Sunday, November 1, 2009

Provo Halloween Half Marathon

I'm not sorry that I'm late at putting these pictures up- hehe. I ran 13.1 miles yesterday and my quads are constantly burning and Jon has to help me up and down the stairs- so I have reasons for being late on this one. I am sorry that the post is a little lengthy.. but there are lots of pictures!! Enjoy!

This is us at our ward halloween party the night before.
Jon was Garth from 'Wayne's World'. "Party on, Wayne!" haha!
Happy Halloween!!!!

This race was one of the best races I have ever run. I woke up at like 5:30am and got ready and put all my gear on. Jon and I headed to the Riverwoods where the buses were picking up all the runners. They said the last bus was leaving at 6:45am. We got there a little after 6am and I waited for about 25 minutes until a bus finally showed up. This is probably the only thing I would've changed about the race. Tons of runners were in a line waiting and then when the bus came it passed us and ended up going to a different part of the parking lot. All the previous buses were stopping where we were all lined up so we were all confused and this just added to the mayhem. People were cutting people to get on the buses and I got elbowed by some chick (on purpose) but whatever, i'm over it.

Me before leaving the house and before the earmuffs went on!

Anyways, before I got on the bus I was in line and I was standing by an older woman (at least she looked older) and the whole scene reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite! She was like "can I touch your tutu?" It was a bit awkward. I was waiting for her to say "I like your tutu, it's real big and puffy". Then the lady I sat on the bus with was another awkward character. She kept staring at my tutu and then she started jabbering about the race start time. Heh, then there were some old guys in front of us singing "the wheels on the bus". It's amazing what kind of people you run into at 6am, most dressed in costumes and prepared to run in 30 degree weather in a canyon- hehe.

After the scary bus ride (imagine doing switch backs on a bus!) we got to Aspen Grove (above Sundance). They had one of the buildings reserved for us which was really nice. I went in and picked up my timing chip and got situated. There were even a few people who asked if they could have their picture with me- I looked that good! I ran into some people I knew and hung with them until the start.
Please don't judge me... I was making a "woo!" sound/face and um.. the picture
doesn't do it justice. Haha! I should've just gone with
the "thumbs up" ;-)

The costumes were AMAZING! Although, I have to admit- there were a ton of tutu's.. but mine was by far the best! The guy who won the costume contest was dressed as Wonder Woman! It was pretty great. There were a few "runaway brides" who wore wedding dresses with long trains (honestly.. how??) and one of my favs that didnt' win a prize was a guy who was dressed in a blue dress shirt, pocket protector, name tag that said: Bill and! he had a briefcase w/ a Microsoft sticker. Hehe.. he was Bill Gates and he ran the whole thing w/ the briefcase! Crazy!

The race ended up starting about an hour late (9am). It was due to the buses. The bus company were prepared for about 300 people and there were actually 800 people who ran this thing. So, we had to wait until all the buses got there. I was grateful though! A later time = a little warmer weather. Well, as warm as you can get at 7,000ft!

Wahoo!! I'm done!!

The first 5 miles were all down hill. It was intense! My quads are in agreement on that one ;-) I loved every minute of it though. The view of the mountains was unreal! It was so beautiful and breathtaking. Corny sounding, I know. I really mean it though. It is always so wonderful to see all of God's creations and being able to soak it all in. Anyways, after the first five miles, we ran on the side of Provo Canyon Rd. until Vivian Park and then we entered the canyon running/bike path and that took us back to where we got on the buses. They didn't have any mile markers on this course and I'm kind've glad. I just felt like I was just running and not in a race. I wasn't getting all caught up in "how many miles do I have left?" and I was just running and enjoying the scenery, other costumes (haha), my thoughts and music. At one of the last aid stations they yelled out that we were at 10.5 miles and I was like "woah! I only had a little less than 3 miles to go!" I kicked it into gear and finishing this time vs. my first half marathon was really awesome. My finish time was 2:02:04! Granted, we had the big down hill, but I ran the 2nd half of the race faster than the first half- go figure ;). I am so excited about this race. Even though my whole body is in a good amount of pain, I am really proud of myself.

