Friday night after work Brenna and I had planned to meet up at my mom's and stay the night there. My mom lives about 10 minutes from the AF high school (where we had to catch the buses). I picked her up and she went with me to get my packet (she'd gotten hers about an hour earlier). There wasn't too much in the bag which kind of made me sad but I realize all the money goes to help those that can't afford cancer treatments and appointments so I can see why we don't have much. I mean we got a shirt and the medals we got at the finish line were pretty nice. So anyway, we hung out for awhile then my mom came back and we hung out talking to her until about 9:30. Then it was time for bed. We had to get up at 3:45 to get to the buses. We didn't want to be first there but didn't want to be last (the last bus took off at 4:45am). I ended up falling asleep fast and sleeping so much better than I ever thought I would.
The next morning we got there in more than enough time but the lines were HUGE! Actually when we got up to start of the race there were tons of people up there already and more kept coming. There were people everywhere! 2500 to be exact. In one, not so large, parking lot. Brenna and I use the port a potties and then walked around trying to stay warm. It was kind of chilly; probably in the mid 50's. Some people had blankets that they were putting in their bags to be taken back down the canyon. Finally it was time to start. Crazy thing was there were so many people it took us 3 1/2 minutes to get over the actual starting line once it started because of all the people. Even as we ran we both felt like we were elbowing people left and right as we ran. It never really thinned out until the last couple blocks. It was amazing. I've never done any type of race that had that many people in it.
So my foot...it actually felt amazing until about mile 7. Then i started feeling these twinges on the side of my foot. After about a mile my whole foot hurt. At mile 9 I stopped and walked for a minute (while I drank some water and chomped down a few bits of an energy bar). It actually started feeling worse when I was walking so I ran again. I stopped and walked a couple more times but not for very long each time. I probably walked about a half mile all together. Not too bad I'd say for being "lame."
Also I had no music. NONE! Can you believe my MP3 died at the very beginning?! It had been acting weird for awhile and lately had only been playing for about 2 hrs and then shutting off. So I waited for a couple miles to go by before I turned it on. Halfway through the first song it turned off. I just looked at it like I didn't understand what it had just done. How in the world was I going to run 11 more miles without music? I could enjoy nature...I could talk to others around me...I could listen to myself breathe...nothing really sounded that great to me. I was so ticked. To be honest it really didn't bother me that much until about mile 11. I would have given anything for music those last couple miles. I didn't realize how much it helps push me. How it helps me go that extra amount i don't want to go. I will need to get something a little more reliable before I do any kind of race again.
Brenna had told me she was going to stay with me the whole race. She'd run a great practice run with Bryce the week before and said she knew what she could do. I told her I didn't want her to. That I wanted her to see what she could do in her first half. She said she'd feel bad if she left me because of my hurt foot. I told her I'd feel bad if she held back for me. We decided we'd play it by ear. During the race at mile 5 I talked her into going on her own. I was glad. I knew I'd held her back some for a few of those miles (all the people held her back for others) but I knew if she took off then she'd still get a pretty good time. Which she did.
So there I was running 13.1 miles with a hurt foot, by myself, with no music. I did fairly well at pushing myself until I saw the 12 mile mark sign. At that point I just wanted to cry. I still had 1.1 miles to go and I was exhausted. I started walking. Just then I heard "SISTER TOEWS!!" It was one of Dallin's friends that I'd met many times and even saw at my last half (he ran it too). He was so excited to see me and I was happy to have something to make me forgot how miserable i felt. He told me he'd been watching for me all morning, that Dallin told him I was running the race. I told him about my music issue so he ran next to me being my beat box. It was a little annoying but also funny. It gave me that extra energy I needed.
He stopped after a few feet and went back to his post. I stopped, got a drink at the last water station and took up. I didn't stop the rest of the way. Coming around the last curve I heard my name being yelled. It was my mom, Brooke, my niece Emma and Brenna. She'd finished and come back to yell for me. I gave her a high 5 as I ran by and kept going. My end time was 2:20 and something seconds. A couple minutes slower than my first half marathon but with the no music and my foot I was more than OK with the time. Brenna came in at 2:04 and something seconds. I am so stinkin proud of her. She was awesome. And I know she can probably even do better next time. We had a great time.
Funny thing is...she's already talking about her next half marathon (I've bowed out but said I'd come watch her finish) and we were talking last night about next year_which one we wanted to do. There's one in Vernal at the beginning of May. The medal is in the shape of a dinosaur. :-) I love that she's so excited about racing now. It's nice to have someone else to talk about it with.
My foot...it hurt really bad this morning (almost needed crutches) but is feeling better at the moment. Tomorrow will be my first trip to the gym in a week and a half. I'm a little scared. I'm going to have to take it easy. No running. Maybe some rowing. Definitely some sit ups and push ups. I can totally tell it's been a while since I've done crossfit. Dang it. It sure doesn't take long!
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