Salt Flats Half

Well, I did it.  I can't believe it.  Something I never thought I could do.  But I could.  And I did.  And I am proud of myself.

I ran in the Salt Flats Half Marathon on Saturday morning.  I was going to run the race with Jolene but she hurt herself a couple weeks ago and was unable to run Saturday with me.  But a family friend, Jannette, came to run the half also and stayed at our house the night before.  She, her roommate Lindsey, and I drove out to the race together.  It was very dark when we arrived at the International Speedway on the Bonneville Salt Flats right outside of Wendover at a little past 6:00 am.  It was also quite windy.  The wind blew sideways at me during the run and was actually very refreshing. Joseph and the kids got there about 10 minutes before 7:00 am (start time).  The race was on the salt and was 6.55 miles out and 6.55 miles straight back.  It was very flat.  So flat, in fact, that you could see the curvature of the earth while you were running.  The scenery pretty much stayed the same the whole time, but it was beautiful.

Play by play of my run:

For almost the entire race I ran for .9 miles and then walked for .1 miles, then repeated that cycle for each mile.  I felt fabulous for the first 9.5 miles.  I felt like I could go on forever.  Around mile 9, Joseph and the kids did a drive-by in the van and cheered for me for a minute before they headed back to the finish line.  I did the first 10 miles in my shortest time yet.  Then it started to get hard.  Really hard.  I did alright until 11.5 miles when I stopped being able to breathe very well.  Once I recovered from that (only a couple of minutes), I was so tired and my hips hurt pretty badly.  I wasn't sure I could finish running in at that point.  I thought I may have to walk in.  But at 12.5 miles Joseph drove up with Carlie (my good friend and personal trainer!) and I started crying when she hopped out of the van and ran in the rest of the race with me.  I was so happy to have someone there next to me encouraging me when it was so hard.  As I approached the finish line (I tell you, that last .1 of the 13.1 miles in a half marathon is pretty brutal), I saw Joseph, the kids, my mom, Debby, her two girls, and my good friends Amanda and Jolene.  Jolene's husband, Lance, even came to cheer me in.  With them in front of me and Carlie beside me, it was a beautiful sight to behold.  I crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 51 minutes, and 44 seconds - better than the 3 hours I thought it would take me.  Once across the finish line I started crying.  A lot.  I was so happy to be done and so very, very tired.  It is the furthest I have ever run. 

Thank you to all of the people who made this possible!  Thank you to Carlie for training me, encouraging me, and believing I could do this even when I thought I couldn't.  Thank you to Jolene for getting up extremely early many mornings to run really slowly (much slower than she needed to) with me so I could get here.  And thank you especially my wonderful husband and children for letting me get out of the house to run so often. 

Following are MANY pictures from the race.  Skim through (or skip altogether) if you so desire.  (PS Sorry about the funky formatting.  Blogger is not being particularly cooperative right now and I am so done messing with it right now!)

Pre-Race

Me and the kids right before the race - they were very tired still

Sun still creeping over the horizon before the race

Jannette and I prior to the race

And we're off!

It was really amazing to watch the sun rise as we began running

Mid-Race

 

My view for most of the race

 

During the drive-by from Joseph and the kids - about mile 9

Girlie on the Salt Flats

Austin on the Salt Flats

Matthew on the Salt Flats

Debby's girls on the Salt Flats - fashionable glasses!

Post-Race

Madeleine, Girlie, Austin, and Matthew watching me run in



Carlie helping me run in the end of the race (Carlie is on the left)

Almost there!

Finish line!

L-R: Jolene, Carlie, Me, Jannette, Amanda

Matthew wanted to wear my bib

Me and Debby

Jannette and Me

Me and Joseph

Me and Mom

Me, Mom, and Debby

Girlie protecting her Powerade and sporting her orange upper lip

More orange upper lip action

"Ring around the rosies..."

 

Training Runs in the Great Outdoors

I am running a half marathon this morning.  I hope it goes well.  I'll let you know soon.  In the meantime, here is a little documentation of some of the beautiful runs I took while training for this big event.

Warning: these pictures were all taken with my iPhone camera and apparently I need to clean the lens off because the pictures are pretty blurry.

Lake Gregory, California

Route where I ran around Lake Gregory in California.
I ran around the lake 3 times: 7.5 miles total.

West Wendover, Nevada and Wendover, Utah

Home sweet home.  I ran from the Smith's on the west end of town down
past Camp Gumbo on the east end and then doubled back
until I had run 9 miles total.

Acequia, Idaho

Visiting Joseph's grandparents, I ran to the Minadoka Dam
and back.  12 miles total.

Orem 5k

My first long term goal in my running career was to run a 5k.  I decided to run one one Memorial Day weekend in Orem.  I coerced convinced my brother-in-law, Randy, to run it with me.

Randy and I before the race

As we differ significantly in our running abilities, we stood at the start together but didn't actually run the race together.

Me at the start of the race

Sprinting across the finish line

Finish line

Ta-da!

Done and done!

Randy and I after the race

My goal for this first race was simply to run the entire race - no walking.  And I did it!  My time was not fabulous, but I was very proud of myself.  I did it in 33:47.  This was an enormous accomplishment for me.

Check out Randy's wife's (my sister's) version of the event here.

Running

original poem written by me in my high school poetry class

Running the Extra Mile

A friend told me 

that after running the first mile

all those after don't hurt,

the best reason I ever heard

to run five miles.

What I wonder

in the third mile,

is if the first mile ever ends.

___________________________________________________

I have never been a runner.  In fact, I have always hated running.  I have had many good excuses:  it hurts my knees, I have had ankle problems for years, it's just boring.  Every year in P.E. I walked the mile run and came in last place each time - but I was okay with that because I wasn't a runner.

But I have always wanted to be the kind of person who wanted to run.  I have admired runners and their insanity, even as I have scoffed at their foolishness.  I wished I could like running so I could grow up to be like them but I was certain that it was not in my future.  

All that changed this last January.  

I wanted to be a runner.  I finally decided to bite the bullet and do it.  So I started very, very, VERY slowly.  And I absolutely love it.  

my running shoes

Angel Lake - The Plunge

At the end of our trip to Angel Lake we had worked up quite a sweat in all the heat.  Joseph and Brian decided they wanted to brave the cliff jumping available at the far end of the lake.  I decided not to join in the swimming since I had forgotten my own swimsuit in the midst of packing for the rest of the family but Roseanne and I and the kids trooped with them to watch the show.

Angel Lake, as mentioned in the previous post, consists of the runoff water from a glacier.  In fact, the kids were throwing snowballs at each other while they sat on the ice to watch Joseph and Brian jump.  The water is VERY cold.  VERY, VERY cold.  

Once we reached the far end of Angel Lake, the menfolk climbed some precipitously tall rocks to reach the place they wanted to jump from.  Luckily, we had a camera with us to document the craziness that ensued.

Joseph's theatrics:

One of Brian's jumps:

The view from there was amazing and the water appeared extremely cold refreshing, so I decided to venture forth myself - in all my clothes since there was no women's swimsuit to be had!

Audrey's attempt:

After I swam to shore I was definitely not hot and sweaty any more:

I must admit, the water was definitely cold.  However, it was fairly comparable with many other lake and river experiences I have had in the past (Yosemite, Colorado last year, the Alps, etc.).  It made me feel so much younger to be doing something so ridiculous.  What a fun day!