My First Half Marathon

Today I ran my first half marathon. I have been really nervous all week about it and yesterday I even felt a little nauseated thinking about it because of nerves! Then last night I went to Olive Garden with two of my friends from high school and I carb loaded big time! I ate a whole basket of breadsticks by myself! So that was fun and finally got my nerves calm. So this morning I woke up at 3 a.m. because I had to take a bus up to the starting line and I had to catch the bus at 4:30. So I got on the first bus and up the canyon we went! Then all the sudden the bus driver came to a dead end sign on one road (it was a fork at the end of South Fork canyon in Provo canyon) and a road closed construction on the other one. He had no idea where he was even going! So someone on the bus said they have done it before and that it starts at a park a few miles down the road. So the bus driver does about a 20 point turn around and we head down to the park. When we got there it was obvious right away that this was not the right spot either. At this point several other buses have caught up to us and don't know either so they are just following us. Then another guy on the bus said it is where the road closed sign is and they bet they have the sign up so no one would park there. So he turns around again and we go back up. When he got back to the fork two guys got out and moved the sign and then we drove back up. When he got to the parking lot up there nobody was there either and no portopotties! Everyone was getting a little irritated that no one knew what was going on. Then a guy got off and went to look around and a way off in the bushes (it is pitch black outside still because it is about 5:30 now) is a row of twenty portopotties! So we knew it was there afterall. So we all got off and sat around and were waiting. Then a guy with a megaphone said the race starts a mile down the street and to walk down and wait. So we walk down and a race official comes up and tells us the race starts up at the top of the road and we need to go back up. So we do. When we are about 3/4 of the way up the first guy tells us to go back down. At this point an 'official race car' comes driving up and they have the timing mats so we ask them where we start and they had no idea! Finally they set them up just a little bit down the hill and all the sudden we hear someone scream go! It was pretty crazy how unorganized it was! But something fun that happened during all of that was a deer was walking through the crowds trying to get food from everyone and letting everyone pet him! I have never seen a deer act like that! It was like he was a dog. While waiting I met a cute little lady who lives in North Hollywood and she does a half marathon every month! She is amazing at running and I hope I can be like her! But once the race started I forgot all about how unorganized it was because it was so beautiful and fun! My ipod did a good job picking good songs for me to run to too ;) ! On certain parts of the course there would be people there looking for their family member racing. I loved all the little kids because they thought we were so cool! I loved giving them high fives! When I crossed the line Seth and the boys were right there! I was so happy they were so easy to find!

I was really happy about my time! I did it in 2:13:39. My last long run I did while training was 11 miles and I did it in about 2:17! So I was shocked that I finished in that time! Right now my legs are really tired and my knees are pretty achey but I am happy I finally did a half marathon, I have been wanting to for over 2 years now. I had the best running buddy, Julie! Even after her half she would go on my long runs and coach me and motivate me! And my other neighbor Whitney got me back into running mode by having me sign up for a 5K! Who knew running could be so fun! Yay!