Provo Canyon Half Marathon

It's 10:30am on a Saturday morning, and it's already been a looong day(but in a good way). I have been awake for about 7 hours already! Yep, if you just counted back 7 hours from 10:30 that means I've been up since 3:30am. That's kind of crazy, but what's even more crazy is that I couldn't go to sleep now if I tried. I just got home from the Provo Canyon Half Marathon. Got to love the runner's high. It's funny how I can actually have More energy After I run than I do before. That's one of the many reasons I love running.

As usual I woke up and asked myself why in the world I was doing this, but when I crossed the finish line, my memory was refreshed. I was just a little bugged that we were supposed to be there at 4:45a.m. and freeze our butts off when the race didn't start until 7:00a.m. I've noticed from the two times that I've run this race that it could use a little more organization, and a few more porta potties at the start too. My friend was brave enough to go in the bushes, but I held out until after the race was over.

I ran my fastest post-baby half-marathon today! I ran 8 minutes faster than my first half-marathon this summer, and two minutes faster than the Bryce Canyon half-marathon. I came in at 1:45. I'm happy that I'm slowly improving my times! However, I felt way too good at the end of this race which means that I should have ran faster.

I couldn't help being a little disappointed in myself for not pushing harder. My ankle was acting really weird and my foot kept wanting to land on the pavement in awkward positions. I had to really concentrate on making my foot hit the pavement straight. This actually happens a lot to me during distance races. Never during training, but all the time during races. What is wrong with me? Anyone know? I need to talk to a physical therapist. However, looking on the bright side, at least I felt GOOD at the end of the race, and still improved my time. According to Scott I ran the perfect pace because I still felt great when I crossed the finish line. He likes it when I'm still happy and energetic after a race rather than sick and wasted. Go figure? I think I actually prefer to cross the finish line feeling like crap becasue then I know I gave it Every Last Bit inside me, so I can't have any regrets. I'm used to feeling like I'm going to puke when I cross the finish line, and it takes at least two hours for me to even want to look at food. After this race I just went straight over to the food and loaded up my plate with some pancakes and watermelon. That was another sign to me that I definitely didn't push myself hard enough.

I was so close to being under an average of 8 minute mile pace, and I know I had enough in me to push a little bit harder and get it, but I didn't. I realize though that I will always have thoughts about what I could have done better at the end of each race. That's what keeps me motivated to keep running more races! I am so competitive with myslef, and since I'm never going to be 100% satisfied with the outcome of any race, I continue to sign-up for more and more races hoping that I take what I learned from the last race and improve a little bit. The awesome thing about distance running is that you're really only competing against yourself.

Here are a few pictures from the race today:

Me with my favorite running buddy. I know the stroller is a lot heavier with the car seat in it, and I know Boston is old enough to go straight in the stroller now without the car seat, but I continue to put the carseat in the stroller just so I can look at his cute face while I'm running.

Here I am about 45 seconds before crossing the finish line.