Provo City Half Marathon

Race #12 of 2013 

Pacing 2:20 Provo City Half Marathon 

Last Saturday I ran my 12th race of the year and had my 3rd pacing opportunity.  I'm really enjoying the pacing experiences but probably won't be able to do much more of it, other than tomorrow morning I am scheduled for one more.  Most of my weekends throughout the rest of the Summer are pretty booked with races I've already signed up and paid for.  There are a few blank spots here and there, but that doesn't mean I won't fill them up too.  I wouldn't mind being able to pace another time or two if the opportunity arises. 

My good buddy Josh ran this race as well and drove to my house and then we carpooled on down to Provo for the bus pick-up.  Breakfast on race mornings usually means a bagel or toast and banana with  peanut butter.  I offered Josh some toast and in his true Joshua style took a picture of it.  I teasingly told him that 95% of his photos are of food and he agreed and even said that number was probably higher. 

We parked a couple blocks away from the finish line and headed over to the bus pick-up area. There was a huge line to get on the buses but we were able to board pretty quickly.  It was 5:30 am and still dark outside.  I'm still wondering why on earth we have to get to these bus rides so early??

Josh may just be wondering the same thing?

We arrived at the starting line with oodles of time to spare.  Provo Canyon South Fork Park is where the race starts and it's a beautiful park. A little road that's not even painted with lane lines is how tiny of a road this is we started on.   After hanging around visiting people and meeting up with the pacers group for some final instructions we got lined up.  The full marathon people headed off first and about 10 minutes later the half marathoners started.  I saw one of my friends, Mike Talbot, from the Runner's Anonymous Facebook group and said hello to him.  He's an outdoors enthusiast and will be on the same team as me for Wasatch Back Ragnar. 

Lined up and ready to go

 

I'm not going to talk about how freezing cold it was up there because anyone that runs Spring races in Utah, in a canyon, knows absolutely what I'm talking about.  But, it was frigid and I was grateful for the moment we finally heard the gunshot and we were moving.  Josh wore that big hoodie of his for about the first 4 miles of the race before he warmed up.  

Once the race begun my camera got put away in my water belt and I didn't take it out again until the end.  I had a job to do and had to keep my eye on keeping my pace.  It can be a little bit tricky as each mile marker comes up and then you gauge how far off or on you are.  The really tricky thing about this particular race is the mile markers were very sporadic.  So I had to go by my own garmin.  We are taught to go by the race mile markers though because in the end that's what matters.  I stayed pretty close to where I needed to be the entire race and then all of a sudden at mile 10 a marker shows up that was way further down the road then I was expecting, so I had to start booking it a little bit faster.  By mile 11 we were only a tiny bit behind so I just kept my cool and tried to run a little bit faster.  I never saw a mile 12 marker and then next thing I see is the finish line coming into view and I still had about 5 minutes to use up.  Sheesh!!  There was definitely a problem with whomever marked the course.  Another pacer told me she had the same challenge.  

So when I realized I was going to be coming in too early I sent Josh on his way and told him to GO,JOSH,GO!!  I wanted him to get a PR and he was on course to do so.  He went flying into the finish line area with a new PR of 2:18:39 and I was so happy for him.  This is the first time I have ever run an entire race with him and it was pretty entertaining.

Just re-enacting a burping contest we had ages ago in a different race.  I'm a terrible burper unless you give me some gatorade and a few big inhales of breath while running.

I have the cutest friends. This is Annaleesa and Laurie and they were there at the finish line to cheer and take photos.  After I sent Josh on his way I saw these ladies and stopped for a photo and to say hi. I had a few seconds before I needed to cross the finish line.

There should be an award for goofiest pacer! I just may win.

I probably only waited about 15 more seconds and then hopped on over that mat with an exact time of 2:20:00.

The rest of these photos show what a spaz I turn into at the end of a race.  All those endorphins are just wiggling all over inside me and I get a little silly.

My cute hubby and son came to see me too.  I kind of like ending a race with familiar faces around.  Some of my further away races means I cross the finish line, get my treats and my medal and then drive home all by myself. 

More smiles with my good buddy!

My neighbor and friend Rachelle Harris.  She only started running a little while ago.  This was her first half marathon and she won 1st place in her age category with a time of 1:34:51!  Holy Moly!

A couple of Logan area pacers that came down to run this.  Adrian and Don are two of the members that will be running Top of Zion Relay this Summer with me.  Nice peeps.

This was a great race and one that I hadn't run before.  It's course almost matches the Utah Valley Half Marathon other than I actually liked this one better.  Running on the Provo River Parkway Trail is definitely a lot more scenic than running right on the cement highway down the canyon.   This is a race I would run again.  The treats were delicious and the weather was cool.  French toast from Magelby's was pretty awesome too!  I didn't take any photos of that food, but of course Josh did.