Running the Salt Lake Half Marathon was a last minute decision! I was a bit nervous about doing it...my shins have been very sore and I was nervous about racing the Saturday before a big training week. But I'm glad I did it and (as with every race) I learned a lot. I got up at 4:25am, ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich, took my Immodium AD and headed to Salt Lake. I met Rachel at Trax dark at 5:40am. I saw some friends on Trax which is always fun! I lost Rachel when we got off the train and headed to a POP line. It was forever long and I knew I would be cutting it close making it to the start on time. Rachel grabbed my arm (right when I was putting on my vaseline) and ran me to a really short POP line. Talk about a great running friend! 
Rachel took her "magic mouthwash". Quite funny! 
We had a few minutes before the gun was to go off, so we headed to the start to see all the elite! It was awesome to finally meet Allie! Andrea and Emily already had smoke coming out the back of their shoes! 1:51:17
AP: 8:28 Mile 1 - 8:20 My goal was a 1:50 (I ran a 1:55 at SG Half and 1:52 at Dogtown...so I
thought that was a reasonable goal). I found the 1:50 pacer. Gun goes
off and that pacer sprinted out of the starting area. I was feeling
frustrated with myself that I couldn't keep up. I looked at my watch
and it said I was running around an 7:30 ish mile(during that split
second when I looked at my watch)...average pace for a 1:50 is 8:23. That pacer was at least 100 yards ahead of me. I had to quickly decide that I was going to run my own race regardless of the dumb pacer. Mile 2 - 8:27 I grabbed a quick water. I was worried I was going out too fast. My legs were a bit stiff.
Mile 3 - 8:16 Finally starting to warm up and felt like I was in the groove. Never saw that stupid pacer again.
Mile 4 - 8:10 Still worried I had gone out too fast.
Mile 5 - 8:21 Feeling good
Mile 6 - 8:41 Took a GU and walked through the water station. I got GU all over my hands and on my chin. During training I always stop to take a GU...I need to practice taking a GU on the GO! When I got through the water station, a little kid came running up behind me. One of the other runner's asked him his age "11 1/2". That totally ticks me off when "children" can beat me! I did pass him later on though!
Mile 7 - 8:24 I was still feeling very good.
Mile 8 - 8:25 I tried not to look at my watch until mile 10 and now that I look at these splits, I super pleased at how consistent they are (minus the GU water stops).
Mile 9 - 8:29 Started thinking, I only have 1 more mile until another GU and water stop.
Mile 10 - 8:27 Starting to get tired and just tried to hang on. Trying to mentally prepare for the hill at mile 12.
Mile 11 - 8:42 Going through the park. The water station came up sooner than I had expected and I quickly took my GU and water. My stomach was starting to feel pukey. I always seem to get pukey at the end of the race. Uggghhhhh....
Mile 12 - 8:49 I was officially out of gas. I started running next to this man and woman. It appeared that he was pacing this lady. He asked me for the distance and time off my watch. Then proceeded to give this lady pep-talks. I was in need of pep talks and hung with them. My breathing, going up the hill, became very labored and my stomach was getting pukier by the minute. I'm SO frustrated with myself that I stopped and walked for 10 seconds. WHY couldn't I have just run slower or just toughed it out. I was able to catch back up the the man and lady. State street seemed to take forever. I couldn't see people turning and I was growing wearier by the minute.
Mile 13 - 8:36, 1:04 I thought the finish line was at the Gateway, so when I turned off of State Street, I thought we still had a ways to go. Then I saw the arch and looked at the distance on my watch and knew it really was the finish. I started to speed up and pukes came on. I just kept swallowing them down. Ughhhh...
I grabbed some water and ran into my friend Janae. She and her hubby are so darn fast! I have mixed feelings about the race. For as many miles as I've been running, I feel like I should be able to go faster. But I couldn't. It frustrates me that I was starting to run out of gas at mile 10. This confirms I need to do more speed work ON THE TRACK. AND I just need to run more miles.
Running certainly keeps you humble! After I chatted with Smooth, Lowell and Rachel, I headed out to watch the winners of the marathon. The police escort for Fritz was pretty darn cool! While waiting for Allie to come, I ran into Jake and Andrea. Talk about a darn to earth, friendly pair! Allie looked great coming into the finish! When I got home, we needed to go to my son's soccer game and clean out the basement (we are finishing our basement and everything had to be cleared out). Stupid food storage. I'm officially tired!
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