Hi!!!

I decided within the last few days to start training!!!! What works great for me is running with friends because I would never stop for a quick walk with them like I do when I'm on my own. It is really helping me to get to the next level!! Plus visiting sure does speed the time up!!

I ran my first half 3 weeks ago today. I used a modified version of Hal Higdon's novice program. My best advice is on race day trust your training and enjoy the day. It was an amazing experience. Good luck to all of you!

Congrats! I hope to enjoy the race. I'm beginning to get really nervous though

I think that's normal. I put a lot of pressure on myself during training that I realized after the fact wasn't necessary at all. I felt like every run had to be a good one, and realistically that isn't going to happen. If you run 8 miles and it was a horrible run, those 8 miles still count.

There's a DJ on the radio here who is actually quite annoying in general, but she did say something that helped. The other DJ asked her if she can sleep the night before or if she's too nervous and she said she's not nervous at all. Her strategy: "I just treat it like it's another training run, and I wonder what all these other people are doing here too."

I completed my first half marathon yesterday. It was part of the Deseret News Classic which started as a marathon in 1970 (one of the oldest in the Western US). They added a 10K some time ago, added the half last year, and added a 5K this year. Takes place on Pioneer Day (July 24 which was a Thursday this year) and occurs on whatever day of the week it falls on (bumped to Monday when it’s on a Sunday). The organizers have been doing this for 45 years now and really do a top notch job.

Salt Lake City is part of the Wasatch Front where a string of cities are located right on the edge of the Wasatch Mountain range and like many local long distance races, they start the race up one of the canyons and you have a nice long downhill down the canyon and foothills to start the race. Yesterday’s race dropped about 1700 feet overall with about 1500 of that in the first 10 miles.

Race started promptly at 6AM and we rode buses up to the starting area arriving about 5AM. According to the result page there were a bit under 900 finishers. We were all milling around stretching, warming up, getting items into bags to be picked later at the finish and about half an hour away from the start, a sudden squall came up with strong winds and steady rain and with pretty much all of us dressed for the summer (it was 103 the day before) we wondered what we were in for, but the squall ended as quickly as it started. Most of the race ended up being under cloudy skies until the last couple of miles which made things quite pleasant.

During the race, we shared some parts of the route with the marathon runners. The marathon started 30 minutes before the half and their lead runners started overtaking our race with a few miles to go and of course were blazing by us as they passed.
I started off at a fairly fast pace (tough to keep the speed slow when going downhill) was a bit under a 10 minute pace the first couple miles, kept pace between 10:30 and 11:00 the next 7 miles then started slowing. Had three mid 11 minute miles, but then really hit that dreaded wall taking over 13 minutes on the last mile. The last couple of miles are along the route of a parade that starts later in the morning and even with the parade crowds cheering the runners on, I simply had nothing left in the legs and slowly jogged (didn’t have to walk at least) to the finish line at Liberty Park where we enjoyed post-race treats including ice cream, fruit, French Toast, and trail bars as well receiving the traditional medals to hang on our wall.

I wound up with a time of 2:26:13 which is of course a PR since it’s my first time. Average mile came out to 11:09 (a bit short of my goal of 11:00 but my biggest goal was to finish without having to walk). I feel pretty good given that I just started running at the first of the year and couldn’t have run one continuous mile at this time last year. I’m quite tired today and legs are certainly sore, but after a rest day or two, I’ll be ready to get back out there getting ready for more races this fall. There’s a 10K I think I’ll do in early September and I think I’ll tentatively register for a half taking place in mid-October. Think if I can get a few more half marathons under by belt and get my times down that next year I might shoot for the full marathon on Pioneer Day.

I completed my first half marathon yesterday. It was part of the Deseret News Classic which started as a marathon in 1970 (one of the oldest in the Western US). They added a 10K some time ago, added the half last year, and added a 5K this year. Takes place on Pioneer Day (July 24 which was a Thursday this year) and occurs on whatever day of the week it falls on (bumped to Monday when it’s on a Sunday). The organizers have been doing this for 45 years now and really do a top notch job.

Congratulations! You got it done and with a good time! Really great!