So far this year, I have done 3 races. One 10K (6.2 miles), one 10 mile race, and this past Saturday, I did a half marathon. I have been training for about 3 months. All of my training has been done on my treadmill. Since now we live out in the country, I'm terrified to run outside. I have two fears of running outside. My first fear is to be hit by a car. My second fear is to be attacked by a dog. No one chains up there dogs or has fences. So dogs are free to roam around. Since I have these two fears, I still haven't been able to convince myself to run outside. So I've been stuck on the treadmill watching Netflix while I run. Not the most enjoyable thing, but I guess it could be worse.
I signed up for the Vigor Utah Half Marathon, months ago. I usually sign up for months in advance, so I don't talk myself out of doing them. And they're usually cheaper, the earlier you sign up. Since I hadn't done any outside training, I was really worried about how my body would handle the actual race. I drove up to Salt Lake on Friday when I got off of work. I stayed in a hotel that night. I barely slept. I was already nervous about the race, and not being in my own bed didn't help. I think I probably slept for 3 hours. My alarm went off bring and early at 3am. My first thought was, "why in the world am I doing this". Then I made myself get up and get going. My excitement and adrenaline started going! I left the hotel about 3:45am and headed for the bus pick up. Once I got there, I met all of my fantastic running friends. We took a bus up to the start line of the race. Luckily for this race, we got to wait in a heated lodge before the race started.
We stood around and chit chatted for about an hour before they told us it was time to go to the start line. We began walking down the hill. When we finally got to the start line, there were 4 port-a-potties for the 403 half marathon runners. What in the world?!?! One rule of thumb when running a race, is always use the bathroom before you start. So my friends and I got in line. Then it was time for the race to start, and we were still in line for the potties. I couldn't run without using the bathroom first. I ended up starting the race 7 minutes after everyone else. I was the second to last person to start the race.
The race was AMAZING!! I loved every minute of it! My body was totally fine until about mile 10. Then my calves started cramping up really bad. I kept pushing myself, and just kept hoping I could push to the finish line. Then I saw the finish line. I really pushed hard to run as fast as I could, even though at this point my legs were really hurting. Seeing the finish line and knowing that I was almost there, is such an amazing feeling. I crossed the finish line 1 hour 57 minutes 34 seconds after I had started the race! That was a fantastic time for me, and my personal record! I was so excited!!! The only thing that would of made it better, was if Josh would of been there waiting for me. All of the stressing, anxiety, lack of sleep, doubting myself, was all worth it at that very minute! That feeling is why I do the races I do. Accomplishing something, that I always try to tell myself I can't do, feels pretty fantastic! As much as I have tried to talk myself out of doing races, I think I'll find a few more to do this summer. The feeling is addicting!
