running the REVEL big cottonwood half marathon.

so humans are weird.
i don't know if it's because we are so removed from danger and physical labor that our predecessors dealt with on the daily- finding food, surviving wild animals, cold, heat, dehydration, starvation, enemies with weapons, etc., that our lives are kind of boring and safe, but we do weird things to feel alive.

in april or may, my sister in law and bff, liana, asked me if i wanted to run a half marathon with her. ever since my pregnancy and being bedridden and sick for the better part of a year, i promised myself i would try every opportunity that came my way, and never take my health for granted, and that was a big part of why i said, yes, i'd love to torture myself on purpose.

i started training slow, one mile increments. i'd never run more than three miles in a row before, and getting past that three mile mark was tough. to be honest, i only did it several times before the race. i ran four miles, then five, then six. and then i never trained past six miles, because i hate training, and i didn't want to sacrifice the time i usually use for climbing.

luckily climbing is a really intense cardio workout, and i think my regular climbing schedule is the only reason i was able to run the half without really training very hard.

those runs i did force myself to do though, they were amazing. some felt incredible, like i was flying. others, every single step took convincing. i even took chocolate with me and every time i wanted to quit, i ate a piece. so pretty much i ate the whole bag. also, most of the three mile runs i had to take remy in the stroller, so that was an extra 40 pounds to push. (travis's work schedule isn't really conducive to training for a half marathon.)

and like i said, i didn't even register until we hiked those 15 miles up and down mt timp the week before the race, and then i was like, okay, i can run 13 miles.

anyway, running this half was a great triumph for a person who has only ever been a sprinter. i really did enjoy learning to force myself to run. really! plus it was fun to train with liana and keep each other in check all summer. she's a rockstar. (she has run 16 or 17 halfs and two fulls! and one of each while pregnant! damn!)

so the night before the race, i decided we needed to go carb load at stoneground, and i inhaled an entire lasagna plate all to myself and looked 4 months pregnant.

then after 4 hours of sleep, because i suck at going to bed before 1am, liana and i headed out with all the other runner weirdos and caught a bus up big cottonwood canyon. it was pretty chilly, but we all had our flashy aluminum space blankets to keep us warm. hilarious to see hundreds of adults standing around in tin foil wraps.

i forced myself to poo, because i was freaked out about having to do it on the run. so many portapotties. then we were all headed toward the start line and off we went!

oh it was an indescribable high! surrounded by the clomp clomp of the runners' feet, everyone laughing and smiling at the beginning. the sun rising over the mountains of a canyon i'd grown up hiking, stargazing, and recently, climbing in. the brisk morning air filling our lungs and sunlight filtering through the trees.

i immediately set my pace several minutes faster than i'd ever trained, wondering if i should conserve energy, but being fueled by my upbeat misterwives pandora station. they insisted i shouldn't slow down, so i went with it. that unspoken competition with all those strangers didn't hurt either. looking forward, all i could see were runners. looking behind me, all i could see were runners filling the canyon.

miles two to nine were bliss. really, bliss. i listened to misterwives, jenny lewis, a zumba mix, the B52s, gin wigmore, kate nash, beyonce, brandi carlile, tegan and sara, ingrid michaelson, zz ward, hozier, disclosure, coleman hell, and intoxicated by martin solveig and GTA about a thousand times. i was high as a kite on runner's high and competition and distracted myself with trying to figure out the ratings of all the climbs i passed. and pretending i was climbing all the climbs i passed and picturing where my hands and feet would go as they scaled up the wall. so yeah, i would have rather been climbing, but it really was so much fun.

then mile nine. i started to notice my toes throbbing from running downhill, and that my legs were getting reeeeally tired of moving. also around mile ten, the downhill was over and we were running on mostly flat ground, which after running for so long downhill, anything else felt like uphill. my pace slowed here. plus i needed to poo again, and i didn't want to stop.

thing i learned: just stop and poo. you'll feel better. at mile 11 i stopped at a portapotty and it was a strange feeling to go from non stop running for 11 miles to dead stop and crouch over a hole in a bucket. burst from the pooping box feeling ready to slay the last couple miles.

i drank a lot of blue gatorade, didn't eat any oranges or that horrible looking goo.

that last mile was pure torture, everything burning and begging to stop. the people cheering on the side of the road helped a little, and seeing the finish line helped a lot. also planning all the delicious food i would eat all day guilt free, that helped.

my parents were there cheering with a sign, which meant the world. after seeing them, i sprinted as fast as my dead legs would allow, crossed the finish line, and had a medal placed around my neck and a wet washcloth on my head.

i had hoped to finish in two hours, and my finish time was 1:56, so i was really really really happy.
also i was really really happy to take my shoes off, as my feet were huge and swollen and my toenails felt ready to rip off. (they didn't, my feet are so dramatic.)

remy was almost as excited about my medal as i was. almost.

i know you just ran a race and i'ma let you finish mom, but SPRING BREAK

how i love this lady! thank you for convincing me to run with you!

first item of business was to eat this s'mores donut.

 and then we went to breakfast and i got sick and almost threw up, and didn't really get to enjoy the food because i felt so awful. apparently you should train for half marathons.



luckily i had a personal paramedic who started an IV and gave me a liter of fluids and an ice bath.

next summer i'm going to run the full marathon. and i'm going to train this time. really. well, maybe.

xo.