33rd Place!

Yes friends, I finished. After a couple of months of training, I ran the Teton Dam Half Marathon on Saturday, June 12th at 7:30AM. It was about 5o degrees, 9 mph winds, and a lot of hills. I ran the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 9 minutes- averaging 9 minute and 51 second minute miles. My goal was to finish between 2:15 and 2:17, so I was pretty shocked to find that I finished in only 2:09. My placeing was 33rd out of 77 for my age division (20-24 female).

I have the best husband. He woke up at 6:30, got himself and the kids ready (and fed), then drove up to Rexburg to cheer me on all morning. I saw him at mile marker 5, 7, 10, and of course the finish line. Lillie cheered really loud for me, too. I loved it. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge the battery in our camera, so I have no real pictures of me actually running. This could possibly be a good thing, because I'm not sure I look so great in my running action shots! The following pictures were taken about 3 minutes after I finished. Thanks Dana for bringing a working camera.

As you can see, my sister Dana ran it with me (or I ran it with her). She's so fast, even after having 5 kids she still pulled in a time of 1 hour and 51 minutes! She placed 3rd in her division. I'm so proud of her! We didn't really train together (obviously) due to the fact that she runs a lot faster than I can, but she still motivated me to even attempt this feat.

In the end:

I'm proud of myself. My left knee hurts. But, I accomplished something that I didn't realistically see myself ever doing. The last time I've ever ran 13 miles was with my good friend Michael Holt... and that was almost exactly 5 years ago. The training was hard (not gonna lie), but not impossible- just hard to get used to at first. I worked hard, woke up early, and pushed through it. It's hard to find time to run with 2 kids around!

I also have some people to thank: First of all, My Husband for his unconditional support. At times I was slightly offended when he almost forced me do my runs during the week, but he knows I'm a natural quitter. Couldn't have stayed motivated without him! Plus, he so willingly watched the kids for me, and even has driven out to find me about 1/2 hour into my long weekly runs just to bring me water.

Second, my sister. If she can find time to run with 5 kids, then I can.

And third, the cast of Glee. Couldn't have done it without you, all!

So.... I challenge all of YOU to make a goal and work hard to accomplish it. YOU can do it. While I was running around mile 11 or so on Saturday, I started thinking about what I was doing 6 months ago. Nothing. Jack was 2 months old and I specifically remember not working out and not even being able to run one mile. I mostly just sat around all day and considered my exercise walking around at Winco once a week, or nursing.

Moral of the Story:

Do it.