13.1 miles ... again!

For some crazy reason (crazy being the key word!) I decided to run the Ogden Half Marathon AGAIN! You see, I first did the race back in 2008. Last November, Robin (my running partner the first time around) said we should do the half again this year. Gullable me thought, "Sure! That would be fun!" I went and signed up only to have her change her mind ... ACK! I then spent a couple of months trying to decide if I could do it on my own.

In January, my uncle Steve (a runner) told me that if I was going to do it, I had to pick a reason or a goal. I thought about that for a few days and decided that I wanted to do this race for ME! I wanted to prove it to myself. Overall I am pretty happy with my training. I did hit a few road bumps a few weeks before the race when I tried new shoes (note to self, DO get running shoes from the running store next time instead of just trying on shoes yourself!)

Week of race, I was full of butterflies and had to squash lots of doubts (silly me! I had run 11 miles during training, so what's another 2?) I went up to Ogden the night before with two great girls from my neighborhood, Chari and Kandi. We spent the night checking in, having a great dinner, getting flashed (by Kandi!), getting our stuff ready and just having fun.

The morning of the race came early (like 5am), but when the adrenaline kicked in, it was all good. Chari's mother-in-law drove us to the start which allowed us to sleep in later. Besides getting lost once or twice, we made it just in time to use the bathrooms and warm up a bit. In hind sight, we would have probably left a little earlier!

We were just a leeeetle amped up! (Me, Chari, Kandi)

It was pretty cold as the race started, but by the second mile I was ready to shed my pants and jacket. I was amazed at how good I felt. The Ogden Canyon is just so beautiful! Most of the race goes down through the canyon. At about mile ten, you leave the canyon and cross a bridge which leads to a park trail.

Taylor and the kids met me at the mouth of the canyon, seeing them across the bridge was just the boost I needed to keep going!

I finished the race feeling strong and energized (quite a difference from two years ago!) Taylor even commented, "Wow, you were smiling and waving!" You see last time it took every ounce of energy in me just to make it across that finish line. I think my training schedule this time around was much stronger making a big difference.

Here I am on the final stretch!

We each had different goals for the race and we each BLEW them away!