It's been six years since we last ran a half marathon. I'll admit, I wasn't sure I wanted to commit and train when Jonny told me he'd like to sign up. But I decided it was time for a good challenge, and I signed up too. Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives books kept me plenty entertained during long runs, and I always appreciate Jonny's occasional coaching and course recommendations. I ran only about three days a week, with an increasingly longer run on Saturdays. Since my training wasn't as intense as past years, I was shocked to achieve a new personal record by 20 seconds! But thinking back about how I felt while runnning the beautiful course, I guess I'm not too surprised. I felt so good. Even at mile 11, I had enough energy and drive left to finish pretty strong. The familiar and nostalgic course was inspiring and kept me pushing myself to "run faster, not harder" as Jonny suggests. It was exciting to have Drew catch up and surprise me at the golf course, then take off to set his own PR. The race was very well done, with encouraging signs along the way and plenty of water stations. I especially appreciated the pre-run yoga up at Tibble Fork. It was cooool up there! I didn't want to take off my space blanket to stretch, but I'm glad I did.
Jonny and I are both glad we took the time to train for and run this race. We were grateful to Julia for holding down the fort as we left so early in the morning, especially since she had just returned from girls camp the day before and was looking forward to sleeping in. :)
It was an unusually busy week for me: Girls Camp, Half Marathon, The Good and The Beautiful Convention. But each part of it was so inspiring and fullfilling that I was so glad to have experienced it all and had much to reflect on and write about in my journal come Sunday.
