Each Day Is a Gift

I set out to have FUN this weekend and I DID!!! :) :) :) :)

Karen, her husband, Mark and two youngest daughters, Abby and Grace were so kind to let me and Carolyn ride down with them and stay at her sister's house in Santa Clara.  Us girls giggled all the way which kept our driver, Mark, entertained the whole time! :) :) :) 

We hit the sack around 10:30pm.  The Tylenol PM did magic, slept like a log for 7 hours.  Woke to sound of heavy rain at 7am.  Luckily temp was 35 and NO wind when we drove to the Dixie Center.  Saw lots of friends: RAD and her kids, BeMo, Rob & Mindy,  Kelli, JoseJ, Walter, Toby, Collette, Suzette, Lowell, Annie, Auhna...

I had no time goal other than to have fun running with Karen.  She wanted to run sub-2 so I suggested that we lined up between the 1:55 and 2:00 pace groups.  We spotted Lowell and Suzette standing by the guard railing while we were walking amass to the starting mat.  They jumped in to join us and we found ourselves behind the 2:10 group where Carolyn was.  Ran a little with Lowell and the gang then Karen and I took off at the first turn where there was some passing room. 

Mile 1 ~ 9:14.  Knee owies hurting.  Clunky strides.  Crowded.  Ran a little with Toby.

Mile 2 ~ 8:54.  Nice and easy.  Skipped the first aid station which was too crowded.

Mile 3 ~ 8:38.  The mile markers came up short.  Saw the 1:55 pace group about 1/4 mile ahead. 

Mile 4 ~ 8:25.  A bit too fast but feeling warmed up and good. :)

Mile 5 ~ 8:58.  Beginning of a gentle incline.  Walked thru the aid station.  Saw Collette. So glad I kept my light jacket on because even though it got warm at times, there was a constant shift of wind...with the light rain off and on, it would get chilly.  Also glad to have the gloves off and on throughout.

Mile 6 ~ 9:18.  Uphill. Kept smelling burning stove smoke, started to cough a little so I took the inhaler.

Mile 7 ~ 9:31.  Big hill.  Took gu.  Had to walk to the aid station table off the road and waited for a cup of water.  Told Karen if I slowed down to just keep going.  But she didn't we both kept a steady effort.  All those hilly trail runs we did together really pay off.

Mile 8 ~ 8:13.  Steep downhill.  Took short quick strides and passed lots of people.  Karen didn't chase after me.

Mile 9 ~ 8:44.  Caught up to the 1:55 group.  Passed them but only to be passed again when I stopped to drink at the aid station.

Mile 10 ~ 8:28.  Ran close behind the pace group.  Wanted to pass them but decided to be patient and hope Karen will catch up.

Mile 11 ~ 8:51.  A slight little incline and sharp turn onto the road.  Walked to drink at the aid station.  Caught back up to the pace group but could not pass them due to 5-6 runners deep/abreast. 

Mile 12 ~ 8:14.  I don't know where this comes from.  Legs feeling fine.  Breathing nice.  Good to finally run at tempo pace on flat trail.  :)  

Mile 13 ~ 8:06.  Passed the 1:55 group at the beginning of this mile.  The pacers whom I never met or talked to, hollered:  "GOOD JOB!  GO girl and don't let us catch you!" :)  Concentrated on reeling in people.   Saw Kelli running back on the course about 0.2 to the finish.  She ran a little bit with me.  THANKS, Kelli!!! :-)  Felt like a million bucks when I heard Teena and all of Karen's family cheering me in.  :) :) :)

After crossing the finish, I turned and waited for Karen.  She came in at 1:55:35.  SO SO SO PROUD of her.  Carolyn who hasn't run much the last few weeks and was going to run the 5K until we convinced her to run the Half finished in 2:07 thanks to the pacing expertise of Kim! :)  So so so happy and proud of Carolyn! :)

Am very pleasantly surprised to see that this is my 6th St. George Half with the fastest finish time.  I think the course is a bit short.  My Garmin registered 12.98.  However, I think this course has more elevation net gain and so many more turns than last year's.  AND, I am SUPER HAPPY that I finally broke a *standing trend* in this race of always finishing 4th in my AG! :) :) :)  No, I didn't take podium...but for some silly reason I feel much better not being 4th!  Some old lady from NM beat me to it by 8 seconds, whew! :) :) :) :)

Waited under the frozen yogurt tent (because it was raining hard and I was freezing) for Lowell and others.  Finally left and met Lowell, Suzette and their spouses, RAD and Karen's family at Cracker Barrel for a nice lunch and chit chat.  Took a nice hot shower and headed to Karen's parents house to pick up the little girls.  Left St. George around 2 and didn't get home until 8:30 because of the scary blinding snow storm! :-?  Mark was kept awake and alert with our story telling...THE END!!!  :)