HobbleCreek Half Marathon

So you all probably thought Clint would be STRESS FREE after he received news that he had officially graduated from the U of U. Unfortunately, he did have one more BIG event on the horizon. Several months ago he allowed my dad to convince him that running a half marathon would be a great idea! So he signed up for the HobbleCreek Half Marathon on August 22nd. Now for those of you who cannot wrap your head around the distance of a half marathon, let me help you out...

13.1 Miles

or
21,097.5 Meters

or
69,168 Feet

or
23,056 Yards

or
230.56 Football Fields

Whew!

That's a lot of RUNNING!

So the night before the race we stayed at my grandparents house in Provo. I was so nervous for Clint that I tossed and turned all night! Clint will add his comments in green so you know his thoughts compared to mine!

Here are the runners ready to go! It's 5:30 am! (This photo was actually closer to 4:50)

I don't know why I got a kick out this sign but I did! I guess because I was proud that Clint was considered one of these "runners on the road!"

And here comes my Dad! He finished at about 2 hours even!

David is over 50 years old and he beat me. I feel no shame in this, however, because he is a fairly big runner and was training for the St. George Marathon. I actually kept pace with him until about 9 1/2 miles, when I hit my runner's wall. It probably didn't help that I ran only 2 times in July and 4 times in August. My final school semester occupied WAY too much of my time.

And here comes Clint not far behind David! (He's smiling here because I was screaming and yelling and shouting for him as he ran by!)

I was actually smiling because I had been trying to conserve my energy by dragging ass the previous 1/2 mile so that I could jog at a decent pace past Em. She never suspected a thing!

Then I did a mad dash across the park and got to the finish line just in time to take a few more pictures of my man! He looks good, doesn't he?

I am glad to know she did some running. That standing around with a camera must have been exhausting!

Here he is just passing the finish line. His actual time was closer to 2:07:00 because he did not cross the starting line right as the time clock started.

Quick story. There were roughly 1100 people waiting at the starting line for the race to begin. When the gun finally sounded 40 minutes late, everyone cheered and pushed forward about 10 feet when everything came to a complete halt. Turns out the serious runners in the very front were trying to space themselves out a bit, causing everything to hit a wall of flesh 10 seconds in. This is also why I was 30-45 seconds late crossing the starting line.

And here comes my Mom! She is hilarious when she runs to the finish line. She was blowing kisses to the crowd and teasing some guy running next to her. When I made the mad dash back to the to the finish line she was coming around the corner with her arms out like she was an airplane coming in for a landing! She's so weird!

As hard as it was for me to run this race, I have no idea how Lisa did it. Lisa's bladder is famously the size of a small pea. She made a bathroom break (or shrub break) 4 times before the race but none during! Very impressive.

My Dad is so sweet! He jumped in to run the last little leg of the race with my mom!

It would have been sweet if my spouse had run the last leg with me..........

And here they all are after the race is over!

I am so proud of Clint for running this race! He wants to run it again next year and I think I just might join him. We are thinking about getting a whole bunch of people to run it with us! Let us know if you want to join in!

Here are some final notes

Having actual running clothes made a huge difference. When I was wearing normal sports clothing to run, I was losing 4 or 5 pounds in sweat every long run I did. After getting actual running clothes, my body temp. stayed much cooler and I was able to stay hydrated.

I had a great time running, even though I couldn't walk right for a week after. I need to train better next year but look forward to doing it. Hopefully I can get some friends to join me.