Mt. Nebo Half Marathon 2013

It's done!  I did it!  I am really happy right now.  As I've written before, it kept nagging at me all summer long to see how I could do on a half marathon that I feel more prepared for.  I went into today planning for a 2:20 or better, but really hoping for a 2:09:59 or better.

I ran 13.19 miles in 2:09:03.

This is 41 minutes faster than I ran in April.  YES!!  I am shocked that I was able to average a 9:47 pace for 13 miles.  I haven't had many great runs the past few weeks, so I didn't feel like I was very ready.  Granted, the course had plenty of generous downhill, but that's still a tough speed for me to maintain.

Such a fun weekend, here's how it all went down:

On Friday, the kids and I drove down to Salem.  I left them with Grandma (thank you, Mom!), and I headed over to Payson to pick up my race shirt and bib.  When I went to Oregon, I told my awesome running friend, Dane, that I was running Mt. Nebo.  A few weeks later, he told me that he had decided to come to Utah and run the Layton Syracuse Half Marathon on August 31, and then stay the week and run Nebo and try to get a half marathon PR, which was his oldest one.  Very cool!

So Dane had a booth at the packet pick-up to sell/sign his books.  It was a 6-hour window of time for him to sit there, so I took him some food (free Subway!) and ended up staying and sitting with him for awhile.  It was really fun to listen to him talk to all of the runners, exchange stories and sell his books.  I am part of a running group on Facebook called Runners Anonymous, and one guy had an RA shirt on, so we knew each other online.  It was nice to put a face to Doran and Jody!  

Doran, Jody, me, Dane

After the pick-up ended, we got more food (because blue green-eyed Dane is such a fatty) and headed to Salem.  Dane had asked if he could crash at my parents' house to avoid having to drive back up to SLC for the night or get a hotel room.  It was fun to just relax, visit, watching hilarious YouTube clips and have him meet the kids.  Sadly, Nate ended up staying up in SLC because he wasn't feeling well.  I was disappointed not to have him with me.  :(

Of course because I had a big run today, Claire slept horribly last night, which means I did, too.  Every time!  I was not too happy when my alarm went off at 5 am.  We headed over to Payson High School and got loaded onto the buses.  "Can I sit by you?"  Dane's really good friend, Chris and his wife, met us there.  They were really great, I immediately liked them a lot.  The bus ride ended up being hilarious.  There was this girl sitting near us who LITERALLY did not stop talking (loudly) for the entire ride.  It started out annoying, but then once we realized that we had our own Kelly Kapoor, it became really entertaining.  When we got to the start, we went and stood in line at the Honey Buckets, where the hilarity continued.  We quoted Friends, Dane had the funniest story about a port-potty at one of his races, and he told me about this video.  It was a little chilly, so they had fire pits set up. I chatted with Dane and Chris for a few more minutes before we wished each other good luck and went to stand at opposite ends of the starting line pack.  ;)

I thought I'd be nervous, but I felt more excited than anything.  I knew that even if I ran horribly, I'd still run a lot better than I had in April.  I meandered over to the start area and found the 2:10 pacer.  (A pacer is someone runs with a sign with a finishing time on it.  They know exactly how to finish in that time, so if you can stick with them, you'll run that time.  Pretty cool.)  All along, I had planned on running near the 2:20 pacer, and then just seeing if I could eke out a little bit of speed towards the end, getting me into the upper teens.  But I got brave and changed my mind and decided to start with the 2:10 pacer and see what happened.

I ran the first mile with Cindy, another awesome RA runner, who I met in person for the first time about one minute before the race started.  She ended up running ahead of me pretty quickly though, and I was on my own for miles 2-5.  I felt good.  I was able to stay under a 10:00 pace and just tried to focus on my breathing.  I honestly did NOT think I could hold it for the entire race though.  I figured I'd push it until I couldn't, and then slow down.  I took a few Honey Stinger chews every 2 miles and grabbed some powerade at the aid stations.  I was nervous about getting a stomach ache or losing my energy, but I felt GREAT!  Around mile 5, I ended up running along side a woman, Candace, and we started chatting a little.  Like me, this was her 2nd half marathon.  We ended up running together for 5 miles.  It was fantastic!  We kept each other going and stayed in the 9's.  I started to think that my 2:10 goal might actually happen, and that thought alone kept my adrenaline going.

