For the past 10 weeks I have been training for the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. A 13.1 mile race. And, last Saturday I ran it, it was my third half marathon in the past 10 months! I had a great time training for this half..I was able to run some of my long miles on Saturday with my good friend from my ward, Jennifer Hansen and her daughter Teesh, who is 17 years old.
The race started at 7:00 am and the course was pretty much running through the beautiful tulip gardens, and the 18 hole golf course that is located at Thanksgiving Point. It was the most beautiful course so far, however, the course was very hilly. I had not expected there to be so many steep hills. It was unbelievably to be running on such a hilly course. When we arrived, it was super cold. It was about 30 degrees and my fingers were literally freezing cold. I could hardly feel my fingers the entire race. One thing I liked about running this half was that they had runners holding a sign that showed the pace they were running, so those running could track where there pace was. They are called "Pacers" and it was something I had not seen on the other races I had ran. I started out running 7:35 minute miles until around mile 4. Then we entered the hills in the gardens, where I paced around 8:00 minute miles from mile 4 until mile 9. Once I hit mile 9, the sun was out and I was pretty much running slower, but still at a pretty good pace..I came to the mile 10 marker and I kept thinking "Ok, I got this..only a 5k left to run...that is no big deal. I can do this!" And I ended up pacing at 9:25 minute miles up until I ran into the finish line. I took one look at the stop clock as I came running in and saw that I ran the whole hilly course of 13.1 miles in 2:08! I was extremely proud of myself! It was such a great feeling running into the finish line and seeing my amazing, supportive husband and my two kids holding up a good job sign and screaming my name! It is by far one of those proud moments in life, that touches your heart!
I was able to cheer on Teesh and Jen as they came running into the finish line. I am sure they felt those same feelings as they crossed the finish line! After all the hard work from training for 10 weeks came to this moment, when you see how it paid off. What an accomplishment. What a great thing to be able to do with my friends!
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| Allie and I with the sign they made me! |
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| I did it~ |
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| Teesh, Jen and I at the Finish Line |
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| Tim and I at the finish line |
Well, after the race I then headed off to go to Allie's soccer game, working in the yard, and going to book club that night. I ask myself where did I get the energy for all this?
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