Race Ya!

There are many decisions I have made in my life that have meant a lot to me at the moment but later, as I look back, I don't really know why. For example, I was determined to be done at BYU in two years. Now I realize, how dumb am I? Let's hurry past the fun part of life and go get a job. I don't really get it.

My goal to run a half marathon five months after Asher's birth also falls into that category of decisions. Can't really explain that one to ya. I think it mostly came down to - I really was sick of feeling pregnant... and then post pregnant. I wanted to feel like I did a year before when I was running regularly and in pretty good shape. So I just jumped right back on the bandwagon.

The half marathon was my way of staying motivated. And it definitely worked. Whenever I considered skipping a run or two, the looming 13 mile race got me out of bed. Our training was an eight week course. Saturdays were our long runs and the week was filled with shorter runs and speed work. Every Saturday, we ran one more mile than we had the week before. The longest run of the training was a 12 mile run two weeks before the race.

Well, two weeks before the race happened to be Christmas Eve. So not only did I have to run 12 miles, I had to run it without my running buddies with Jon instead (he's not too bad but I am very aware the whole time of how slow I am going) and in 20 degree weather instead of 50 degrees.

We took off down Peninsula towards the freeway and then followed a path up the lake and past State Park then down Mae Valley all the way to the golf course where we looped around and headed back. Right as we were nearing our turning around point, Jon was asking me something about whether I wanted to loop around or not. I thought he was talking about some loop by the golf course so I let him decide.

That run was probably my best on record for two reasons: 1) the air in Moses Lake is so much wetter I didn't feel thirsty at all and 2) it was cold whether I was walking or running and only running gave me the hope of getting home sooner, so I ran. We crossed the park again and down the lake and back over the freeway. I then began to turn towards my house when Jon stopped me.

"No, we gotta do the loop."

What?

Somehow he thought I had agreed to run PAST my house around the peninsula the long way. Who in their right mind would ever agree to that? I had a minor breakdown right there on the corner of Lakeshore and I-15, then sucked it up, kept moving and finally made it home.

After that experience, how hard could an extra mile be? I was getting totally geared up for race day. It will be warm and beautiful. I was so ready.

I now know it would have been intelligent of me to take a look at the elevation map. So you can get a better idea, I will let you look at it.

Just in case you are like me and can't really turn these things into a real visual, I will describe it to you. The race starts with a short but very steep climb straight uphill. Then you go up and down for awhile before going straight up. Then it will level a little, then go straight up again, and then lets do that one more time... no wait, let's make that one more time. Can you see the lack of flatness?

This race was hard. By about eight miles I was cursing racing and vowing to never step out in tennis shoes again as long as I live. But I kept moving and thanks to some very timely tracks on my borrowed iPod (thank you again Suzanne!) I finished.

Final Time: 2:34


Jon and the kids were waiting for me at the finish line.

Now that I have had some time to recover, I actually think I would like another try, this time without all of the up and down to see how I would do.

Runners really are as crazy as they look.