The Hobble Creek 1/2 marathon and why I love/hate running

Bridal Veil Falls the afternoon after the race.

Izzy playing in the water at the falls

My boys, they also have a love/hate relationship

We always tell the boys that their is a troll under bridges and so as we crossed this bridge to get to the falls, Soyer yelled "MOM! ITS THE TROLL!!!"

My tired blistered feet after the race, it felt GREAT to soak them in that ice cold water at the falls.

Me , im not sure when this was, if its right before the finish or right after

This one is me definitely tired and done.

Me and my kids celebrating after and chilling on the grass. {So I got my eyebrows waxed and dyed and the lady went too dark. My kids call them my "mean eyes"}

Me and my mean eyes

It was 5:15 a.m. when I arrived at the bus stop and still dark. I got on the bus with all of the other runners and waited with anticipation to get to the top where I would jump in line immediately for the porta potty and have plenty of time to spare to gather my thoughts. I was nervous bc I've never done this alone. Ive always had a partner in crime with me. It was interesting. Intresting bc I could hear all the chatter of the other runners and I realized they all had the exact same thoughts and feelings that I had. Usually when im with another person, we share our thoughts with each other but we for some reason I think that we are the only ones that feel that way. That every other runner there is far more advanced and is probably barely nervous. You assume that they have all done this a million times and are pro's. We finally arrived at the top where we would be dropped off and then we were to walk 3/4 of a mile to the start line. The sun was just barely starting to show itself and I walked fast up the hill. I thought to myself, "if this were a walking fast race, I would for sure win." But as I passed all the other runners in groups of 2 or more, I listened to the chatter. "I barely got any sleep last night." or "I hope I dont have to pee during the race." Or "When are you going to take your first gu?" I heard things like "I ran the provo river 1/2 two weeks ago and got my PR so this one im just going to try and relax." Or "im so nervous, I feel sick..." But my favorite thing I heard, and Im not sure if I thought it first or if I heard someone else say it was "I cant believe im doing this by choice..." I smiled to myself as I passed each group of people, I realized that they are all exactly like me.. That for some crazy reason, we all decided by our own free will and choice to not only train for months but to wake up at 4:30 in the morning, leaving our families snuggled up cozy in their beds and go out into the dark, cool, morning and run 13.1 miles....Why on earth would anyone do that??! I will tell you why... its the emotions of strength, failure, laughter, tears, pain, peace, exhiliration, beauty, clarity, frustration, alone time, weakness, freedom, the feeling of wanting to quit but persevering through it anyway, the true test of yourself, the knowlege of your own body and mind and spirit, All those reasons and more are why each one of us chose to get up morning after morning and just run. And so when its all said and done, you take what you learned, you try to improve and you get yourself out and do it all over again because nothing in the world compares to it. I truly Love/Hate it.

Provo River 1/2 Marathon!

Gretchen bought and made us capes because she said we are superheroes for running a 1/2 marathon! We wanted to run in them but when we practiced around the room, we realized they choked us. But we wore them to dinner and around Provo!! Are'nt they awesome!

Dinner in our capes.

I tend to get a little nervous before a race which causes stomache issues, I promise I didnt stink, but Gretchen wanted to make fun of me anyway. {im holding and testing the alarm, we didnt want to have a Seinfeld episode happen to us}

What would a girls night out be without a little avocado mask action?

Erin showing us her pretty face.

Right after the race in our cool capes!

Me at the finish, really happy to be done.

Erin finishing her first 1/2 marathon!! Woo Woo!!!

Becca finishing her first 1/2 marathon also!!! PARTY!!

And then theres this guy.... how cool is he?!!! I love it.

Erin and I decided to do the Provo River 1/2 marathon about 5 months ago, and about 2 months ago we talked Becca into doing it with us. Becca is Gretchens sis-in-law for those of you who dont know that. BUT Becca is one of us. She is now considered a "White." I love that girl. Troy would disagree since the whole time we were training, he would say to me "team Thompson." I tried to explain to him that Becca is no more his sister in law than I am, but bc she carries the Thompson name for some reason she is way cooler in Troy's eyes and he was routing for her to beat me and Erin all along. Which by the way, Erin and I both knew that was'nt going to be hard to do. So because Becca was coming along for the party, Gretchen decided she need to come too and be our moral support. The four of us got a hotel room in Provo on friday night and made a party out of it!

In this months runners world magazine, there is an article about the kinds of things that people put on their shirts to "announce" who they are. There are some that say "I will run for beer" or "On the 7th day, God ran an easy three" or "I run like a girl, try to keep up" But the one that summed up my feelings on this particular race was "This seemed like a good idea 3 months ago."

I will explain. You see it is alot of work to train for one of these. Not only physically but mentally as well. You see alot of early mornings and you go to bed at the first sign of dark some nights. You have to watch everything you eat bc everything you put in your body affects your progress or lack thereof the next day. You need to be constantly telling yourself that you can do this, that youve got it, its not a big deal. But deep down, it is a big deal. Its pretty much all you think about. I wanted to beat my last years time of 2:16 and I thought for sure that it would be NO problem. That not only would I beat it, but that I would kick its arse so to speak. Well, that didnt happen. At about mile 6, I got a stomache ache and had to stop for a minute bc I thought for sure I was about to puke. I walked it off for awhile and then started up again. I just kept telling myself that I could do this! So I carried on, I had already lost Erin bc I had to pee in the bushes at mile 4. {when im nervous I pee} But I could still see her, so I thought I would be able to catch her no problem. I knew Becca was long gone so I didnt give that another thought until I had been running for 2 hours and I knew that she would be done, I was jealous. Around mile 9, I knew that I was running unusually slow, but at this point I didnt care. This was the point that the t-shirt "this sounded like a good idea 3 months ago" would've fit me well. I decided then and there that it didnt matter what my time was, that I needed to be okay with being a slow runner and that at least I will finish, and hopefully finish feeling stronger than last year. Sounds good right? Well it was good, it was good all the way to the end and even after, It was good when we were taking pictures and it was good when we were eating cantelope, But as soon as I got in the car, it wasnt good anymore. I felt dissapointed, you see not only did I not beat my last years time, I was a minute slower. You are probably laughing, thinking "one minute! are you seriously complaining about 1 minute?" But the answer is Yes I am. You see like I said before, It takes alot to prepare for this day and I really had a higher expectation for myself. BUT all that being said, We had a GREAT party and alot of fun! I dont regret running it, I never would regret finishing a 1/2 marathon, I just hope that the next one is a little better for me overall.

Lucky

I've got nothing to say about this post except that I am soo lucky.