My Utah Valley 1/2 Marathon Recap + post-race activities!

Turns out that getting out of bed at 3:42 a.m. is hard and I am pretty sure that races are one of the only things that will get me out of bed that early.  I just reminded myself that I’m very thankful for early morning race starts because that means we get to miss the heat.  With this half we were pretty much in the shade for the entire run which felt amazing.

Ran the entire race with Candice and the last 6ish miles with Lindsey!

Things started nice and early with Candice and her husband picking me up to go to the busses at 4:07 a.m.  We got right in line and jumped on a bus (no waiting at this race!!… I remember one time for a half we were waiting in line for almost an hour and it was the end of October and FREEZING).   I got to work on this beautiful sandwich while on the bus and chatting with Candice.  If I am racing a half-marathon I usually stick to a plain bagel (sometimes with jam) but I knew I was just running this race for fun so a pb & j sandwich did the trick.

We got to the starting line at about 5 and had an hour before the race started to hang out.  They had all sorts of drinks and fire pits all over for us which was nice because it was a little bit cold at the starting line.

We ran into a bunch of friends before the race started!  One of the biggest reasons I chose to do this race last second was because I wanted to see all of my running friends… I would have had major fomo if I didn’t go;)

I guess we were talking a little bit too much because the drop bag truck left before we could catch it.  I was very nervous I would lose my bee sweatshirt (in above picture) because of this problem… I wear that sweatshirt before pretty much every race.  It’s just part of the routine.  Luckily, we left our bags near the start line and they magically made it to the finish!

Ready to run.

For the first few miles our friend Katie joined us too and we talked and took in the gorgeous scenery.

We stopped at the water stations to drink water and enjoyed the tailwind we had over the miles.  The majority of my races (ehhh I don’t do that many) are done at whatever my racing speed is at the time but every now and then I think it is just good for the body and soul to do a race for fun and with friends.

They pass out otter pops and have these water spraying stations along the way which is especially nice for the marathoners.  The marathoners also start at 6 but they start 13.1 miles behind us so by the time they get to these last few miles they are HOT and these are awesome.  I don’t usually use them on the half for this course but I do for the full.

The miles absolutely flew by because we talked about everything you could think of.  Candice, Lindsey and I crossed the finish line at an 8:22 pace and in 2 weeks I’m excited to see what my pace will be for my next half!

Loved seeing Heather there!  She is killing her Ironman training!

Found our little crews and Brooke wanted to join me in the finisher’s chute.  PS I think the longest finisher’s chute was at the NYC marathon… we walked for another mile or so to get through everything!

Brooke LOVES these Creamies (a Utah popsicle that you must try if you can… all of the Utah races have them so I guess this is the final push that you needed to come do a race here).

Brooke found out moments before this picture that her race wasn’t going to start for 3 more hours… patience is rough as you can tell.

Loved meeting different readers…

That is one of my absolute favorite parts about races.

Afterwards we watched a lot of the marathoners come in and talk about motivation to get training hard again!  Races are HARD and seeing the strength in everyone crossing the finish line is beyond motivating for me… it makes me want to go out for another run (which I did for Brooke’s 1k race;).

So good to catch up with so many fun girls while getting in the miles.

PS I grabbed THIS tank form Target to wear to the race and loved it… the back is knotted and it is super cheap!  Love the little stripes too!  Oh and these were my shorts…  excited to wear them for a fourth of July race with a red tank and my star shoes:)

Brooke’s race recap will be up tomorrow!  She is writing it herself;)

And 5 things from the rest of our day:

1.  I haven’t been eating a lot of candy lately (have you missed it on the blog;) but Andrew brought me Now & Later Sours after the race which is my #1 pick if I’m going to have candy and they were delicious.

2.  Beretta was very happy to have us home;)

3.  Our day after the race consisted of yard work and cleaning the house… I know, we really need to stop partying so hard.

4.  Because I have to teach Brooke at a young age that Cafe Rio is the best way to celebrate a great race.

5.  Brooke was the one to remind me to stretch later on in the day:)

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Would you rather do yard work or inside chores?

What was the last race you did… did you race it or do it for fun?

Done any races multiple years in a row?  Which ones?

What would your #1 pick in candy be right now?