Met at Allie's house in the 'elite staging' area. SO nice! I rarely get to knock on people's doors before 6AM and get greeted with a smile :) Met Devra and then Andrea and Jake came, James was sleeping. I did my best to wake him, but failed. Allie, Devra, Jake and I ran the mile to the start line and tried to find the bag drop. I'd just left everything in the car, I was traveling light. After taking so long to find the bag drop that we missed the awesome lulu lemon free stretch at 6:30, we headed over to the start. Shoot. Maybe next time :) There we ran into Preston and I was excited to hear he was just along for the ride and was willing to run slow with me. I kept looking for Brooke, I was thinking I'd just love to run nice and easy with her and pace her through, but I couldn't ever find her :( stink. Before I knew it we were at the front and it was time to go. We hadn't started that far back, but man did it get clogged up fast! We were weaving around running around an 11mm. Finally broke from the crowd and Mike Powell caught up to us and ran and chatted for a while. Before I knew it, we were headed up 900S. It is the honorable mention to Ally's Sunnyside UP route. So, I didn't whine in her honor...just plugged along with coach (Preston) keeping me going. This was quiet time. Breathe or talk, I chose to breathe. You'd think the hill would end, but it didn't. It just kept going and going and going. Somewhere along the way a lady told me I was 19th female. What?!? no way! This put a little bug in me. I wanted more. My legs felt good and there were 2 women right in front of me. Oh yeah, I can do this. I passed both women and when we turned around just before the zoo and I got a 1/4 mile taste of slight downhill I felt like I could conquer the world. Then, more uphill... That was the story of this course, more uphill. I had seen the course and I know the U and downtown enough to know what I was in for, but dang all that uphill gets mentally defeating after a while. Especially on legs that are already a bit fatigued from SGM the week before. The nice thing is LOTS of people running this race had done SGM, so I felt like I had no place to whine about it...just keep going and enjoy the fact that I CAN run! Those 2 ladies passed me back again sometime in the next few miles, but by then my conquering spirit had left with all the energy from my legs. I was just tired and fatigue had set in. Oh well, just sit back, relax and enjoy the company of coach who kept a close eye on the garmin saying I'd be pleased with what we were running. I just trusted him on that one. At the U we ran through/by Ft Douglas on a little back road I'd never been on before and I loved it! Beautiful! Then, after the U hospital as we headed toward the cemetery. It was a GORGEOUS view of the valley, sun on the lake, clear fresh skies, clouds just beautifully perfect for a crisp fall morning. Wow. Wish I could've bottled that moment/view up. At Shriners hospital we had another wicked uphill jaunt for 100M or so, my legs had finally gotten used to the downhill and now back up again! Then, we finally got some good downhill to City Creek Canyon and the Capitol. The race had great organized aid stations and the volunteers were friendly. Cheerleaders every so often were a fun comedic relief too :) At the top of State St on the Capitol grounds they had a band, which was wonderful for your death decent down! Holy Crap! All those 10 miles of uphill recovered in one short 1/4 mile of downhill. Coach and I both screamed for a good 20 seconds as we started that hill. YIKES! At this point another woman flew by me. She was certainly using the downhill to her advantage. Ahhh, finally down and I knew we just had to wind our way down to library square...but 2 miles worth? HA! I forgot the theme of the race...more uphill. Yup. We turned East and got to hit ANOTHER 1/4ish mile hill UP the Avenues. Holy Moly, I'm done. I don't know how you crazies live there and run those ups and downs all the time! I'll take my long forever slight uphills out here in the SW corner and you can keep your twisting sharp up and downhills in the NE. We went to I street, then fought our way back. My legs were so done. The downhill of City Creek had successfully tightened my hammies and I couldn't do a full stride out. So, running downhill hurt, because I couldn't extend my legs fully and I was fatigued. Ready to be done, feeling the miles from SGM creep back into the legs. Coach was good and reminded me the faster we run the faster we finish. So, I just kept it up and worked my way there. At our last turn onto State Street there was a Drum Band with those huge Asian drums! It was SO stinkin' awesome! Totally worth the $10 registration fee right there!! Energized me enough to get down the last 1/2 mile or so to the finish. As we turned the corner we plugged it in for the last sprint to the finish. I wish I could've given more during the race, but I knew that I did what my legs would let me. I wasn't 'racing' this one, but I felt like I wasn't just taking a nice relaxing jog either. A good push for tired legs, but not killing myself. I backed off when needed and other than the uphills kept a conversational pace the whole time. I was pleased to see 1:47 on the clock, especially knowing all the uphills I'd conquered. As I stared up 400S at the U, I just thought "boo-yah! I ran UP that!" Love those endorphins! AP: 8:09 splits: 8:09 (funny, first mile is my AP!), 8:28, 9:23, 8:34, 8:27, 7:57, 8:18, 7:54, 7:38, 7:49, 7:56, 7:57, 7:42, 7:01 (last bit to the finish). Now, the fun part came. I wasn't cool enough to REGISTER for both races, but I did the 5K too. When I had the $10 codes, I talked hubby into bringing the kids up for a fun run too. With the 1/2 and 5K start 2 hrs apart I knew I could be there for their race too, so it would be fun! Well, the 1/2 started probably 10ish minutes late...which I'd forgotten, but I still headed right over to the start line to find the family. Found hubby and the stroller easily