13.1 miles down

Last weekend my mom, Em, Quoia and I took a girls trip to St. George. We stayed with my grandma and grandpa who live there during the winter. Grandma and grandpa are just so sweet and love when people come to visit. They especially love Sequoia and I treasure every moment she gets to spend with her grandma and grandpa great. Not very many kids get that opportunity.

The main reason we took the trip was to run the Snow Canyon Half Marathon. About two months ago my cousin Holly, who lives in California and I don't get to see nearly enough, called and said she had registered for this race and wanted to know if Dillon and I would want to come cheer her on. Dillon didn't feel like he could take the time off work so I thought it would be a good chance to make it a girls trip and I knew my mom would be in since her sister was coming with Holly. Then I got thinking, that was just enough time to train for a half and I have kinda 'let myself go' since the academy. So I told Holly I'd do it with her! I knew Em would too since she is a crazy runner and just did a half about a month ago. So with that we were set to go.

I honestly had good intentions when it came to training. I was pretty diligent the first few weeks but kinda got lazy as the race approached. I told Em I was probably just going to do the 5K while they did the half. She gave me quite the guilt trip so I reconsidered. The Saturday before the race I had my mom drop me off at South Fork up Provo Canyon and I ran down to the parking lot. I figured it was about nine miles but in actuality it was probably only seven or eight. I decided if I could do that I could do this. Then I didn't run until the race, yes, I know, I'm dumb!

I really didn't have any expectations for myself. My only goal was to finish without stopping, walking or dying and I really didn't want to be last. The night before the race I asked Holly what she was hoping to run it in. She said about two hours and twenty minutes. I really had no perspective how fast or slow that was but knew if I didn't at least try to stay with her I wouldn't be able to pace myself and it would take me ALL DAY.

When the race started Emily took off. She said she wouldn't and that she would be slow but I knew that was a lie. Holly and I didn't see her until the finish line. I was amazed how good I felt and how fast the first few miles went. I was keeping up with Holly and gabbing her ear off. I was having a blast. We even talked about the next one we want to do together. Then, about mile six I started getting tired. I could tell I was slowing down and I didn't want to hold Holly back. I told her to keep going, I was right behind her. Well, not right behind but I had done so well that far and I didn't want to ruin it. I definitely slowed way down but I stuck to my weak goal of not stopping or walking, though walking may have been just as fast in some parts. After what felt like forever, I finally made it to the track and heard my little cheering section, and then the finish line!

Ahh, such a good feeling!!! And I did it in 2:17, with plenty of people behind me!!! Holly was right at 2 hours (did I mention she JUST had a baby in March) and Em, Ms. Speedster, 1:30 (3rd in her age group and 40th overall out of 2,000). We all did great and the course was absolutely beautiful. What an awesome experience.

After the race we headed to the outlets for some retail therapy to reward ourselves. As good as I felt when I was running I felt like crap after. But, lets be honest, you can't go to St. George and not shop!

It was nap time for Sequoia so I put her down and grandpa great was kind enough to 'baby tend' as he calls it, while we shopped. Shopping with no husband or kid, what more could a girl want???

Later that night we made a target run. I just had to throw this picture in cause it depicts how I felt that whole evening. We were pretty sore, so me and Em took turns on this:

Sequoia didn't mind either. She loved honking the horn, I guess she's maybe seen me do that a time or two in the car...

We ended the night with dinner and goodbyes to Holly, Spencer and Donette. It was so good to spend time with them.

The next day I was even more sore but still so happy I actually ran a half marathon. I kept asking Em, "Can you believe it?" I love my seester and love that we have similar hobbies/interests. I'm definitely going to rope her into more races with me, even if she does kick my trash!

While I was gone I know Dillon missed me terribly. But he apparently kept himself busy. He purchased new snowboarding boots and did his 'snow dance' in preparation for the opening of the season this weekend. Fortunately he put clothes on to take a self portrait of his new loves but was actually running around in just the hat, boots and his underpants for quite sometime....

Missed you too baby!