Before anyone judges my time... I want to point out two things: 1st, this was my first ever 1/2 marathon, and 2nd, this is what it says as a description of the course (from the website)
"This Half Marathon course is not flat and fast so don’t expect to set any speed records. It is called the Rim Country Challenge for that reason. It starts and ends at Green Valley Park.
Due to the hilly terrain this race will challenge you as a runner. It should be great training for marathons.
There are two significant hills. One is called “The Challenge"; Paysonites call it Airport Hill. It is .45 mile long with an elevation gain of 165 feet. The other is Vista Road with an elevation drop of 210 feet in .64 mile.
The majority of the course is undulating and runs its way through residential and scenic views of the Town of Payson."
Okay... now I feel justified in my 2:21:50 half marathon (which I'm sure is slower than some of your marathon times!). Ready for the report?
I ran the race with my friends Bethany and Burt. (Burt also has a blog on the fastrunningblog, you can find him in my favorite blog list). Here we are feeling strong before the race.
Bethany and I stayed together for the entire race, but Burt left us like we were standing still. We started with a solid 9:45 min/mil pace, which we kept for the first 4 or 5 miles. The race started by going up hill... and more up hill... and I'm not kidding by saying that the first 11 miles were predominately uphill. There were some flat spots and the rare down hill... but mostly up. By mile 11 I was starting to lose hope. I couldn't understand how in heavens name we could start and stop in the same place if we don't go DOWN! Finally we went down hill, and I think we did all the down in at once because we ended by going up hill. I swear when I found out I had to go up another hill to finish I was going to scream.
Oh, side note, by mile 8 we could see Burt. We had decided that if we caught up to him we were going to thank him for waiting for us. In the end, he totally kicked our butts. :o) It was neat that we came into the finish line in order though (Burt, me, Bethany!)
Here is an after shot!
Okay... now I have to tell you about my hero who also ran on Saturday, but in the 5K. My husband is awesome! He doesn't run. No training of any kind. Well, when I asked him if I could sign up for the 1/2 marathon (because I wanted his support), he asked me to also sign him up for the 5k so that he and Melanie would have something to do while we waited. Well, he totally kicked butt in the 5K (which also was not flat or easy). Pushing Melanie, he came in 9th overall and 2nd in his age group, finishing in 25:05. Here is a picture of Melanie and Brandon getting their metal.
And finally, I have to give a special thank you out to my cheer team! My Dad and his wife just moved to Payson and came to watch, along with Brandon, Melanie, and Bethany's husband Nate. Thank you for coming! You are all awesome! Here's Melanie and my dad's wife (Cam).
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