I Came, I Ran, I Conquered

The Painter's 27th Annuan Half Marathon in St. George Utah was today. It was a beautiful sunny day, no wind, decent temps. What an amazing day! The race started at nine in the morning. I ran really strong until mile 3. Stopped and walked through the aid station. Picked up the pace again. Feeling strong as I approached mile 6. Stopped and walked through another aid station to drink some water, picked up the pace again. Still feeling pretty strong. Hit the golf course - started to waiver. Ran miles 7, 8 and 9 around the golf course. Really starting to sruggle - but I DID NOT STOP RUNNING! I kept going. My pace dropped almost in half. I made it to mile 10, still running. I made it to the aid station, stopped and walked to get a drink. Had to use the bathroom. Made it to mile 11 and wanted to sit down and not finish the race. My hip hurt. My butt hurt. My knee hurt. I sharted a little in my pants. STILL RUNNING. I did not stop, even though I thought I wanted to lie down right on the path and rest. I made it to mile 12 and kept telling myself, you can do this, you can do this. I hit what I thought was mile 13 from last year's race. Oh, no. This is now an official course, so they apparently added some length to it. So I had to run ANOTHER .4 miles to the finish line when I thought I was actually finished! I still don't know my time - they have not posted them yet. I think I am going to be about the same as last year. Bummer, I really wanted to beat it. The worst part is, my uncle had the camera in his trunk and he left. So NO PICTURES CROSSING THE FINISH LINE!!!!! Oh well. There's always next year, right? Overall, it was a beautiful run. I finished, and I wasn't last!! Three halfs under my belt. KEEP ON RUNNING