Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Canyonlands Half Marathon

Last weekend I went to Moab with three friends to run the Canyonlands half marathon. It was a fun weekend! We drove through the mountains outside of Denver on Friday through a bad storm. It was scary in a few places and we weren't sure if we could make it up some of the hills. Luckily everything turned out OK and we made it to Moab in good time.

On Friday evening we picked up our race packets and then went out to dinner and had an early bedtime. This is me and my friends after we picked up our packets.



Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to run. We had to wait at the start for about an hour and a half. For one hour we had warm clothes on but when there was a half hour left we had to take our warm clothes off and put them in a drop back to pick up at the end of the race. It was so cold!

The week before the race I had a bit of spotting which concerned me a little with being pregnant. I debated whether I should run the race or not and decided to just take it easy and enjoy the run instead of getting a good time. I ran with my friend for the first 6 miles and was feeling really great. Between mile 6 and 7 I started feeling a bit more tired so I decided to slow down and let her run ahead. I put my music in, and zoned out. It was one of the BEST runs! I loved it! I didn't care how fast I was going, how many people were passing me, or any of the things I usually think about during a race. I just enjoyed the beautiful scenery, my music and a nice jog. The best part of the race came when I crossed the finish line and got a PR(personal record). I was amazed that I took it easy and still managed to beat my last half marathon time by 3 minutes. My final time was 2:06:52. Not super fast, but I keep getting better and I finished feeling great. Here is the 4 of us after the 13 miles.



After the best chocolate milk and other snack food we headed back to the hotel for showers. Then we went to Pasta Jays and enjoyed a delicious meal.



After our lunch we went to Arches and hiked a bit. Mostly just easy walking. It was good to stretch our muscles out a bit. I was thinking about climbing into this window but it was just a bit too much of a stretch.



We ended the night with a dessert party! We had tagalog ice cream and grasshopper cookies with hot chocolate. The best part of running 13 miles is all the food you get to eat after! It was a fun weekend away without kids or responsibilities. I need to do that more often.

5 comments:

Jennie-O said...

good job Michelle - I can't even imagine running a 1/2 marathon let alone being PREGNANT!! You are a rock star!!

Christy said...

how fun. well, the get away with girls part sounds fun. you and i both know i wouldn't be running any sort of race, let alone when i was PREGNANT! seriously! jennie is right, you are a rock star. :)

Lenice said...

Michelle, you are a rockin' woman. I think it is so amazing you ran a half marathon-pregnant!! What a fun time to go with friends. Glad you had a good time and congrats on finishing the race. I didn't read the other comments until now-apparently if 3 people say your rockin'/rock star, it's true♥♥♥

quilter said...

Hey Michelle you already know that you and the other daughter-in-laws are rock stars. So proud you you. May I also suggest that Ben is a rock star for the great support with Jacob, DAVID, and Madeline. (at least I hope he was)

Jared & Tracee said...

Reading that brought back a whole wave of memories. Not that I have EVER ran a half mar., but last year we went down with Jimmy Hjorth. He was the only crazy one to do it. It was his first half mar., and did great! I envy anyone who can do that!! GREAT JOB!!!Love the pictures!