Over the past few years, the Mt. Nebo Half Marathon has become one of my favorites. The steep downhill and serious elevation drop makes it fast and fun to run. But more than that, the entire course beautiful and is filled with so many good memories. Growing up in the area, Payson Canyon was one of our favorite places to hang out and explore so it's a perfect course for me. Most years Tim has run with me, and several other friends and family have joined us, but not this year. Jarin was planning to run the full marathon, but it was just me for the half. This year I considered not signing up because I knew I would be going alone, but then I decided to be a big girl and go to the race solo. It turned out to not really be a big deal - I made friends with a woman on the bus and then spent the time pre-race just thinking about the race and getting ready.
It felt cheesy, but I had to take a picture to prove that I was there.
The morning started extremely early,
But we were rewarded with this incredible sunrise
The race starts off super fast and I really worked to not stretch out my stride too much or overdo it on the first several miles. I kept an eye on my heart rate and tried to settle in to a good rhythm with a quick foot turnover. I felt surprisingly good and I just kept trying to concentrate on my mantras of "run happy" and "find your strong". The race actually went by surprisingly fast and suddenly I was at the base of the canyon where the hills and shade end and the course gets hard. I was really happy with my mental game at that point - I didn't get discouraged by the change in my pace and instead just tried to focus on pushing where I could and remembering how lucky I was to be able to run.
As I got to the finishing stretch, I was so excited to see Tim, Luke and Ruby - they gave me the extra kick to finish strong. Because I run based on heart rate, I had a good idea of my pace, but really wasn't sure of my final time. When I looked down at my watch I was thrilled...I had cut over 6 minutes off of my time from last year, and ran a 2:00 half marathon. This was a huge PR post pregnancy, surgery, etc. and I was happy to have my training pay off.
I am so lucky to have such a great support team.
After my race, we all hung out at the part for awhile to wait for Jarin to finish the full marathon. It got hot really quickly and I worried about the people who had to go double the distance. My dad rode his bike out to find Jarin and once I knew he was close, I walked back about a mile until I found them and joined the party. With a mile left Jarin was struggling with leg cramps, but overall looked great and was on pace of where he had expected to be. He let my dad and I jump in and pace him to the finish line which was so great. I love being part of the marathon experience and even better when I get to run with my brother. Jarin had a great finish, complete with silly string, and just like that, he hit the milestone of finishing his Tenth marathon. It turned out to be a fantastic day for all of us.
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