We did it! Michael and I completed our first half marathon and lived to tell the tale.
It all started out Friday afternoon when Michael still had a test to take, so I was on packing duty. I even had him make me a list of what exactly it was that he wanted so he could be as comfortable as possible. I headed home to pack and take a nap while he studied a bit more and took his test. The minute he got home, we were out the door and ready to go.
I am sad to report that this is our first legit road trip together alone our entire relationship! Pathetic huh? Anywhos, our first stop was in Scipio to visit Marty the Zebra. I have been talking Marty up to Michael for months about how cool he was and how excited I was for Michael to meet him because he was just so cute. So we stop at the petting zoo, but Marty is no where to be found. Discouraged, we go inside to get some treats and I asked the lady at the counter what had happened to Marty. She replied with a blank face,
"It died."
And that was that. No explanation, no remorse. No compassion. It was really quite sad. I of course called Lexi and we had a moment of silence over the phone and reminisced about our dear Marty friend that we grew to love so much after meeting him two or three times. (We are cool, not crazy, I promise.)
Back into the car it was. Being as this was the first half marathon that Parowan had sponsored, it was a wee bit unorganized. We were told in an email to go to facebook to get the rest of the details for where to pick up our packets and when, etc. So into the trusty GPS the address that was on facebook went, and that is where we ended up, which was in fact the Parowan Courthouse, that was LOCKED. I started to panic because I had no idea where to go next, and after knocking on the door, a kind janitor fellow opened it and suggested we go to the Library, to which we did, but still, no packets or running people were to be found. So I asked a nice lady on a swing where she would suggest going to find the registration, and she directed us to the City Center, but again no dice.
This whole ordeal lasted at least an hour, and the pick up time closed at 8 so I was beyond annoyed and stressed. We finally found a poster for the half and it said the starting place was the Iron County Fairgrounds, so we went there as our last resort. Of course that is where the packets and registration was. Ugh! At least we know where all of the government buildings of Parowan are now located. We got our packets with our super awesome get up and headed over to the Judds.
After chatting with Aunt Lynette and Uncle Kelly for a while, we figured we should get some food to tide us over for the race the next morning. We headed to the gas station that had a Subway and Taco Bell. You can probably guess that the Subway was closed and we got stuck eating Taco Bell, and boy oh boy, that is not something you want to eat the night before a race.
We went home and went to bed, had the worst gas all night, and then woke up for the race. I mentioned before that I was in charge of packing and I had packed the wrong pair of new Nike shorts Michael had put on his list! I felt horrible. He basically had to run in basket ball shorts and did not have a small enough pocket to put his Zune in, so he ran without any music at all and in big, baggy clothes. I felt like the worst wife ever. He of course was a champ and made appropriate clothing alterations to his tighty whiteys half way through the race to take care of his pain.
What a tank! I love him. Everything for this race was seriously against us it felt like. Our training had suffered for the last three weeks because life got in the way, you know, the important things like school, work, eating and somehow getting enough sleep. Our runs became few and far between. We were both trying not to get sick. We hadn't been at home for a huge chunk of those two weeks, so our diet had suffered. Our goal had become just to finish the dang thing and not come in last.
Thankfully, we did just that. We rode up on buses to the start of the race and were told the that start line was between those two big pine trees. Um, which two big pine trees? We were in the middle of a forest basically! We found the appropriate pine trees after waiting an hour to start and then off we went. Miles 1-3 were pretty rustic and rocky, I rolled my ankle a few times and used some choice language. We got to Mile 3 and had our first water break. Miles 3-6 were easy peasy. It was all downhill and felt like we got it done in no time at all. Then came another rest stop at Mile 9 and we were still going pretty good. The route was gorgeous.
Remember the yummy/not Taco Bell we had for dinner the night before? Pretty sure it made me feel like I was going to poo my pants, or have a pariseltic wave as Padre would call it, the entire race. Running with your booty clenched together is no bueno and down right scary. You hear horror stories all the time about runners losing control of their bowels and pooing themselves, and being tough enough to wipe it of and keep on going. I would be too mortified I think, and I kept my fingers crossed that that would not happen to me, and my booty tight to make sure it didn't happen.
About Mile 10 is when we left the canyon and ended up on the main road. This is also the time that I lost all motivation. I just got bored and annoyed with myself. I started running and then walking more than I should have, and my sweet Michael stayed with me and pushed me on. Mile 11 was the longest freaking mile ever, it seemed like it would never come. I had an orange and some gatorade that was more powder than anything, which was not a wise choice. I threw up bile and started to walk again. I made Michael go ahead of me because I did not want to hold him back. He fought me on it but eventually just kept running. I would alternate running and walking every block till the finish line.
The last half mile was uphill. It was hot. It basically sucked. I had been racing a girl that we would keep on passing each other, and beating her became my motivation. I started to go heal to toe on the hill, ducked my head, and kept going. Low and behold, there was the finish line and Michael cheering me on. It was over! Finally! Michael had a 2:07 time and I had a 2:09. He ended up being 8th in his age division and I was 19th. Wahoo! Taking everything into consideration, we were pretty pleased with our time and just glad to have accomplished something as big as that. It was the most we had ever run together and it just felt so great to be done.
To say the least, we were exhausted and hungry, so we hit up the Parowan Cafe for some grub and it was oh so good. Then we went back to the Judds and chatted some more. I love my extended family so much. They are just all so great and it was fun to have Michael get to know them a little bit better. We showered and rested up and then headed down to Zions so Michael could look at rocks because he likes rocks. We were beyond tired though after we did some shopping, so we decided to head on home. Pretty sure I literally slept until 3 pm on Sunday and it was HEAVENLY. I love me some sleep.Michael is a tank and hardly slept at all.
It was such a great little trip and of course I fell more in love with Michael. We are both walking around like penguins with sticks up our bums and it is quite entertaining. We cannot wait until we do another one, and hopefully for that one we will be more prepared.
We ran a half marathon! Wahoooo!
Here is our super pretty picture after the race.
