13.1

Well. I did it. I ran 13.1 miles yesterday and lived to tell the tale. So... here's the tale. It all started at 3 am on June 9th. I had to be to the Provo mall at 4:30 am at the latest to catch the bus up to the starting point. I woke up at 3 and thought that I had slept through my alarm for some reason, so I ended up sitting straight up and inhaling sharply, causing myself a coughing fit on my own spittle for about 4 minutes. After that excitement I couldn't go back to sleep so I just laid there until it was time to get up and go. Nick graciously drove me to the mall at 4; he forgot his keys and wallet the first time we left so he had to go back and get those. My friend from my mission, Syndee Hargis, was going to run with me, but she tore some tendons in her ankle so she wasn't able to. So I was on my own. I faked like I knew what I was doing and just followed people around and stuff. There were like 20+ buses there to take us up the canyon...it was insane. So we got up there and then had to hang out for a while. It was kind of cold. I mostly just sat by this retaining wall thing by an old man keeping warm in a trash bag while using an inhaler. Exciting stuff. Then...the race started. Luckily it had gotten light by then. There were over 2000 participants I heard in just the half marathon. Over 6000 in the full, 10k, and children's runs. Crazy stuff. For the first mile I thought I was going to die. After the 2nd though I was feeling more positive. A lot of people had stopped to walk by then and I was still feeling good. Besides, Call Me Maybe came on, no one can just walk to that. At the first drink/aid station I got an orange and some Powerade. Soon after I figured out that was a mistake. It made my spit all sticky and gave me the burps. I also spilled the red beverage all over my face, shirt, and racing bib so I decided it was probably a good thing for me to walk while trying to drink next time. Multitasking is hard. And one time I spit and it was windy so it went all over my face and some people saw. I hated that. I walked some and ran more and it wasn't too bad. There were only 2 hills and they weren't too steep and I felt real good on them because I ran all the way up both of them while most people were walking. Suckas what!!!? The canyon was super pretty, but after I finished, I realized that I saw more of the scenery when Nick and Jenni drove me up the day before to check out the route than I did while actually running. Good thing there weren't indians hiding in the hills waiting to ambush us cuz I would have never seen them. At about mile 6 my feet started burning, like blisters. And I thought, "Uh oh." But I kept running. I made it about 2 more miles, out of the mouth of the canyon and past the Riverwoods mall where I saw Nick and Jenni and they took my running pack before they started hurting really bad. Oh, and before that I stopped to go to the bathroom which stunk (figuratively AND literally) because I had to wait in line for like 4 people. I started having to take longer walking breaks which kind of made me sad because I had a goal to finish in 2:30, which I was pretty on track for. So that stunk. But at least I could keep going. So I did. Once I got to the football stadium, so about 3 miles out, they were killing me. I was pretty sure they were going to be bloody stumps once I took my shoes off. I FINALLY got to the end...you could see the finish line from about 2 miles out and it looked a lot closer than it was. Also on my iPod shuffle, it tells you how far you have gone. Turns out it told me that I was done 2 miles before I actually was...that rotten liar. BUT... I sprinted the last 4 blocks...on accident because like I said, the finish line looked a lot closer than it was. AND you had to go passed the marathon finish line about another 50 yards to the half finish line...tricky buggers. But...it made me look way tough and I passed like 14 people, including the 2 girls I followed for 3 miles that had bright red shirts that said "I might not be winning, but at least I'm in front of you." on the back. That was just rude. And you know what? They might have been in front of me, but at least I kicked their trash at the end. Boom. I don't know my exact time because they won't be posted online until Tuesday, but Party Poddy tracks that and it was somewhere around 2:43. Unless it lied about that too. I got a cool medal for finishing and some chocolate milk. That was my favorite part. Nick and Jenni were at the end to cheer me on, but I didn't hear them. Jenni gave me her flip flops after I took of my shoes and discovered my 8 blisters. They weren't bleeding though, which is good, but a shame because blood obviously means more pain, right? They hurt pretty good though. So I'm content. I saw one of the elders from my mission I served around in Denton, Elder Swanson, and his wife. But I didn't talk to them because they were too far away. And I forgot his first name. After the race we went home. I was pretty sore, so I more hobbled to the car. And up the stairs. I showered and then took a nap for a few hours. Woke up. We went to JDawgs. I hobbled. Went back to sleep. Woke up. Went to Jenni's sister Karen's house for shishkabobs for dinner. Then we went to Gloria's for dessert because apparently on Saturday nights their cakes are half price because they are closed on Sundays. Sweet tidbit for Provo-ites. This is what I got: I dunno what it is. A tortofo. Or tartufo. Or tortuga... something with good chocolate on the top. Then...we went home. And I slept. Good times.