May - 1/2 Marathon Provo City Run 13.1

On a cold winter's day as I was sitting inside freezing feeling like a slug on the couch, I toyed with the idea of running a half marathon. No - I am not and never have been a runner. I sprinted (50 yd dash) in middle school. I abhorred running then walking to complete one lap around the track. In college, as I died run-walking the required mile, my PE teacher said I did not breathe correctly. End of conversation. What does that mean exactly? But my lovely daughter,, Adriana ran a full marathon a while back with no running experience and I wanted to step far out of my exercise comfort zone. I hike 6 to 10 fair weather miles often enough, so what are my limitations? Hmm. I had practiced running a little the previous spring in anticipation of a school fundraising run which never occurred, so I could painfully do a slow pace for about 3 to 6 miles. So as the day warmed up to a mere 20 degrees, my mandatory temperature for hanging around outside and the sun was full,     I put on my hiking shoes, ten layers of stuff, ear coverings, grabbed a water and started training on a snow packed road. Living in a hilly town my goal was to train on hilly terrain as much as possible. I spent time researching a possible race, looking for a lower elevation with almost no uphill parts, and signed up for the May Provo Utah Run 13.1, all down hill through a beautiful mountain valley along a river, with a city finish. In April, I was doing 8 to 10 mile runs twice a week. I still can't believe I finished or actually started. The race was awesome. I was so nervous the night before and contemplating why, but as I was trying to go to sleep at 7 pm since we had to be at the bus at 4 am, a knock at my hotel door brought me flowers and note of congratulations from Adriana on a finish. Wow. I had but one goal, finish it before they opened the road. No time mattered, just getting that medal.  I got in a rhythm of run one mile and walk for 15 to 30 seconds to change up the muscle use. I had fast start music to set a pace, then settled into a hilarious Dave Barry book on audio, (I was actually laughing as I was panting). Low and behold, I finished before even finishing Dave Barry. Probably a record time for me, 2:32, but I had never run all flat or downhill. All my friends say, ¨so now are you addicted? when will you run your next one?¨ Hmm - 6 months later I am still of the mindset "one and done". Definitely messed with my feet a little. I might stick to 5 or 10k for the right cause. But how cool that I can even do that. But I felt so incredibly healthy.