After the race with my finisher's medal!

I also have to give another shout-out to Jon. He is my cheerleader and my most favorite person in the whole world :-) I told him he didn't have to come until the finish, but he insisted that he wanted to be there for the whole thing. I am so grateful for all his support. There are probably a million things he would rather be doing than go to a race- but he goes happily and cheers me on. I am so lucky to have Jon as my husband. I know of other husbands who were not so happy to be standing at the finish line yesterday and it made me sad when I saw how un-supportive they were. There were no "congrats" or even high-fives. I mean really! Your spouse just worked their butt off (literally) to run 13.1 miles and trained really hard for it and they're met with a grumpy husband way after the fact of finishing. Not cool.

I am hands down the luckiest woman in the world. I wish Jon could run with me, but due to knee problems, it just isn't an option. As much as I would love for that to happen, having him there supporting me is just as great. I love Jon and he needs as much recognition as I get- he's a real trooper putting up with my training, races and weird eating habits while I'm training. After the race yesterday we went up to Corn Belly's (a corn maze) and these next few pictures are from that :-) I love Jon- you are awesome and I know I thanked you like a billion times yesterday- but really, thank you for being there for me and helping me up and down the stairs, cheering me on and loving me no matter how I do. I appreciate all you do.

Jon before we started the maze

After a 3d fun house hehe- awesome glasses!

Here is a sign at the start of the maze... I don't think I could've run that fast
at that point anyways.. haha! I was very slow going (still am)
when we took this picture!

12 comments:

amber {and co.} said...

Crystal we are so so proud of you! All your hard work paid off and not only did you finish, but you finished in a great time! Whoo hoo! And props to Jon too, he really is a great guy ü When you move to Houston we should do a half marathon together, I would love that! And you look SO good, you can tell you've lost a ton of weight! ü

amber {and co.} said...

p.s... I LOVE the tutu, so cute! I'm impressed at your handiwork!

Crystal said...

Aw, thanks, Amber! We totally should! One thing though- my sister-in-law, Beth made the tutu :-) It was really fun to run in. Whenever I saw my shadow I almost started busting out laughing because it looked so funny :-)

The Miguel Family said...

you are awesome crystal! that looks like a really fun race. Awesome time by the way! Hope all is well for you and Jon. We miss you guys.

Allie said...

Yay! You rock C!!! I was thinking about you Saturday morning with the sun a shinin'. I'm glad to hear it was a fun race. I might have to add this one to the "to do runs" list. P.S. You look HOTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!

bethany said...

I don't know how you do it Crystal. Number one: running 13 miles anytime, but in the cold?!?
Number two: Running in a tutu-I can't imagine how annoying that would be. :)
But I have to admit that running with a briefcase would be more annoying. I can't believe someone actually did that!! Crazy runners.

Glad that Jon is so supportive. At least he turned out all right :)

Anne said...

Cute and fast both. What a package! Hope you will have recovered enough to enjoy the next race too.

Anna W said...

Way to go!

Charlene said...

That's awesome Crystal! Just think how far you've come since the bedford memorial race:) Love ya!

JoSue said...

Ok...seriously...you look amazing Crystal!!! I'm am so impressed with all these races you've been doing. No wonder you look so good! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tutu. You pulled it off well. I can't believe that about some of those costumes. Crazy!! Hopefully it wasn't too cold. I see there wasn't any snow on the ground so that's good. So what's up next??

Crystal said...

Thanks everyone! Yal are so nice :-) JoSue, I have another half marathon this Saturday.. so in 2 days! Holy moly! I am a little nervous, but i'll be okay!

She Loves To Make said...

Crystal, so I remembered your blogsite and have been reading up on your life...stalkerish? Probably...sorry haha. We're back in Bentonville and I wish you were here so I had a running buddy!
You rock! You look awesome and I am so impressed with your endurance! It's inspiring!