canyonlands half

well it's over....FINALLY. i've never finished a race where i was so happy it was over. the morning of the race was brisk {VERY FREAKIN COLD!} and i was not feeling ready or even excited like i usually do. but we got up to the starting line about an hour before the race and so my dad and i stood in potty lines for most of the wait--thank goodness for those portapotties! the first three miles i was feeling great. our splits for the first three were around 8:20 and i was thinking i was in for a fantastic morning. but then my left leg started killing just above my ankle in the back {think calcaneal tendon all you anatomy buffs} i just kept going, even though every step felt like my foot was gonna just rip off from the rest of my leg. my dad was feeling great and doing great, so i told him to go on without me. i slowed up a bit and around mile 6 i started getting bad stomach cramps, i felt like i was gonna puke my guts out any minute. i wanted to stop so bad but i just kept truckin along waiting for each mile marker to come. around mile 10 there was a hill i had forgotten about. i turned the corner and saw a really steep upgrade and swore out loud {yikes!}. when i finally turned the corner to the home stretch i started picking up my pace. my goal of 1:45.00 was long out of reach so i thought as long as i finished under 2 hours i would be good. people were lining both sides of the finish shoot and i was sprinting as fast as my legs could take me. when i crossed the finish line right at 2:00.00 my eyes went blurry {apparently this happens to lots of people} and i was dry heaving looking for the nearest trash can. a race volunteer handed me a biohazard bag to puke in--to no avail. by the time i found chris among the hords of fans, i was bawling like a baby. definitely not my best race experience. hopefully i can get my stuff together for the salt lake city half...we'll see.

ps. my dad finished @ 1:53.00 great job dad!