Monday, August 30, 2010

Blood, sweat, and a few tears

Well, I did it. I ran the Top of Utah half marathon and survived. Barely.

Let's review the goals I made for myself, shall we?
1- to finish the race without dying
2- to run the entire course without walking
3- D wanted me to run it in under two hours

Now I realize that hindsight is 20/20. But PUHLEEZE!! Those goals were set WAY too high!! ;) lol I think for the next race my goals are going to be 1- put shoes on the right feet 2- don't spill red gatorade on myself whilst running cuz it stains and 3- just be happy that you didn't trip :)

I'm not saying I didn't put my shoes on the wrong feet, mind you. The goals are going to be a little easier to attain next time. Gotta start small.

The race was.... a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be, and totally different from training. I wish someone would have told me this. I had people mention that it was going to be harder, but they should've sat me down and drilled it into my brain. Haha It was SOOOO different!! My neighbor and I drove up to Logan at 4:45 in the morning, arriving at 5:30. It was pitch black. I should've brought a flashlight with me. We recieved our packets (with t-shirts, coupons for stuff and other paraphenelia. you also put any clothes in this bag that you don't want to haul down the canyon while running) and got in line at the rainbow colored porta-potties. Have you ever used a porta-potty in the dark?? It was a first for me! I seriously felt like the stupid thing was tipping over. lol Then we jumped on the school bus to head up the canyon. The bus ride took forever and I kept thinking 'this sure feels like a lot longer than 13.1...' We got to the starting point and it was FREEZING. We couldn't wait for it to start!! Finally the starting pistol sounded and we were off, like slow little turtles, there being 2300 of us... haha

The canyon part of the run was actually not bad. It was super humid, having rained all night, but every once in a while the Lord blessed us with a reaaalllly cold breeze that froze the sweat on my body. The first six miles went by quickly. Going downhill for that long was starting to hurt but I kept pushing. So far I was keeping my 10-minute mile pace which I was happy with. I got to the bottom of the canyon and started seeing people on the sides of the road, lined up to cheer runners on. It was so emotional, I started to get choked up a little. Then off to the side I saw two of my running partners and really good friends and I started to cry! It was so nice to see a familiar face! They started running with me for about 1/4 of a mile and then gave me hugs and sent me on my way, heading back to find my neighbor I had driven up with. That was so cool! The rest of the race from here on was pretty flat, which was nice. My thighs were hating me for all that downhill crap. :)

I ran most of the way til just after mile 11. I had walked a little here and there, mostly to catch a breath and give my legs a rest. Suddenly at 11 my body started shutting down. I couldn't catch my breath, my thighs were literally on fire, I had to pee like you wouldn't believe, I had a pain shooting down my right leg into the arch of my foot, and my knees were hurting so bad I could barely hobble, let alone run. So I walked. Well, attempted to walk. And I cried. Cuz this wasn't how it was supposed to be! I had trained for this! I thought I was ready! Clearly, I had gone into this way too cocky. So I was knocked down a couple of stripes. As I walked and cried the song "Big Girls don't cry" came on, I was listening to the Broadway recording of Jersey Boys, and I thought 'good thing I'm a little girl and I can cry' lol . But I stuffed the tears away, had a good little pep talk with myself and started a slow jog. By this point I was passing mile 12 and I could see the finish line. I remembered seeing a lady with a sign earlier in the run that said "Don't think. Just run" and that became my mantra. I picked up my pace and really started running through the pain. The finish line was a wall of people on both sides, cheering on their loved ones. I saw my dad and mom-in-law, my parents, and then Wade and the kids. I high-fived them all as I ran past and crossed the finish line at 2 hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds. It was a personal record for me. ;) As I did the math in my head I realized that yeah, I was 18 minutes over my goal of two hours. However, I kept a ten-minute pace for the entire race until that life changing mile 11. Had I kept my pace through to the end I would've finished at 2 hours 10 minutes. I was only 8 minutes over!! To me, considering everything I went through, I was THRILLED.

I learned a lot from this race. I learned that it's ok to not keep up with everyone else, even though it's tempting when people pass you. It's kinda fun to pass other people too. haha I learned that A LOT of people run into the bushes (in the canyon, not in people's yards, gross) to answer nature's call cuz they don't want to wait in line at the porta-potty. I learned that I would probably prefer to run with someone next time. It's a little lonely being surrounded by 2300 strangers. And I learned that it's totally ok to walk. Other runners totally don't care and they totally understand. You think that everyone's looking at you, they're not. They're concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other just like you are.

I loved and hated this race at the same time. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. But I can't wait to do the next one!! :)

3 comments:

  1. I think it is totally awesome that you decided to do it and you did it. You finished even when it was really hard! I don't know if you remember me. I am a friend of Wade's from high school. I think we met at the movie the night before our class reunion last year. Anyway, I'm really not stalking you, but I just wanted to tell you that we named our new daughter Lyndee. I hadn't remembered that was your name... or maybe it just subconsciously stuck with me, since it sounded kind of like my name (Lorinda... my brothers called me Rindy). Very cool name. Sorry we spelled it wrong :). I was also wondering if we are related. My grandma was a Butler. She was the daughter of John Topham Butler... I don't have any further back than that memorized.
    congrats on the marathon. Have you continued running?

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  2. oh... and the name of my etsy site is lyndeelu... I think. someday i may even try to sell something on it :).
    my blog is www.mikeandrindy.blogspot.com

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