1/2 way to death and back

On Saturday I ran my first Half Marathon. Often times when I tell people this they ask, "Wow, did you train for it?!" I am always surprised by this question. Yes, I trained. I signed up for the race about 6 weeks ago late one night while studying for finals. I was all alone in a quiet study computer lab, when I just signed up willy-nilly. I honestly don't remember what my thought process was in all this. I think in general I was seeking a higher purpose for my existence or something.  Also, one of my New Year's resolutions was to run a half marathon, and it is on my bucket list to run a whole one. So I suppose that somewhere in my consciousness I realized that signing up for this race would be a good step towards reaching those goals.

Lucky for me, a good friend in my ward, Ellie, signed up for the race after hearing that I had. Even more lucky for me we turned out to be a running pair match made in heaven. It is very rare to find someone who wants to go the same pace as you do. I couldn't have trained for this thing without her. We ran a few times during the week together, and did the long Saturday runs together keeping one another motivated and moving. She was a giant tender mercy!

Prior to this weekend our longest training run had been 10.5 miles after which I really hadn't felt too dead or anything, so I wasn't worried about 13.1 miles really at all. I tried really hard to eat healthily the few weeks before the race, to stay hydrated, and to get enough sleep. The morning of the race I had to wake up at 3:45am, so that we could leave by 4:00am, so that we could get on a bus by 4:30am. We had heard that there would be exciting giveaways on the first few buses, only to find that they were giving out last year's race shirts. The bus took us up Provo Canyon to a very cold, very dark park. Unfortunately we arrived just before 5:00am when the race didn't start until 7:00am. They built a few fires, and we huddled with the other runners while we waited for the sun to rise and the time to pass. Eventually the marathon runners took off, and 15 minutes later the halfers began. Ellie and I took off, cruising at a pretty fast pace down the mountain. We tried to talk for the first while to distract ourselves. Pretty soon we ran out of stuff to talk about, and just focused on certain runners ahead of us that we wanted to pass. This was Ellie's 4th half marathon, and she had a specific time goal in mind combined with a very competitive nature. I am not competitive really, at all, and just had the goal of finishing the race. I stayed with her as long as my legs could handle, but I could tell that she really could/wanted to go faster and that if I kept the pace up I would shortly die. So I told her to go ahead. It took convincing that I wouldn't hate her and that it really was ok with me, but eventually she left. This was at about mile 10 I think. The next three miles were so much harder than I had ever imagined them to be. It is surprising that even when you know you only have one mile left, that one mile feels like it really is 5 miles, and your legs feel like they are going to pop off. At the aid stations that they set up at the side of the road I got some Gatorade at mile 11. It was purple, and nothing has ever tasted so good to me. The thought that maybe there would be more purple Gatorade at the finish line is honestly what kept me going for some of those moments at the end. Mingled with the thoughts of my bed, Gatorade, were earnest prayers that I would be able to finish, and that my name wouldn't get drawn for the Saint George Marathon.

100 meters to go!

At the finish line I was greated by my roommates and friends with signs and cheers of encouragement. I was so tired and overwhelmed by their love at that moment that I maybe cried a little. They found me a few minutes later after I had a swallow of water and an orange slice. They didn't hug me since I was so sweaty and stuff, but we exchanged high fives and pats on the back. Someone asked, "Mary, how do you feel?" to which my response was to break out into tears again.

After the race Ellie and I were pampered way too much by friends who are way too good to us. We got numerous massages, and a delicious breakfast cooked for us while we just laid there. I've never used Icy-Hot before, but I think it may just be my new best friend. This was an incredible experience as far as pushing myself physically and mentally further than I thought possible to go, and proving myself capable. It was also incredible in terms of the outpouring of love and support shown to me by my friends. I am a lucky duck kind of girl.

This is how we really felt.