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.