Week 19: Provo City Half Marathon

Just before I hit my 19-week pregnant mark, I ran the Provo City Half Marathon.

The course starts just above Vivian Park and runs by Bridal Veil Falls, a beautifully serene course that I'm no stranger to. The Riverwoods 10-miler and the Halloween Half follow this same route and why shouldn't they? It's beautiful.

I do wish the course had started a little higher up the canyon- it wasn't nearly as much downhill as I was hoping for- but a great course nevertheless.

I started the race off at my comfortably aggressive pace. I never wear a Garmin in races (because I will almost always sell myself short), but I'm assuming I was doing just under an 8 minute pace at the start. Had a lot of fast people around me.

HAVE to mention THE most bizarre race behavior I have ever seen on mile 1.

This guy, who did not look particularly fit or experienced, probably in his 40s or 50s, came SPRINTING by me full speed ahead. I don't know how to explain it. Like... there were a lot of fast people ahead of me and he was like... leaving them in the dust, running for his life. Huge swinging arms in karate chop position... it was quite the spectacle.

I looked around me in amazement to see if anyone else was shocked and it was all eyes on him.

Less than a quarter mile later, I passed him as he was walking.

Weird.

And apparently he did this for quite some time, because my friend who finished about 15-20 minutes after me said she saw him doing the same thing.

Okay.

So this is probably going to sound really annoying since I'm pregnant, but I think this was the easiest half marathon I've ever run.

Nothing notable... no difficult moments to overcome... unless you want to count the part around mile 10 when I had recently passed the port-o-potties and thought I was going to doo-doo my pants. Lol, I'm glad only a couple of you read this blog. haha

I seriously thought I was going to have to stop at someone's house and beg to use their bathroom.

But lucky for me, it went away after about a half mile.

Whew!

I took a Gu around mile 9. I've been avoiding the caffeinated Gu's since I've been pregnant, but that was what they gave me and I took it. Wooeee! That thing gave me so much energy!!

Seriously, I felt on top of the world the last few miles.

I had so much energy left, I felt like I could keep going forever.

It was a fantastic feeling.

Also, I don't know what was up with the finish, but the mile 13 marker was wayyy before the finish line, probably more than a quarter mile. I felt fine, but if I had been dying at the finish, I would have been hecka ticked about that. 

K, here I am in all my fatty glory!

 Sorry they're so teeny, but I can't copy the bigger pictures off the race photographer's website. 

It's probably better that way. :)

It was a fantastic race, and I felt comfortable the entire way... great way to say goodbye to running for a while. I honestly felt like I was holding back for most of the race. I was with a group of 3 people for miles and normally I would have done everything I could to stay with them, but when I stopped to walk through a water station and they pulled ahead, I let them go. This wasn't my day for pushing myself into the ground. I really was amazed when the 1:55 pace group never passed me. I was waiting for them almost the whole race and was shocked they didn't pass me up.

Chip Time: 1:52:35
Pace: 8:35/mile
Place: 335 Overall (1100 Finishers)
Gender Place: 141
Division (Female 25-29... my last race in this division): 37 out of 159

So... I was planning on running for quite a while longer in this pregnancy since I'm feeling so good, but I'm having an issue and my OB suggested I might want to quit running if I don't want to make it worse. Sorry, no details on that one, haha. I'm at such a loss right now, I don't even know what to do with myself. Guess it's time to hit the bikes and ellipticals and say hello to an old friend: walking.

I just deferred my Utah Valley Marathon entry to next year, so next race is June 2013!