I'm hoping my husband jim doesn't hate me after today - I promised him that I would run with him for this race but it didn't actually happen that way. It's hard to ignore my competitive side even though I'm pregnant.
Anyways I always love running this race and have done it almost every year for the past 8 years or so. This was the first time with a baby in utero though. They do such a great job with it - Lots of yummy food at the end, beautiful scenic zion, as well as a finish line band and a unique little ghost town to explore. Plus it is always good weather......
Except for this year. Forcast said to expect 30s to 40s, and maybe some rain. We got a bit more than that. It was fine at the beginning but by mile 3 we were being pelted in the face by a snow storm.
I ran the first 3 with jim, he hasn't been training much but he does always surprise me. Well he was a little more out of it this year - His first 3 miles ended up averaging 8:15- 8:30 with the downhill. I was so itching to go and it was hard to hold back - I was feeling surprisingly fresh and ready to bust it out. There weren't many girls this year though normally it is quite competitive.
When the snow hit, I had my excuse - I just had to get to the end quickly cause I was miserable. I was so cold already and not exerting enough energy to stay warm ( i didn't tell him that though). So even though it was snowing I enjoyed passing a bunch of people though most weren't happy after seeing my preggo belly. I had one lady that really pushed me to end. I slowly inched on her over 2 miles, and then she challenged me for the last mile. My last 3 miles surprised me as I pulled out 3 - 7:15s. I wasn't exerting too much and the baby and my body felt good. My race goal was 50 min or less and I got 49 min. Totally happy with that! 2nd place finished only 2 min ahead of me.
I was absolutely freezing by the end, and our clothes were not there yet! I didn't get to enjoy anything at the end as I jumped on the shuttle right away.
I'm so so so grateful that I've been able to run this long and I hope it continues 15 more weeks:) | 