enough, but none of the kids running were with him. He said they'd all lined up ahead. Okay... Finally found Lauren and asked where the boys were "up there!" What? We were already only 30ish feet back from the start. Please don't tell me they went to the FRONT! Well, low and behold. I glanced up and there they were. Toeing the line! My 8 and 5 year old...with Jake :) Allie and Devra were even behind them. They had started the 10 second count down before I even found them and with 2 seconds left all I could do was damage control and hope the didn't get trampled. The bad mom in me wishes they would've! Natural consequences...right? Anyway, they shot out with the starters and in about 5 feet were swallowed in the crowd. There was one boy who fell and folks were jumping over him and going around, luckily, my boys kept their feet down. I'm telling you. I was SO embarrassed! What runner doesn't teach their kids not to line up at the front unless you are staying at the front?!? Uggghhh!! I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or just bury my head in the sand and pretend I didn't know them! :) I wanted to pull them back and to the side, but I didn't have time at the start, so I just did the best I could. Needless to say, on the way home they both got a good talking to about NOT lining up at the front like that in a race with adults! My kids are awesome, but not that awesomely fast...and obviously, not that awesomely SMART either :) So, I ended up run/walking the 5K with my 5 year old. The first mile of the race was ALL uphill! My hubby (lined up with the WALKERS!!) caught up to us and was wondering when the hill would end. I just smiled knowing at the top of State St he'd still have to turn East and go up another hill into the Avenues :) The worst part was the 5K CROSSED the half route. They were going straight down State and we turned onto State. I would've been SO mad if I was a halfer at that time. There was a near solid wall of people streaming around the corner and you couldn't really just run through it. So, the halfers had to stop to let us by. Oh man, the craziness that ensued after that. So, like I said...the halfers had to turn UP into the Avenues too. That is the way I'd gone on the course and you don't change the course mid-race just because the 5K joins. Well, because of the 5K confusion there were a bunch of people with half bibs going down State at that point that had missed the turn, not realizing the 5K just joined in on the route at that point. So, I started telling them they missed the turn and they said they were told NOT to go down that street or that they'd gone up and were told to turn around. I finally said "I finished already, and that is the way I went! You need to turn there and go to I street, the 5K joins here." But, only 2 people listened to me. The cop directing people was on the phone, hopefully getting the confusion worked out. I felt REALLY bad for the halfers then!! At the finish line (after) I heard from a couple of them that they'd run almost a mile too long due to the confusion. Not well organized if you ask me. Oh well, I tried. My little 5 year old kept passing my 8 year old who usually runs faster than his 11 yr old sister. I don't know exactly what was up with him, but he eventually got a little back on the downhill and pulled ahead around the 2 mile mark. My 5 year old and dad with the stroller kept leap frogging us and I kept encouraging him when he wanted to walk. For a little guy he did a GREAT job. He always says "I can't do this!" I then have to remind him that he has done this 3 times before and that he'll be fine. He makes me laugh. When we got to the end I peeled off so that I didn't go over the finish mat twice and really screw things up for the timers. Little guy finished in 41:30, my 5 year old was just 15 seconds in front of him and Dad edged him out by just 9 seconds due to chip time. Lauren, my 11 yr old was the best finisher of the family taking 7th in her AG and doing a 32:04, not bad for a swimmer that doesn't run...except in races. Not sure I can really count my 5K of 41 min as running, but I'm going to anyway.
So, we all had a great time and despite the uphill my hubby still survived. Everyone loved the post race pasta and ice cream. I could barely stomach the pasta, but the bite I had tasted good. They were handing out fliers for Thriller and my hubby thought it was for the zombie run and he just said to them "I'M NEVER RUNNING AGAIN!" Ha! Made me laugh, he knows he will. He does whatever I tell him to do :) Well, here it was 9:50 and we had 3 different commitments to get to in Herriman at 10AM. This wasn't going to turn out well. So, I didn't have time to wait for people, visit, chat or check out results. I just had to run the mile back to the car and get home. Hubby took the kids to the other car and then I told him where to meet me so that we could trade cars and he could go to help family move while I took David to football. The best part was, even with a banana in one hand, a half eaten creamie in the other, medal around my neck and lovely slow legs that were tired and sore and hammies that were all cramped up and not extending, I still made it to the car before he drove there. I even had time to knock and see if Ally was home or not, drink, finish my banana and creamie and get my sweatshirt on. Oh yeah, I'm cool like that :) On the way home, I was thinking I'd probably done too much too soon. I was more exhausted as I passed the mile 21 sign along where the marathon joins with the half than I was at SGM mile 21. My legs were cramped, sore and my feet were achy. Poo. This would take recovery. All I wanted to do was lay down and sleep. The rest of the day was worse than marathon hang over, I'd certainly beat myself up well. Luckily Sunday morning I woke up refreshed and it didn't feel quite so bad anymore. I still think I need to take it easy this week, but I'm glad I just don't feel like a train ran me over anymore!
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