Snow Canyon Half

Finishing the Snow Canyon Half Marathon was probably one of the most surprising accomplishments of my life. I never thought I would run a half marathon-- let alone WANT to run one. And I doubt I would have done it on my own.

In fact, when my roommate Annika (the one in orange) told me about the race, I thought, "No way." But when she mentioned it again, this incredible feeling came over me: you can do it! And I committed before I could stop myself.

Training was hard. I looked up a schedule online: three 4 miles runs, two days of cross training, one long run, one rest day. Every week. I didn't follow the schedule exactly, but I did run about 4 times a week. And I did four long runs before the race (6 miles, 6 miles, 7 miles, and 9.5 miles). Some days, I thought, "Why am I doing this?" My mom wondered the same thing. I told her that I felt like Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. One part of me really wanted to do it and the other part did not.

The truth is, I didn't really realize much I wanted to run it, until I thought I couldn't. On the Tuesday before the race, I hurt my foot. I'm not really sure how, but it was bad enough that I limped around Wednesday and Thursday. I was so upset about it, I refused to even talk about whether or not I would run the race. But I thought I probably wouldn't be able to. On Friday, I decided I would go down to St. George prepared to run and just see. After talking to Georgia and Becca I thought I probably wouldn't do it. I didn't want to injure myself. One race is not worth months of injury.

It wasn't until 10 o'clock Friday night that I decided what I would do. I went for a grandma run up and down the street in front of Annelies's grandma's house where we were staying. And my foot felt okay. I decided that I would talk to the race officials in the morning, and ask them what they thought. But really in the back of my mind I knew I had to start that race. There was no way I could get this far without at least trying.

So the next morning, we woke up at 6 am, ate breakfast, drank tons of water and gatorade, and stretched out. At 7:30 we left for the high school, which was conveniently only 4 blocks away. I talked to the race officials, and they said that if I couldn't finish the race, they could pick me up at an aid station in a golf cart. Sounded good to me. So, we got on the bus that drove us to the starting line.

Driving 13 miles is not a good feeling when you know you will be running the whole thing back. But we tried not to think about that. And to be honest, at that point, I still kind of thought I wouldn't have to worry about it. Ha!

When we got to the top, there was a 1/4 mile long line for the port-a-potties and we all had to GO! So it was only as the gun went off that I made it to the start. No time to think, just time to start. Annika ran the first mile with me--down, down, down hill. And my foot felt okay, so I told her she could take off. And she did-- and finished 30 minutes before me! Yeah Anni!

The second mile was good too, and so was the third. By the first aid station, I knew I could finish the race. The two miles uphill were even fine because I was focused on looking for Julianne, Annika, and Allison who were ahead of me coming back down the other direction. I got to high-five all three!

It was the best run of my life: red cliffs, blue sky, and lots of endorphins! I crossed the finish line happy and strong at 2:31:27.