Around Mile 8, the downhill started taking it's toll, and my calves started tightening up.  I have never had any sort of pain in my legs when I've run, it's usually my feet or hips.  They started hurting pretty badly, and I got really nervous that I was going to have to walk and limp the last several miles, like I did in April.  But luckily once they started to ache, they didn't get any worse, so I was able to push through the pain until it eased up around Mile 10.

So this course is mostly downhill.  There were even a few little stretches of road where I could run into the 8:40's and not notice.  But the last 3 miles ended up having some slight rolling hills and flat stretches that were just awful, physically and mentally.  Candace stopped to walk for a bit at Mile 10, so I went on ahead.  I tried SO hard to keep my pace up during those little inclines, but I was just so exhausted by that point. I was really wishing my body was more trained to run this far, which it's still not.  I still have work to do!  Miles 11 and 12 were pretty rough.  But I pushed through and tried to not get discouraged.

I had decided earlier this summer to run this race in honor of Laycee.  Her parents gave me a bracelet of hers to wear while I ran, and she was on my mind the entire time.  When I reached the last mile, I looked at my watch and realized that if I could keep up a good pace, I was going to run under 2:10.  It sounds cheesy, but I "told" Lace that this was our mile.  And I kid you not:  I suddenly felt AMAZING.  I upped my pace and didn't feel any pain or exhaustion.  I even passed people.  A lot of people!  It was so awesome.  Thank you, Laycee!!

So at the end, you make a 90 degree left turn to run down the final stretch.  I had been doing my best to take the inside of all of the curves, and this last one was no exception.  I knew I was close to hitting 2:10, so I was pushing hard.  Right as I turned the corner, this lady and her kid were meandering across the street and walked RIGHT in front of me.  I missed smacking into them by about an inch.  I yelled at them to move, and the race volunteers standing there yelled at her, too.  She didn't apologize, flinch or even look at me.  I swear some people don't use their brains!!  I would have been beyond furious if she had made me miss my goal time, or worse, if I had run into her and fallen and gotten hurt or something.

When I turned down the last stretch and saw the glorious finish line, I was so excited!  The 2:10 pacers turned around and started cheering me on.  I saw Laycee's mom, dad and sister there holding a HUGE sign that said "4 Laycee. Thanks Rebecca."  It was absolutely PERFECT.  I was so so happy that they were there, especially since Nate wasn't.  It was the perfect ending to my race.

To get my 2:09 and to honor my best friend.  

After the race, I went and talked to her family.  David, Lori, Kristy and Kristy's family were there. They had 18 gorgeous roses for me, and I had to fight tears as I hugged them.  I was so touched that they had taken time out of their Saturday morning to come and support me. The Kooymans are like family to me, and I miss my Laycee every single day.  

After they left, I hobbled over to where Dane had set up another booth to sell books.  We were both anxious to see how the other did.  Turns out he PR'd by just a few seconds!  AWESOME!  He got 12th overall, 3rd in his age group and ran it in 1:20:29.  I am so happy for him!  Chris also got a PR, as did several members of the RA group.  Happy day!

May I just say that chocolate milk and watermelon have NEVER tasted so good!  Mmmmm!  What a great race!

Oh yeah, and I love my medal.  So purdy.  

Can't wait to do this race again next year and get a new PR (can I run this under 2 hours in 2014?  Hmmm, I think so!).  I'm so happy.  This went exactly how I hoped it would.  Actually a lot better!  I loved seeing and feeling results from all of my training this summer.  I have worked hard!  Time to start working on my other running goals.  I have a lot of them.

I love running!

Sunday/Monday note:  I have never been so sore in my life.  I cannot walk!  And the funny thing is, I've been in touch with 6 other people who ran this, and they all can't walk either!  The downhill didn't seem that steep when I was running it, but apparently it was!  But it's good.  The pain is so worth it!!