Hobble Creek 1/2 Marathon Recap!

Get ready for a long one—>  Lots to say today and let’s start off by saying that I think the girls are looking SO OLD all of the sudden.

This picture kind of put me in shock when I saw it!

I slept like a rock on Friday night.  I don’t think I moved the entire night and that was a good feeling because I woke up feeling refreshed and ready.  The lower mileage this last week also made it so that my legs felt fresher than they have in a very long time.  I was eager to run after dropping down the mileage and taking Friday off.

Emilee picked me up and we drove to the busses.  I ate two pieces of bread with jam and drank my 2.5 scoops of UCAN.  I had a gel 15 minutes before the race started along with my Nanohydr8.  We jumped on the busses and got to the start.

We took a group photo in front of a honeybucket because I guess there is a contest to win one if you tag them ha.  They want to put one where we do a lot of our workouts, ha, so cross your fingers for us.

Emilee and I did a .6 mile warm-up (ps we are really learning we need more like a 2 mile warm-up for half marathons but we ran out of time) and the race started at 7:08.  It was so nice and cool and we had awesome cloud cover along with a tailwind = the perfect recipe for a PR.

Hobble Creek is much different than a lot of the Utah races but it’s still at elevation which is awesome.  The work starts in mile 2 and you have rollers pretty much from the first few miles until mile 10 and then it’s flat till the end with a small downhill for part of the last mile.  I definitely noticed my weakness on the uphills cardio/muscular wise so I NEED to work on that.  But I was pretty happy with how I maintained an evenish pace throughout the race pretty much the entire time.  My last mile was a 6:02 and mile 7 was by far the hardest mile for me (6:21)… mentally and physically the hills felt never-ending.

I saw Andrew and the girls at mile 10 and that always gives me a huge boost in energy.

I’m very very lucky to have this crew and of course the stuffed dog was there too to cheer for me.

The last .1 miles is on the grass which definitely felt strange to get on after 13 miles on the roads.  PS the clock was about 20 seconds off.

Flowers and medals at the end.  There were a few PRS from our crew which was so fun to celebrate together.

And that post race creamie is just the best.

But not as good as the apple fritter and breakfast burrito (where I added extra salt to it) at home from Andrew afterwards.

Time for all of my random thoughts now:

*Listen to this podcast episode the night before your next big race or workout.  My friend sent it to me and it was just what I needed to get my head in the right place for the race.   There was a line that I thought about a few times in the last few miles when she was talking about the tough choices we have to make during our runs—> throw in the towel or drop down the hammer?  We have the choice and like she said in this episode… what’s the worst that could happen if we choose to drop down the hammer?  We breathe heavier or our legs feel more dead?    I kept reminding myself to make the choice to throw down the hammer.

There were so many things I took away from this episode and it was so good for my mental training!

*I have a new invention for Garmin.  I want a watch that I can put in a time (ie for the half I would put in a 1:19:59) and then in the final miles it will give me a prompt of what I need to run the next mile in to hit that goal.  I am BEYOND thrilled with my time but it would be nice to have my watch do the math for me to get my next goal of a sub 1:20 in my next half marathon:).  Math during a race or hard workout is really hard!

*My coach says I look really angry and tight when I race… I’ll work on not being so tight when I race but I don’t know if I can fix my angry face.  I’M HURTING hahaha

*I LOVED meeting Marissa, Natalie and Kim.  They all had great races and I love meeting my internet friends!

*I tried TWO new things (which is a big deal for this creature of habit)—> I didn’t do the power bun (just a high ponytail) and I wore spandex.  The spandex rode up the whole time (a pair from like 5 years ago ha) but it didn’t bother me at all and I felt faster in my spandex vs normal shorts.  I need to grab a pair of black Senita ones for St. George so I get the benefit of them not riding up and feeling faster;)

*I raced in the Brooks Hyperion and did the other miles in my Levitates.

*I used my Clif Citrus gels (one right before the race started) and one at mile 7!  The one at mile 7 got all over my hands.  When I finished the race I just wanted to wash my hands so so badly because having sticky hands for 6 miles was annoying.

*I haven’t worn this necklace during a race for a while and every time I felt it during the race it brought the kid’s faces into my brain and I loved that.  The perfect distraction from feeling like my legs were going to fall off.

*Our coach predicted a 1:20 for Emilee (she finished in 1:20:08 and I did in 1:20:23).  He sure knows what he is talking about because he has predicted every race so far for us!

*Am I doing my best in this moment?  <—I asked myself this question at least 6 times a mile and I’ll do this at St. George in 6 weeks and 5 days.  There is no point thinking about what I THINK I will be doing/feeling in two miles or five miles, all I need to do is be in the moment that I am in.  Whenever I asked myself this question it made me feel calm and in control… because I am in control of THAT moment.  When I asked myself the question there were times that I replied no to myself and sped up a little or worked on my form.  There were also times where I would say yep, I’m doing my best in this moment and just hold on.  Nothing else matters but the step you are in so focus on making that step your best and it will all piece together.  I love evaluating my NOW rather than wasting energy worrying about the future in running and life.  It has helped me a lot with anxiety (but I still have a lot of work to do in the everyday life part of this but the work is worth it:).

*When I finished I thought for sure I was going to puke. I laid down on the grass and it took a few minutes to want to stand up again. I really got out of my comfort zone.

*This race was small but it brought the FASTEST girls.  There was a pro there and a lot of girls that ran for BYU or other big colleges.  Having a fast field helped me to run a lot faster than I would have without them in front of me.  I was 9th overall for the women and I told Andrew before the race that I would be thrilled being in the top 10 so I was very excited.

*Utah races are always the best for kids!  They also had snow cones for the kids too.

*I can officially say I never once felt nervous for this race… not even right before it started.  I used to race and feel sick from nerves leading up to it but between racing ALL OF THE TIME (and it feeling normal now) and not putting pressure on myself (besides just trying my best for what my legs, brain and body can give me that day)… the nerves are GONE and I love it.

*Post race my hamstrings were tight again but other than that everything feels great.  24ish miles total for the day (20.3 miles in the morning and 4 miles later).

*During the race I would be worried for a second about how hard I was breathing but then I reminded myself that that is NORMAL.  We just have to keep getting more and more comfortable with being uncomfortable.  Being okay with heavy breathing and legs that feel like they are zapped of energy during a race brings the PRs.

*I’ve never gotten a flower from a race and I loved that… I’m a big flower person and so is Skye apparently.

*Loved the medals too:

*It took 4 years to break my half marathon PR (and I did have a baby in there but I’m just reminding you… not every race is a pr and sometimes it just takes a lot of time).  I thought it was funny because it took me 8 years to break my marathon PR and half that time to beat my half PR.  Numbers are fun.

Thanks for reading and I hope your Monday is a great one!

—————————————————————————————————

Where/when was your half-marathon pr if you have done them?!

Are you a flowers person or would you rather get something else?

Last podcast that you listened to?  Was it a good one?

If race fees weren’t a thing and you had the time to do whatever you want with your weekend mornings—> How many times a year would you choose to race?