summer... so glad you're here.

It's been a very long wait 

for summer this year.

Thank you for coming!

the story of my first {almost} Half Marathon...

Call me crazy.

I like running and like to be challenged,

so when the company I work for offered to sponsor 

any employee wanting to participate in the 

Utah Valley Half or Full Marathon,

I thought, hey, why not try a Half Marathon?

I started training months ago... 

then injured my left achilles.

Thought maybe I should give up on the whole idea,

but once it healed, I decided to go for it.

Roland joined me in the goal of the Half,

which made it easier to train and stay motivated.

Yesterday was race day.

We had to get up at 3 am, yep. 

Why would anyone want to get up

at 3 am and run for 2+ hours, beginning at 6 am?

I don't know!

The race started in Provo Canyon near the Sundance turnoff

and ended in downtown Provo at the 

Provo Tabernacle Park - a beautiful 13.1 mile course.

We were doing pretty well on our run, 

keeping up good 10 min mile pace... 

then at the almost 8 mile mark, disaster strikes.

I am running along and somehow manage to trip 

on a piece of wire in the road, 

which caused me to go down - hard!

My left knee hit first, then both hands, 

followed by my face hitting the road

super hard - causing my front teeth to 

cut all the way through my upper lip.

Lovely!

At this point, we tried reaching Richard, Amie or Scott,

who were on their way to meeting us at the finish line.

I sent Roland on his way to finish the race,

while I waited for one of them to pick me up.

I was a bloody mess, but tried to clean up quickly

so we could make it to the finish line to cheer for Roland.  

We got there just a few minutes ahead of him,

so I decided to join him for the last little bit

so we could cross the finish line together.

Despite the mis-hap which caused a 10 minute delay,

Roland finished the Half in 2:12 - an excellent time for 

a first try with a frustrating delay that slowed him down!

Here is a lovely post-race shot of my beat-up mouth:

 Today, it looks 100 times worse... 

kind of like I have a piece of raw 

hamburger stuck to my upper lip.  

Special.

So, there you have it. 

My first Half Marathon that really wasn't.

Will I try again? 

Who knows!

Too many aches and pains today.

xxoo