Provo River Half Marathon-I'm probably a little crazy

This morning we got up bright and early so I could be on a bus at 5 am to take me approximately 12 miles up Provo canyon. The fact that I was I even would sign up for something that would require me to get up at such an insanely early hour was my first indication that I might be crazy. I decided that I wasn't planning on running it very fast or being competitive in this race at all because I'm 3 and a half months pregnant (surprise! if you didn't already know) and the desire to sleep has trumped any desires that might have been inside me to train for a race that I signed up for before the option of being pregnant even crossed my mind. Lets review- super early in the morning + pregnant + lack of training + 13.1 miles = Crazy.

While I was at the top waiting for the sun to come up and for the race to start I started talking to a girl that was standing by herself. We had a nice chat- she lives in provo and is a nurse at Timpanogos hospital and this was her first half marathon too. After a while a girl form my previous ward Holly Theodore walked by on her way to the toilets and said hi. She ended up coming back and talking with us while we all waited. I ended up waiting at the top in the cold dark canyon for about 2 hours until the race started and the sun came up more. The race started a little after 7 and I started out the first three miles right next to Holly. It was nice to have someone to run with that I knew for a bit. At about three miles she picked up the pace (or I slowed down... but I think she sped up) and I wasn't quite feeling like keeping up; I tried for a bit and then caught up with the other girl I had been talking to before the race started. I ran with her until about mile 4 where we parted ways so I could take a potty stop at Vivian park. I took a quick stop and grabbed some water then was back on my way. I was doing pretty good to keep up about a 10 minute mile pace as I plodded down the trail by the provo river.

I told Jon he should come and cheer me on at about Bridal Veil Falls because it seemed like it would be easily accessible and around the middle of the race. I got to mile 6 which was pretty close to the falls and this is where I started to realize I probably will need to walk. I tried to keep running because I knew I would probably see Jon in the parking lot of something, so I ran and saw Jon handing out water with the Eatough (not quite sure how to spell that) family. Jon told me afterward that he had recognized them from my dad's 50th birthday party. I thought it was kinda cute that Jon was passing out water to the runners with my parents friends and their family. The next part of the course turned back toward the falls on a road that leads to some campsites and stuff. I walked a lot on this part out past the falls and then back on the same road. At this point I still was running quite a bit though.

The course then went through Nunn's park and rejoined the trail that follows the river down the canyon. I stopped here for my second potty stop. Walking down the stair out of the potty nearly killed me. My joints were just aching from ponding along the mostly down hill trail. I ran for a bit but I reminded myself that I didn't want to kill myself or my unborn child so from about mile 9 to 12 I pretty much walked the whole way. I would run up any uphill parts of the trail (which weren't many) and then if I felt like running (which wasn't very often at this point). While I was walking this part I kind of just wanted to stop and lay down and take a nap, but I figured I probably wouldn't get up for a few hours if I did that and Jon would be very worried.

At about mile 12 I decided I would try to run a bit more. At around this time, maybe a little earlier, I was starting to feel very hungry and was looking forward to the promised fruit and pancakes at the end of the race. I had got water at all of the water stations along the way, there were probably 5 or 6, so I was well hydrated but the bagel I had eaten on the bus ride up was no longer sustaining me. I jogged and walked the last mile and finished the race with a time of 2 hours and 55 minutes (the stop watch I had been timing with said 2:51:58, but the big one at the end said 2:55 so it was somewhere in that range). I was happy to be finished and see my hubby waiting there for me. I grabbed a huge slice of watermelon and had Jon grab me some pancakes. The pancakes were kinda flat but they tasted amazing. I had Jon feeding me bites of pancake between bites of delicious watermelon. After I finished my watermelon and pancakes I grabbed another large piece of watermelon and got super sticky with juice as I ate it while we walked to the car.

We stopped at Borders and Jon got a free "glitter ball" (bouncy ball with glitter in it) that he found a coupon for online. He picked one with purple and silver flower shaped glitter pieces for me. He then dropped me off at home and I limped across the lawn and up the stairs to the bathroom to shower. Jon had gone to buy a bag of ice because I wanted some to ice my aching joints. I showered then took a nap.

I'm still pretty tired and my joints hurt, but I think overall me and baby are ok. I don't have any other races planned for the up coming months, but right now I am perfectly fine with that. I would probably consider doing a shorter race in the near future, but I don't want to think about that right now.