Things 1 and 213.1 miles. I survived. But only by the skin of my teeth. Shelle and I got up just after 4 in the morning, dressed up as Dr. Seuss' "Things" and were on the first bus out of the parking lot at 5:30, shuttling us up to Aspen Grove where we proceeded to wait over 3 hours for the race to begin.
Obviously, we weren't the only "Things" on the mountain. I think there ended up being 5-6 pairs, but we definitely had the best hair!
The first 5 miles were straight. down. hill. And they flew by. At least until mile 5. I believe someone then proceeded to drop a brick wall right in front of me. It really was a beautiful run, full of panoramic views of Mt. Timpanogos and trails winding through canopies of aspens shedding golden leaves. Admittedly, though, my eyes were usually on the cement right in front of my feet. Second only to natural childbirth, this was definitely the hardest physical accomplishment on my bucket list. But totally worth it!
Awful picture, but squinting without my glasses, I'm pretty sure I was screaming silently, "WHERE IS THE STINKIN' FINISH LINE!?!?"
When we finished, we guzzled water, gobbled oranges and tried our hardest not to fall over and die. I ran on Saturday. 3 days ago. I am JUST beginning to feel less crippled and am finally regaining my ability to walk almost normally. When the race ended, I thought to myself that I would never put myself through it again. But now, 3 days later, I'm already planning to participate in next year's Halloween 1/2. Anyone want to join up? I'm already brainstorming costume ideas . . .
I hoped to finish in 1:55 minutes, thinking that was totally optimistic, best-case scenario. I ended up running 13.1 miles in 1:49:48, taking 58th place in my age group (24-29), 265th female runner and 588th overall. Considering there were close to 3000 runners, I'm feeling pretty accomplished! And Michelle beat her time from last year by 9 minutes!
Oh, and just because it deserves mentioning, the 1st place runner crossed the finish line at 1:05. Seriously? I'm pretty sure he's superhuman or something.
6 comments:
Love it!!! I never saw the pic with all the "things" running! Also...I figured out the best costume for next year...I'm dying to tell you! Call me and I'll let you know!!!
Emery, congrats to you! You look awesome in your costume. I was thinking that might be annoying to run with a wig on your head, but you did it! Seriously, I admire you so much for setting a goal and finishing it. I have it in my mind to run a half marathon one day but I just don't know about that. Did you follow a certain training plan online or something? Just curious.
Way to go, Emery! Love the idea of a Halloween run with costumes and all. But I must agree with Sarah: How in the world can you run with a wig on???
YOU are super-human. Way to go chica!
WOW girl you are amazing!!
You ROCK! Way to go!
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