Provo Half Marathon

Saturday I ran the Provo River 1/2 marathon. It was one of the most unorganized races I have ever run, but at the same time it was absolutely beautiful. It didn't feel like 13.1 miles at all. Maybe it was because it was mostly downhill. Or perhaps it was because you could never see very far ahead of you because the trail curves so much. Whatever the reason each time we would pass a mile marker I'd think, "Are you serious? That was fast!"

It was really cold to start. I ran the first quarter of a mile with my teeth chattering. It is a really weird feeling to run and have your jaw going nuts chattering your teeth together. It warmed right up as the sun came up. I'm glad it started as cold as it did because it never got too hot.
Another fun part of this race was that I saw my aunt Wendy and all of her kids there running the race. Each time I run a race alone I wish I had friends to run with. It makes me smile every time I bump into my aunt and my cousins. Side note my cousin Jordan got 8th place with a time of 1:19:27 NUTS!!!

The best part of the race was my time. I started feeling sick Wednesday night. My throat was killing me. Thursday I tried to doctor myself as much as possible but I kept feeling worse. Friday morning I felt horrible. Devin was sweet enough to "work from home" so I slept most of the morning and took it easy Friday afternoon. By Friday night I was feeling better but my nose was running like a faucet. I decided I'd just run and not worry about time. Well, the downhill factor made me run way faster than I had planned. When I passed mile 7 I looked down at my watch and was shocked! I thought I was running really slow because so many people were passing me, but it had only been an hour. Nothing like a surprise like that to get you to push and run a little faster. Long story short, I crossed the finish line just under 2 hours. (1:57:13) I've never run a half under 2 hours before! Thanks to all the hills, I couldn't have done it without you!