What a race! I didn't like the 2:45 AM wake up call, but the riding
there with bye-wing (her 1st half!!) and then meeting some friends at
the buses was a great time! Took the long ride up to the start and made
our way to the pops. They quickly announced the bag truck was leaving in
15min. What the heck? The race didn't start for like 30-45 min! Oh
well, time to get our cold on! After quickly getting bags on the trucks
we lined up at the back and the gun went off. We were about 5 min behind
start time...wonderful placement! Not much weaving. Just before
we started and after the crowd had cleared, a space blanket came
floating by and Danielle grabbed it. I jumped in the warmth with her and
then she was going to throw it away...oh no, not this one :) I decided I
needed a cape. So, I tucked the extra long (seriously like 7+ feet
long) cape in the shoulders of my tank. Plan was to drop it at the first
aid station, but then I got attached and decided to keep it! 
I
ran with Robyn and Danielle for the first few miles and then Robyn
dropped behind with a friend. I had told my friend Julie that I would
pace her, but couldn't find her at the beginning, so I tried to just run
with Danielle and keep her pushing. I was having a great time despite
that fact that no one was talking to me. THIS is the big downfall of
ipods if you ask me, but then again I'm a BIG talker...anyone that knows me knows that! :)
Saw Lowell around mile 3, he offered to carry my
cape...nope, I still liked it! :) Mile 6 station they were handing out
gu, but the water girls were WAY behind. I stopped and filled about
10-15 glasses to help out and told Danielle to go ahead and I'd catch
up, but she stayed and helped for a while, then I caught up after grabbing one for myself. Then around mile 8 I spotted Smooth on the side with her
boot cheering everyone on!! It warmed my heart like no other!! I gave
her a big sweaty hug, posed for some pics and had to sprint to catch up
with Danielle...again. 
Shortly
after that Julie's sister ran up next to me and after a few good looks
at my face asked if I was Rachel. YES! She told me Julie wasn't too far
ahead and what she was wearing. I was off. Since I had my cape on I ran
up next to her and said "did someone order a superhero?!?" Julie is a
sweet woman! I just love her to pieces and think the world of her. She
has a 7 week old baby and just moved into a new house. Her little Ty is
adopted and they didn't know until 2 days before he was born that they
were getting him! She hadn't trained over 6 miles and has been working
like crazy and not sleeping for the last 7 weeks, but she was doing
great. You can read her blog HERE
- that is how I got to know her, I was her blog stalker for about a
year before I ever commented. I'm glad we are friends now! If you want a
real tear jerker read Ty's adoption story posted! Anyway,
Danielle and Julie's sister caught back up to us and slowly pulled
ahead. I helped/entertained/talked Julie's ear off the rest of the way and
she finished in a 1:56!! Which for the amount of training and crazy last
7 weeks?!? amazing! I told her on the last stretch as she felt like she
was fading "I may look like a super hero, but you are the REAL
superhero!" I finished in 1:52:31, feeling GREAT. Well, except for the
stomach that had been bugging me the whole time. Rumbly and
sour...blech. But, whatever, I was having the time of my life! I waited a
few min for Julie's family to show up and took some pics with her, then
went back to run bye-wing in for a strong finish. 
Just
as a side note, I have to say how much I loved the little kids
(especially girls) that would look and point at me, then get their mom's
attention to show her super girl! :) Made my day!!! Then, as I was
running back to get bye-wing if I saw someone struggling I'd say "you
need some super power to get through this!" and offer them knuckles.
They'd always just look at me with a smile and give me some knuckles. I
loved it! Helping people get that last kick to the finish is always
rewarding! Bye-wing finished strong and under her estimated goal
time! I will let her tell her story on her blog. I was SO proud of her
and what an awesome job she'd done on her first half!! Now, she has
another one in 2 weeks :) gotta love it baby! After going and
watching the marathon finishers for about another hour (I LOVE watching
and cheering at a marathon finish, I seriously LOVE it! CONGRATS to you
all!!), we grabbed our bags and headed back to the car. They'd had the
halfers park at the Provo Towne Center and they had buses back, but we
decided to walk the 1.5 miles back. I hope it helped bye-wing work out
some of what will be some lingering soreness. Pain we enjoy! Great
Race. Great Day. LOVED my cape (despite that it was probably a pure
annoyance for anyone around me...it was long and it was windy. I did
really try to be conscious of it and pull it in when I was in a crowd,
but then it would turn into a sail...good resistance training!). Loved
running with family and friends and seeing them all! I didn't get the
miles in this week that I'd hoped for, but sometimes there are more
important things than miles :)
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