4-19-14 SLC Half Marathon

So today was the SLC Half Marathon, and yes I did run it. It was the perfect day for a run, as the sun was coming up it was overcast. And me and 6500 of my closest friends gathered together up at the University of Utah medical bridge and started running. If you have been reading for a while you have discovered I have some mental illness issues, one of the two is severe anxiety brought on by large crowds. With that I will begin the day.

I was up before my body realized it was time to wake up (4:30 AM). I have become more of a morning person since I started running and getting a good nights sleep, but am still not one. Last night I got to be around 10 with Silvia massage my legs to help me fall asleep and prep for today. So I woke up, showered, and body glided up, missing one crucial spot that I remembered about the three mile point, my nipples. I am now sporting a band-aid over my left nipple, and showering was painful with it. But that is not the pinnacle of the racing adventure.

We got to the train station with minutes to spare and got onto a train that was already standing room only, and preceded to go to every stop and more and more people piled in. It was really congested with runners and my wife who wanted to go to the start line to see me off. I ended up being behind this musty smelling guy who talked a little louder than he needed to for his lady fiend to hear him all of 8 inches away. He just kept getting pushed into me, more and more. The smell made me want to throw up. But we finally got to the last stop, out of the musty man's aura and into the fresh morning air. I met up with my training group, said good mornings and got high-fives and hello's!

Then they corralled the 6500 people in between these little gates and yammered on until they sang the national anthem (growing up watching baseball, I just wanna yell, "PLAY BALL!" after it ends). The airhorn went off shortly after and the race was... not moving... walking... walking more... then the race was on (until the .25 mile bottleneck). Everyone slowed to a walk for about 20 yards, then started running again after the bottle neck.

City Creek running trail, we did this but without the snow.

Overall the first 6 miles were amazing. We ran through City Creek Canyon /Memory Grove (which was a first for me), it reminded me a little of running in Provo Canyon, it was a down hill with trees sprouting green buds. What lead up to this portion of the run was a wicked vicious hill (which the majority of the people walked up), then a long gradual down hill. After we got out of City Creek Canyon / Memory Grove, we entered down town SLC. I lived most of my life in SLC, and have a lot of memories in downtown SLC. It was exciting to run through an area that I have experienced so much. This was a small flat section through downtown which connected to a long gradual uphill. This protion of the race I had driven many times while I was going to massage school (South Temple, named that because it's the road that goes along the south side of the Salt Lake LDS Temple). Up this gradual incline I was able to run with someone who trained with Lisa as well, and he and I had been keeping pace. At the 6 mile port-o-potty, we had both stopped and talked for a little bit. He got in and out before I did, and I saw him in the distance up until mile 9ish. I powered through, and made it to another down hill. On this down hill I got to see my wife and her sister cheering me on, and saying things like, "Don't get hit by the train!" I heeded the advice (since none were coming).

I continued on to another familiar street, 800 South. It's the road I drove up in high school every day to go to school. This hill is what took it out of me. I was going good, and was making good time (I still did good time in spite of this hill A woman congratulated me when I reached the top of the hill, saying, "Nice job powering through that hill." I was gleaming with pride after that, it kept me going as I traversed a neighborhood I had walked while I was in high school. There were people out cheering us on, and one coffee shop giving out free iced coffee (I resisted, easily because I don't drink coffee). It was quite the experience going through places as a runner that I had so many memories of in my younger life. This is also where I hit my own wall, I had lost sight of the familiar runner from Lisa's running group, and was on my own again, the marathon and half marathon split at this point. I started to do math in my head to see if I would finish in time to beat my PR (worst idea I have ever had) it's discouraging enough seeing the time on every mile marker, and having it chirped in my ears as I listen to music, I discovered it's better to just go off of what you have done, not what's left.

After the two races split, the half marathon went into the neighborhoods more, and lead down to where I have been doing my training. This was the last three miles of the course. This last part lead us through a neighborhood then down to one of the larger parks in Salt Lake City (Liberty Park) and finished back on 800 South then down to the library downtown. When I got to the last mile my goal was to run the whole way, I stopped and walked a couple of times because I was pushing harder than I could handle. When I got to the last quarter mile, I picked up the pace... to much faster than I though I could run. I exhausted the rest of my energy, and crossed the finish line. I got my awesome medal, and roamed thought the treats and water and powerade and found a chair. My body was starting to give out on me. That last quarter mile I pushed further than I could maintain. I was on empty. I found a chair and sat down, drank my water, ate my cup of peaches, and downed my powerade. I wanted to curl up in a ball and die at this point. I never wanted to run again while I was sitting down. My stomach started to hurt, and as soon as I met up with Silvia we went to the train. I didn't wonder around. I just wanted to go home at this point. The race was awesome, and I was feeling far from that.

After a long bumpy train rid back to our car, I changed shirts in the parking lot to the shock of some convention goers, and realized I was really feeling sick. I then proceeded to throw up everything in me. I think some of the people at the train thought someone was losing their life in the parking lot. But no, I just lost my peaches, all the water, and powerade. Five minutes later the runners high kicked in. I was on cloud 9. After that we went and got some protein to refuel my body, and drove home. At home is where I discovered my chafed nipple, tossed a band-aid on it after I got out of the shower. I went to lunch with Silvia, and came home where I am contently sitting and typing.

Tonight I should get some pictures from my wife and will do a second post with them. I just want to thank everyone for reading, have a great day.

-Riley

Oh yeah, here's the new bling!