Drop 13 Half Marathon

Brock and I registered to run the Drop 13 Half Marathon down Big Cottonwood Canyon with some friends.  Brock doesn't even really need to train for a half marathon, but I have been training for months.  I have run two other half marathons, and had pretty bad experiences with both, so I wanted to really be trained and ready for this one, and I was really hoping for a good race.

We woke up around 4:00am, and headed out to the bus pick up with the Warners.

On the bus on our way to the starting line

Ready or not, this race was about to start!  It was pretty dang cold up there!

Tom, Brock, and Andy

Natalie, Lindsey, and Me

I had a great race!  I started out hanging pretty close to the 2 hour pacer, and had her in my sights until about mile 5 or so, when I passed her, and never saw her again.  My running app is set to let me know my mileage and pace every 5 minutes, and I was consistently going at about a 9 minute pace.  It's downhill the whole way, so I knew I could keep pace with what I'd been training, but this was faster than I'd ever run consistently for this long!  I was doing the math in my head the whole way, and each time my app would tell me where I was, and how I was doing, I thought I might actually be able to come in under 2 hours!  At about mile 10 I could feel my calves starting to get the twinges of cramping, and I was so nervous!  My first half was so awful because at mile 8 both of my calves seized up and I could hardly run the last 5 miles, so I was so afraid of that happening again.  I didn't dare to stop at all - even at the water stations, so if someone was in my way, I just had to pass it by.  When I got to mile 12 I was so excited that not only did I only have one mile left, but that I really was going to come in under 2 hours!  My previous races I came in at like 2.35 and 2.40 or so, so this was a huge success for me!  I ended up finishing at 1.56, and I was so so happy!  Brock got his personal best as well, and came in at 1.22!  He is truly amazing!  He was the 14th person to cross the finish line!  So so cool!

I was much happier finishing this race, than my two others

So glad it's over!

It was so fun that Granny, Grandpa, Aunt Julia, and all our kids came to support us

After the race Julia, Granny, and I went and got much needed pedicures.  It was so nice to have my feet and legs rubbed after that race!