If you happen to take notes on all of the things I write on this blog, as I'm sure you all do, you will remember that one of my New Year's resolutions was to run a half marathon. My purpose in this resolution was not to actually compete in the race (let's be serious, I'm no runner) but to give myself a goal to keep me exercising. So this goal was less of a race goal as it was an exercise goal. Well, it worked: I ran very faithfully this spring out of complete fear and dread. I knew if I didn't train, I'd likely hate myself the day I was called upon to run 13.1 miles. After four months of running, I was pretty happy with my progress. So happy, in fact, that the week of my race, I signed up for another half marathon in September to keep me running through the summer. Good thing I signed up before running the actual race. Yikes.

Having already been on runs almost as long as the race itself, I wasn't really dreading the running going into the race. What I was dreading more was the waking up at 4:30 am in order to get to the finish line by 5:00 in order to be bussed up to the start line for a 7:00 am start. Yuck.

As a pleasant surprise on my very early morning, I woke up to these encouraging notes on my mirror from Whitney. It says "Good luck Kaley. Love ya!" Isn't that nice? 

It was pretty cold that early in the morning and there was a lot of standing around up at the start line. Fortunately, they had some fires we could stand around for warmth. The race started up at South Fork park in Provo Canyon, came down through the canyon on the Provo River Parkway, and ended in downtown Provo. The beginning was all downhill, so I was feeling pretty good about things. Here I am on the course, looking super athletic. I brought my Colts along with me for support. They were great.

I actually did better than I thought I would. I told myself I couldn't walk until I got halfway through the 13.1 miles, but I actually made it through mile 8 before taking a break. After that, I think I probably walked half the time. My legs were so  tired. So overall, I probably walked about 2-3 miles of it, which I feel pretty good about! My final time was 2:37:37.

The last few miles were obviously the hardest. My friend DeeAura ran the 5k (which was the last 5k of the half marathon course), and she was at the finish line to cheer me on to the end. It was nice to see an encouraging face! I've only ever done one half before and it was in Louisville, KY. One thing I remember about that race was how many spectators there were along the whole course. A lot of it was in residential areas, so people would just sit outside their houses cheering the runners on. I remember how helpful that was, since the running becomes so monotonous. This Provo race was beautiful scenically (is that even a word?), but there really wasn't anyone along the way cheering except for those who were working the water stations.

I didn't bring my camera, since I didn't want to run with it. I had to take a picture when I got home with my bib and medal. I was so stiff by this point. I didn't really feel soreness in my muscles, just pain and stiffness in my hips and knees. The soreness came the next day and was pretty intense, but it went away pretty quickly.

Overall, I'm really glad I did it and I'm excited for the one I have coming up in September! This one is in Indianapolis, so I'm excited to run all around the city.

Resolution #1: completed. I'm doing pretty well on my other resolutions, too. So far I've talked to each member of my family every month, which I've found has increased my excitement for moving home. I'm so excited to see them all instead of only talking on the phone! I'm also on track with my temple attendance, and I'm working on my Utah Bucket List. I already read my five classic novels. I've been substitute teaching the past few months, which in middle school and high school translates to giving them instructions then sitting around. I've been capitalizing on this free time and I've read probably about twenty books so far this year. Some have been classics, others I've just read for fun (including The Hunger Games trilogy twice through...).