We headed to Ashton Thursday night and lounged around Friday. This morning (Saturday) Mike headed off to the buses a couple hours before I needed to head out. They started the full Marathon 2 hours before the Half. I was really nervous and had not done very many long runs prior to this, and had not been running as much due to health problems. I decided at the last minute, that I really did want to do this. I knew I would kick myself if I didn't. I figured I would end up coming in last, but decided I would go for it. What better place to do your first Half Marathon, than a gorgeous area like Mesa Falls... that I have loved since the first time I took the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway. Plus this race did not have a time cut off. They would keep the finish line open until every person came across. So I wouldn't have to stress about not making it on time.
So I am up at the start of the Half Marathon with all the other 280 runners waiting for our race to start. We were all cheering on the full marathoners as they went past. i figured Mike had already past before I even got up to the start line so I didn't think I would see him. Suddenly he comes running past scanning the crowd. He looked at me, told the guy he was running and chatting with that he would be back, ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and kiss before continuing on his way. The crowd LOVED it! A big cheer went up. Plus I had tons of people comment how cute it was and how amazed they were he still had that much energy half way thru a marathon. It was cute and it made me feel loved that he would stop running in the middle of a race just to give me a hug and kiss.
So finally the Half Marathon started. It veered off onto a trail for the first couple miles. Apparently, I am not a good trail runner because I tripped on a rock and scraped up my leg pretty good. See picture below...
It hurt pretty bad. I got up, took stock and decided I could still run. I was determined that I would not get a DNF (Did not finish) on my first Half Marathon. So I ran it all. It was hard... and very painful. The salt from my sweat hurt every time it would drip down my sore leg. Plus every time my foot pounded down, it sent jolts of pain up my leg. Suddenly, my goal of not coming in last changed to a goal of just finishing the race.
Mike meanwhile, did really well which surprised us both since he had just run Park City Marathon last week. two marathons a week apart is crazy! He managed to come across at 3:13 and was 5th overall... 2nd in his age group. He had a really good race. I am soo incredibly proud of him.
He finished, went back to our little cabin we stayed in and packed up and checked out (since check out was prior to when I was going to finish). He then headed back to meet up with me. He met up with me around 3 miles from the finish line. He could not have come at a better time. I was dead! There had been a horrible hill thatilled me. So I was down to walking. Part of that was because how painful my leg was. So he walked (with little spurts of running) to the finish line with me. It was so great having him there for support! That meant he did a total of 32 miles today. I was very happy to see him and he was very supportive and understanding when I was having problems running.
The finish line was finally crossed, and then I got some wipes and wiped down my leg. It hurt like heck when Mike started scrubbing the dirt out of it, but I survived. We then went and got our free Huckleberry Milk Shake and headed to West Yellowstone to finish out our vacation.
It was a hard race, and it sucked scraping my leg like I did, but I am glad that I did it. I am glad I can say I have run a Half Marathon, even with a bloody leg. I am glad its over though. I managed to do it in 3:48:18 which is a much better time than I expected. Especially since I did a lot of walking this race. That makes me feel much better about cutting my time down to 3:30 by the Half Marathon in Moab in October. I honestly think I can do it!
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