timpanogos half marathon

a few months back when ryan and i were trying to figure out when we would pass through utah on our way back east, my sister hinted that if we were there on the last saturday in july, she and i could run the timpanogos half marathon together.

as this statement was completely uncharacteristic of kelli, my jaw dropped and i immediately jumped on board. she ran track in high school {and was good!} but isn't much for long distance running.

it turned out that that particular weekend was a perfect weekend to pass through, so we both signed up. as this was kelli's first half marathon, she had some questions as far as a training schedule and increasing her mileage. so, we drew up a plan and went on our separate training ways. 

i thought.

apparently if you live in arizona where it is hot, hot, hot {almost unbearably so} all day long and your husband just started a new job where his training requires him to work all sorts of day and night shifts and you have two kids two and under, it's kind of hard to find time to train.

on the evening before the race, my mom, kelli and i headed down to my mom's townhome to eat dinner and spend the night. i went to bed at the unmentionable hour of 10:00. i'm not sure that has happened at any other time in the last decade.

the morning of the race, we woke up dark and early, dressed in our matchy matchy shorts {and this is all you'll see of them because my legs are 2x the size of hers}, posed for our bright-eyed, bushy-tailed pre-race photo {thanks mom!} and headed to the buses at american fork high school. from there, the buses took us up american fork canyon to tibble fork where we waited in some ridiculous port-a-potty lines and jammed ourselves into the starting huddle.

kelli had some concerns about how long it would take us to complete the race. i assured her we'd get in sometime within the "twos" as my fastest half was 2:02 and my slowest - my first - was 2:48. i knew we'd get in faster than that time as my mom and i had walked a lot due to some knee and back pain. so sometime between the two was my best hypothesis.

i had one goal: to never stop to walk. 

kelli had one goal: to finish. 

we both made one promise: to stay together until the end.

after a slight delay, and as the sun began to peek over the crest of the mountain, we heard the gun and were off. the course was beautiful. it took us steadily down a slight decline for 8 miles out of the canyon, the river running by our side. after that, we ran for a few miles on paved recreational trails before we headed to the streets for the last couple miles to wind to our final destination.

as the miles increased, so did some pain. i jogged in place while kelli took some necessary walking breaks, but we powered on.

my mom, patiently waiting at the finish line, stood with her eyes scanning the distance and her camera ready. as the race clock neared and then passed three hours, she began to get worried. i don't think she was aware of the 25 minute delayed start, but we were also behind our anticipated goal time. 

as we turned the final corner we heard cheers not only from my mom, but also from kelli's husband and two darling, pajama-clad kids.

we crossed the finish line, kelli with tears in her eyes {just like me after my first half!}, in 2:59:something. she did it!

we made sure to take the obligatory post-race photo, where we are proudly displaying our stats. #1 for kelli and #12 for me.

and, to top it off, there were great nike performance shirts and creamies at the finish line. the latter made the whole race worth it. mmmm....