Salt Lake City Half Marathon recap

This had to be one of the funnest race weekends I've ever had! On Friday afternoon I headed up to SLC to meet up with Annie, Shantelle (my roommate) and Brooke (friend from AZ). Me and Annie picked up our race stuff (shirts, number) at the expo then headed over to the brand spanking new City Creek Mall, which is right across the street from Temple Square. Beautiful mall, with awesome stores. It's an outdoor mall that has a roof that can close when it rains or snows. How cool is that? Anyway, we met Shantelle at Cheesecake Factory to carb load it up, and my was it the most delicious carbo-loading I have ever done! Haha. I even splurged and bought a slice of their famous cheesecake. It was heaven. Then we walked around the mall, we kept marveling at how nice it is!

Me and Brooke outside good old H&M

We stopped by temple square for a little bit, it is absolutely gorgeous in the spring time!! Love!

Love all these girls!

Annie (roommate from freshman year) and Shantelle (roommate from this year!)

 Well, onto the race recap:) I stayed with Annie and her husband and baby Jack at her grandparents house, just a couple minutes south of downtown SLC. We got a bit of a late start in the morning and made it to the starting line with barely ten minutes to spare! Needless to say, we jumped in the porter potty line, and I was actually still in the porter potty when they did te countdown. Haha! No biggie, there was so many people that it took me a couple minutes to even get to the starting line!

And then we were off! The first couple miles were downhill, which was so nice because it got me used to running so early in the morning. At first I was planning on shooting for a 2:15 race at least, since it was my first race in about 6 months and I didn't really think I was in that great of shape. But to my surprise, I fell into a pretty fast pace fairly easily, and so I decided to see what I was really capable of.

My first splits were pretty good, and in the middle of the race I was throwing out 9:45 and even 9:30 miles, which is UNHEARD of for me! There weren't any real hills until between miles 4 and 5, but they were pretty gradual and I kept pace. The course was so great, all through residential neighborhoods and even through Sugar House, where I threw out my fastest miles around miles 8 and 9. Mile 10 we ran a lap around one side of a huge park, and there were some people holding some hilarious signs (including a great "That's what she said" joke) that got my energy back up. Those last three miles were mine! By that time I was on pace for just under a 2:10, which meant a new personal record was within reach!

And then at mile 11.5, it appeared. The hill that went on for what felt like an entire mile. I'm sure the race directors were cracking up when they decided to take us up State Street, because that hill was AWFUL. I had to walk, I was so mad!! It was so long that I couldn't see where we were to turn off of State Street onto South Temple, not until I was getting closer did I see people veering towards Temple Square. Then I finally turned the corner, and there it was, only half a mile away! The finish line! Looking at my Garmin watch, I realized I would have to sprint for it if I wanted a new PR, so sprint for it I did.

 I crossed the finish line in 2:10:23, a measly FOUR SECONDS from beating my time at the Halloween Half, which was a big deal for me since the Halloween Half is a much faster course. But I was so happy with it!! Best race yet!

Picture time--- it says "proof" in big letters because these are screen shots from off of my phone...yes, I did steal the pictures. Whatever. They charge too much anyway.

This was at mile 10 in the park, the camera guys were trying to get us to look happy and celebrate, so I did:)

Sights set on the finish line.

Brooke's mom caught a picture of me sprinting by!

Annie freaking rocked this race, got a 1:49, and she gave birth in November!! Super woman!!

Shantelle came out to watch us, she's basically the best roommate ever!

Oh hey there, Elder D. Todd Christoffersen. Just chilling at the finish line in his Apostle attire!  (Yes, we are those people who take pictures with Apostles. Don't judge.)

Anyway, this race taught me a lot about myself, namely, that I can push myself more than I thought. it made me so excited for the Utah Valley Half on June 9th, that race will be rocked, mark my words!! Now, it is finals week and then home for almost two weeks!! CANNOT WAIT.