If you would like to read an emotional long story about me completing my race, this is it 😂
You can do hard things.
When we moved to Coral Pink Sand dunes I knew I would need a big goal. Living out in the middle of nowhere, being a young isolated mother of 2 small children, having a hard-working husband meant I needed something for me to do for me. Being a mother is my greatest joy but also being a stay at home mom is no easy feat 🙂♥️
But even before that. Years ago when I had just had baby #2 I had talked to my husband about completing a Half Marathon being on my bucket list. So right after I had Corbin, the nurse asks me what my goal for the day was ( like walking down the hall ) and Pat says, she wants to run a half marathon 😂
Back up several more years. I received a degree in Exercise science but have had numerous knee issues through the past decade. Including completely dislocating my right knee while home alone and having to grab it and pop it back into place. I had to go to physical therapy for a year at least. We lived at the bottom of a huge hill and I had to walk to campus 3+ times and back a day and coming downhill was excruciating. But I learned and was diligent at trying everything I could to recover.
Back up to when I was about 8 or 9. I got a bad case of nokrotic (sp?) phneumonia, the Dr's had not seen this type in 50 years. My lungs were weak. As part of recovery I had to blow a ball up a tube, I could not do it, and it took soooo long to be able to do that. I remember going swimming later the summer after that, and realizing how weak my lungs had become afterwards as part of that and it was startling to me how much I could tell had been weakened.
Back up to when I came into this world. I was born at 28 weeks old. My lungs were not even developed fully yet. Thank goodness for modern technology and miracles, or I wouldn't even be here . I fought hard to come into this world. My body has been hard fought for. My health has been hard fought for. I was told a blesssing several years ago, through the Priesthood that if I nurture my spirit and take care of my spirit, my spirit will fight for my body. That was a really neat blessing and I have seen that come true.
When I was little they thought I had asthma for awhile cuz I would always cough a lot after physical exertion. Again, thankfully I do not have asthma. But I remember those coughing fits.
Fast forward to having baby #1 and feeling super weak and our of shape. I worked hard to be a good mom but also stay healthy. I felt amazing around a year post partum I felt in the best shape of my life. One month later we found out I was pregnant again!
Again after having our precious boy, which was a way hard labor and delivery, I now was a proud momma of 2 and more sleep deprived and out of shape feeling again than ever.
It's good to have goals. They keep us going. They make us stronger .They let us dream.
Also throw in several IT band injuries and knee pains throughout the last several years, including IT band syndrome flaring up 5 weeks out from my race day.
So today I am just GRATEFUL! ♥️ A Half Marathon might not be a big deal to some people. But it is to me. I have also never been a runner. It has always been a struggle to run for me. I am not fast. But I can do hard things. 🙂 So forgive me if I toot my own horn for the next little while and bask in this moment of accomplishment. I definitely didn't do it by myself, but I put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it . 😀 Celebrate every small success and enjoy life fully. Enjoy your health. Be proud of your accomplishments. Don't take anything for granted and work hard and dream ♥️
But I also have to say real fast how grateful I am for my sweet supportive husband and family and anyone who has helped me in anyway achieve this goal It is so so so appreciated ♥️
So I drove into Virgin which is a little over an hour away from us Friday evening to pick up my race packet. It was a beautiful evening! I met another girl who was racing for her first time at this distance too and we exchanged numbers so we could meet at the beginning of the race. It is always nice to have a race buddy to at least start with.
Then I drove to St George where my sister and her husband were going to stay at a hotel and let me stay so I didn't have to drive so far in the morning. They surprised me by coming down I had no idea they were going to. It was so sweet.
I got there a couple hours before them and soaked in the hot tub for 5 min before it closed 😂 but then took a hot bath in my hotel room cuz I havent had a bath in forever cuz #momlife. And I thought it would help me relax and get some sleep that night. It took me forever to fall asleep but I finally did just after midnight.
I woke up at 5 to get ready and eat and drink a lot and stretch and foam roll. Then I had a 35 min drive to the race. It was a little chilly but there was a nice fire by the start line. I met my race buddy Emily and we got ready to start! It started at 7am. We started out together but she pulled ahead of me when I took my phone out to take a couple of pictures.
I warmed up fast and was way glad I didn't bring a jacket or anything. I saw tons of runners taking off jackets and long pants and having to carry them the whole rest of the race. The first 3 miles went by in a blur. The energy was great and everything was so so pretty! The first aid station was around 3.1 miles and I stopped and grabbed an energy gel and some water. I snapped a picture and kept going. My legs were feeling pretty good and it was all on a nice two track four wheeler trail. It was perfect. There were some hills and I did walk up most of those. I felt great and the sunrise was gorgeous. I got into a good rythmn til mile 8.7 where there was another aid station. I stopped for a couple pictures on the way but not a ton. At the aid station I actually waited in a line to go the bathroom. It was way longer than I thought it would be and I was there for 5-10 minutes. If I would have know it would be so long I would have just kept running. I filled up my water bottles and headed out again!
From here the trail went onto a single track that was also a popular mountain biking trail. This one was much harder on my knees which were starting to feel fatigued. The route had almost 1000 ft elevation gain which wasn't too bad. But my knees felt ALL the downhill. Most people are faster downhill but I'm slower cuz it is hard on my knees. Anyone who has had IT band pain I think can relate to that too.
This part also went right next to the Virgin river River and was super close to an edge which dropped off down to the river a ways below. There were some very narrow parts that if you tripped you would be in bad shape. I walked the narrowest parts but jogged pretty much the whole way here. I wish I would have taken pictures of this area, but I was concentrating on not dying haha!
There were only 2 bikers I passed on this trail, I felt bad for them cuz they were walking their bikes cuz all the runners, but they were super nice about it.
Also there was one spot before this that I was all by myself for a bit and I had the split second thought of " oh no am I in last place? " Lol but thankfully I was not at all!
Around mile 12 my legs were just tired. We crossed bridge and went onto a dirt road . I walked probably between 1/4 mile-1/2 mile here. Then we came along the highway. I started jogging again but I was pretty slow by now. Then I heard a car start honking and it was Pat and the kids driving by. They pulled off the road to say hi to me, it was so sweet and gave me an extra little push. I downed another energy gel and they went ahead to the finish to wait for me. This trail half actually was longer. The official race map said it was 14.5 miles but my watch didn't say it was quite that long. I loved Everytime my watch beeped and told me I had gone another mile. I had to walk one more time before the finish. But then when I knew it was getting closer I ran strong to the beautiful finish line! I said hi to Pat and the kids one more time right before crossing. I DID IT! I was so so so happy and thrilled! I actually did it faster then I thought I would too. I got to choose a medal or a mug and I chose the medal. It was so pretty. And I was like I want that around my neck right now. It just made me feel even more accomplished haha. Pat and the kiddos were so cute and Brylianna was so adorable saying go mommy go! It was the absolute best having them there at the finish. ♥️ Best feeling ever! ♥️ Love them!
I saw Emily and we chatted a bit about the race.
Paige and Jamie came too and made adorable matching shirts to cheer me on. They were so awesome. Then we hung out at the park and I got a free pizza and the kids played. Another guy who raced came up to me and said hey I saw you around mile 6 and then you just took off, good job you did awesome! And I thought that was really sweet of him to say. Everyone there was so nice and it was a very well organized race.
We waited for my brother in law who was doing the 100 mile race!
But then we came back and celebrated and had cake and got to ride around the sand dunes. It was an awesome day! 🏅
Q
