Holy Moly - this is by far THE hardest 1/2 I have ever run, pregnant or not. The trails were brutal, my heart rate was higher walking up them than running flat. I thought the hill up to behind the zoo was the 'hill of death' that would do me in, then we hit the shoreline trail behind This is the Place Monument....HAHAHAHA, I laugh at the hill up behind the zoo! Then the downhills were crazy wicked on the trails too. Once we hit about mile 10, it was all nice downhill - oh I was SO grateful! I ran all the 'hills' to mile almost 6 without stopping, but I could walk up the trails faster than I could run. Long legs make for long strides walking, but when running uphill you must take shorter steps. I almost passed some people trying to run :) I kept up with the same group of runners the whole time and pulled ahead of most of them at the finish...or at least caught up lost ground. Honestly, a 2:09 is VERY respectable on this course! Unless you're Kelli or Teena - I think they should both have a run off next year on this course to truly take the title of 'queen of hills'!! I was SO excited to see Maurine there! She was volunteering at a water stop, so I got see her at the beginning, middle and end! Since I'd been so whiny about wanting someone to run with me (and ended up doing it alone anyway), it REALLY lifted my spirits to see another amazing blogger out on the course and get to chat and have a good time with her! PLUS she saved me from having to take/ride the bus back to the start - THANKS!!! 
Overall, it was a great race! I certainly didn't have the kick at the end that a downhill race give you - my legs were trashed, but it was still a good finish! I also met and chatted with a few fellow racers. One lady would always make sure I got water at the aid stations, she said it was the mother in her, she had to take care of me! Lots of fun comments on the shirt as well. I'm glad I did it! I feel good and am ready for a gluttonous Memorial Day :) AP: 9:50 (total elevation GAIN 1531 ft)
splits: 9:55 (started with a fun girl to chat with and it felt slow, but the conversation was worth it!), 9:14 (this felt more like MY pace), 9:35 (1st 'hill'), 8:53 (as I ran this mile I had decided this was my average effort pace - pretty flat, considering, and I felt good!), 9:54 (what I thought was the 'hill of death' hahaha! -173 ft of gain), 10:39 (start of the trail portion -213ft of gain) 13:15 (mostly walking/hiking up the hills on the trails - I'd run the flat and short downs, but YIKES! I tell ya...this was a CRAZY mile!! -315ft of gain) 10:01 (more hills/trails, but we caught a few good downhills that evened out my pace -116 ft of gain, but 242 down) 10:26 (I honestly thought we were done with the hills...until I went around a corner and saw one that was about 50 ft plus straight up...ugghhh! More walking, glad the downhill can balance my AP for the mile! -203 ft of gain and only 94 down) 9:13 (caught a REALLY nice downhill on this mile...had to open it up! My 'max' speed was a 6:40 during this mile) 9:12 (nice down/flat along the top of the avenues in SLC, again this felt SO easy!) 8:51 (coming DOWN city creek canyon to the capitol...ahhh, but my legs were still pooped from all the uphill.) 7:26 (for the .13 Garmin had to the finish, can't help but open up the finish sprint a bit :) Especially in front of a crowd and heading downhill!)
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