Layton Half Marathon

I did it!!!
Saturday was the Layton half Marathon and I actually did it!!!

Here are some of my thoughts and experiences along the way:

Mile 1: "Sweet lovin... Only one mile done!?!?!?!?! UGH! Why the heck did I even show up for this?"

Mile 2: I pulled over to fix my socks... a couple of girls, Melissa and Alicia, thought something was wrong and stopped to check on me. I walked with them for a mile.

Mile 3: "Ladies, I need to kick this in gear. Catch up with me." :0) and I started to run in intervals.

Mile 4: "Holy shit! Mile 4? Really? I've still got 9 miles to go. My feet are hurting, I'm bored and 13.1 miles is to much time to be in my own head!" ......
Then I started doing the math. This 1/2 was an out and back course. We went out 6.55 miles, turned around and came back in. I was 4 miles out and there was nothing to do but turn around. I realized I was almost half way there. "May as well just keep going."

Mile 5: Alicia decided to ditch Melissa and she caught up with me. She was fantastic. Very upbeat and fun to chat with. The farthest distance she had ever walked up to this day was 4 miles. I thought she must be crazy but I knew she's make it through. The time with her passed quickly and it was fun to have someone to push to the half way point with.

Mile 7: Melissa hooked back up with Alicia and her pace was not quite as quick as ours so Alicia slowed to walk with her. I again said good bye and started running my intervals.

Mile 8: (or somewhere around there) I heard someone shout my name from behind me, "MINDY MILLER!!!" I looked over my shoulder to see Devin, my trainer, running up behind me. She was running the full marathon. It was awesome to see her. It inspired me to run a little farther. :0)

Mile 9: "I CAN NOT do this! What the hell was I thinking? I'll never make it"... My feet at this point were aching. I have this GIANT blister developing on the ball of my foot right under my toe. HOW THE HELL DOES THAT HAPPEN??? It was getting cold and the worst part of all, I was stuck in my head again. UGH!

Mile 9.5: Some lady on the side of the road carrying a baby started walking with me. She said she could tell I was struggling and asked if she could walk with me a while. She was an older gal and there to support her two daughters that were walk/running the race as well. I figured out who they were and told her they were behind me. She said she was going to walk to her car and drive to try and find them. She walked with me for over half a mile. Chatting and smiling and super encouraging. She had lost 45 pounds training to run a half marathon. We talked a bit about our weight loss journeys. She was walking pretty quickly and pushed me through that portion of the race. It was really amazing! I wish she could have walked with me to the end... I wish I knew her name cause I'd send her a thank you note or something.

Mile 10: A 16 year old kid who was running his first full marathon stopped running. He was totally fatigued, cramping and completely uncertain if he would make it. We started chatting for a bit. At first he kept pace with me but soon began to fall back and I wasn't walking that fast. I looked over my shoulder and said, "Hey, I know you've gone like 3 times farther than me at this point. But if my fat butt can keep up this pace you sure as heck can too! :D And I gave him a big cheesy smile. He picked up his pace and in about a quarter of a mile he started running again. His dad, a 6 time marathon runner, winked at me and said thank you. He yelled, "We'll see you at the finish line." I waved, "You'll be waiting for a while! Don't forget, YOU CAN DO THIS!!!"

Mile 11.5: Final aid station. "THIS FREAKING SUCKS!!!!" At this point it was a "gradual" incline to the finish line. "GRADUAL INCLINE MY ASS!!!" Obviously the person that mapped this route has never actually done a marathon. "I freaking hate that person"

Mile 12: At this point EVERYTHING hurts. I am completely out of all reasons to go on. I know there is nothing to do but keep walking. There was no one at the finish line to meet me. No one to come and pick me up. No options but to keep walking. So, I started praying. I said something like, "Jesus, you've got to help me through this. Cause I don't think I can do this alone." Then I started to cry. Not just small tears slowly dripping down my face or anything like that. The loud sobbing, gasping cry that comes when you're really, really broken. In that moment that I asked God for help I thought to myself, "Why would he help me? I've done NOTHING for him lately." But, you know what, that is not what made me cry. It was was the realization, in that moment, that it didn't matter that I had done nothing for Him. I didn't have to earn his love. He'd help me simply because he loves me. Had I forgotten that these last few months? I need to get out of my head.

I pulled myself together and kept walking.

Mile 12.75: I can see the finish line. It's SOOOOO close but SOOOO far away still. Every step is agony. I really just want to sit down. There was no adrenaline rush this time. No big finish. Only the desire to sit down. I kept walking.

The Finish Line: I didn't even attempt to run over the finish line this time. I looked around at the crowd expecting NO ONE to be there to cheer me on. They announced my name and I gave two big thumbs up. Then to my left I heard someone shout my name and looked up. There was the 16 year old and his dad. They had ACTUALLY waited at the finish line to cheer me on. Then, from the other side, again I heard my name. There was the mother that had walked with me. They were all clapping and cheering and shouting my name.

HOLY crap...I totally didn't expect that!
Here come the tears again!

Finally, I crossed the finish line and they put the metal over my head. I must have looked like hell, or maybe it was the tears, cause someone from the medic tent rushed up to me to see if I was OK. I just laughed. "I'm doing great now!" From be hind me I heard Alicia's name. I turned around to watch her cross the finish line and cheered her through. She said she had tried to catch up with me but couldn't pull it off. We stood there together high fiving each other and cheering on the other runners. About 5 minutes later Melissa crossed the finish line too.

I hobbled to my car and drove home. I know, anti-climatic huh? Still, I'm pretty freaking proud of myself for pulling it off. My official time was 3 hours 52 minutes. That's 21 minutes longer than my last race (and not as good as i thought when I finished) but under my 4 hour mark. Last time I had Jessica right there with me to push me through. Karilynn was there for the last mile of the race. My mom, sister, husband and daughter were there to cheer me over the finish line. This time, it was just me.

I'm WAY proud of myself for for showing up and even more proud for finishing. I had a thousand reasons to not even show up that day. But, as a smart woman once said, make a list of all the "reasons" you can't do something; then throw them away cause they're all just excuses anyway!!

If you wanna do it. You just have to do it!