Pain You Enjoy

06/09/12

My goal this time around was to beat my first time (St George Half Marathon was 2:12:56) and I really wanted to have a strong finish.  My younger sister Amy was the only one crazy enough in my family willing to train and run it with me.  My two cousins from BYU-I were running the full marathon and their family came out from Chicago to cheer them on.

We woke up at 3:30 AM to bus up to the starting line, so this isn't the most flattering picture taken at 4:00 in the morning.

The starting line was up Provo Canyon (the full marathon started in Wallsburg above Deer Creek Reservoir). It was a beautiful morning, just a little chill but not cold. The course wasn't as downhill as I thought it would be (and there was a head wind), even though it was a drop in elevation the canyon still has quite a bit of uphill. I grew up at the mouth of Provo Canyon so I really felt like I was running in my own backyard.  Mile 8 we came out of the canyon and started down University Ave and I was still feeling good.  My parent's neighborhood was right in front of mile 9 and my whole family was outside to cheer us on.

 Amy is in the pink top black shorts

and I'm just behind her yellow top blue shorts

Nick joined me at my parents house and my girlfriend Connie joined us at Wills Pit stop, they both finished the last few miles with me.  About mile 10 I hit my wall and started to slow down, Amy had already taken off and was ahead of me.  Nick and Connie were amazing support running next to me and encouraging me the last (and hardest) few miles. I remember seeing mile marker 11 and thinking only 2 more miles, that's only 20 more minutes.  The finish line was on Center St in Provo in front of the Tabernacle and I could see it down University Ave but it felt SO FAR AWAY!  At 100 N the finish chute started and Connie and Nick left me (but still ran along the side) I remember Connie yelling above the crowd "RUN AMBER RUN! PUSH IT!!!"  I don't where or how but I just kicked it up and crossed the finish line strong. 

 TIME 2:03:05

I beat my previous time by almost 10 minutes! My average pace time was 9:23 min/mile!!

Amy did awesome and finished in 1:58:02 We waitied around for my cousins to finish the full marathon. Austin was hoping to qualify for Boston unfortunately he didn't but he still made amazing time 3:28:57

This was Ethan's first marathon and poor guy starting cramping with 12 miles left but he still finished with a time 4:21:05

Watching the full marathoners cross the finish line almost almost makes me want to run a full marathon 26.2 miles!  Who know's maybe next year? EEK!  I know I'm talking crazy talk but guess what I'm doing this weekend?

RUN, DRIVE, SLEEP (??) REPEAT

Stay tuned.......