than I had expected to finish. More than the actual pace, I was thrilled with the improvement in my mental game...I truly ran happy and rediscovered so many of the reasons that I fell in love with running.

Ready to roll...

I can't even express how happy it makes me

To have this girl back in my life!

We didn't know my mom was coming...

Her love and support is truly never-ending

This crew surprised me at the finish.

The love of Tim and these babies

Reminds me that I am so much more than a runner

MT NEBO HALF MARATHON

Fast forward two weeks to the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon and I had fallen apart physically.  I hurt my back the week before and spent the week limping and unable to stand up straight.  After a few visits to the chiropractor, and a very long massage, I was able to make it to the starting line, but really questioned whether I would even be able to finish.  After such a great race at Hobble Creek, I was a little disappointed to think that I wouldn't be able to really run my best, but decided to one again just focus on running happy, and be grateful that I could still run at all.  After my last success, I set my watch to heart rate mode and started out at the back of the pack.  I watched my pace carefully and really tried to be conservative, but little by little I started passing people.  My back had a few little twinges, but overall stayed loose and allowed me to run.  By the last few miles when the course flattens out, I was feeling much more worn out physically, but once again, my mental game stayed strong. This course is really downhill which makes for super fast times, but I was shocked when I stopped my watch and it read 2:04.  Running has been such a big part of my life for so long and it make me happy that it will continue to be for a long time. 

We look pretty calm despite the pre-race jitters

Honestly, the best finish line moment!

Running Crew

Jarin showed us all up and ran the full marathon

He trained hard and ran harder, great job on a PR

Cutest girl with a new PR

Race day reminder.

Best fan club ever. 

By this time we were both way too tired!

 Best motivation for finishing.

I feel really bad that I didn't get a picture o my parents since they totally made this race day possible. My sweet mom slept at our house and then had the kids up early and at the finish line.  My dad chased the kids around and kept them entertained for what must have seemed like hours when you are so small.