I'm nuts!

As you all know I ran a 1/2 marathon 3 weeks ago and trained my butt off for it. Well a friend from high school asked me if I wanted to run Top of Utah 1/2 marathon in Logan with her. I told her let me see how I feel after Provo. I got back to her and told her I would run with her since I've already ran a 1/2 marathon. Here's the twist, it happened to be 3 weeks after my Provo 1/2 marathon. I know I'm nuts! I thought it would be no deal to run another 1/2 within a 3 weeks period. I was so wrong! I had no motivation to run whatsoever. I only did 1 long run and it was only 9 miles and I only ran once a week for only 6 miles. I was so nervous and thinking I would do horrible at this 1/2 marathon. My goal that I had set was to finish and finish at my same time as Provo, 2hrs5mins. So on Saturday my friend picks me up from my mom's house and we head to Providence (Logan area). I was nervous and she was nervous too because she tore her meniscus, she hadn't ran anything past 5 miles and she only did 1 long run too. My friend has ran marathons and 1/2 marathons and she is tonz faster than me so I told her she go ahead if I slow her down. As we are running I started to get tired at like mile 3. I was shocked because I'm good until mile 11. I looked down at my watch and we are running a 9.1 minute mile. That's way faster than I normally run. I brought my Ipod but we talked while running and caught up on our lives. I believe by mile 9 I had to put my earpiece on to listen to some motivating music. Throughout the run I would see signs for different people and that helps a lot but nothing like your own family to cheer you on. Brandon wasn't able to make my race because his team wasn't at their goal so he ended up having to work all weekend. It was sad for me not to see my husband and my little cheerleaders Jazmin and Mariah and my little rug rat Brock. I was very happy to see my sister in law, RaChelle and my little butterball nephew, Ian cheering me on at mile 11. Joanna, my friend ended up going ahead of me because I couldn't keep my pace. I had to walk a couple of times and I was running really slow. I was starting to get mad at myself and I kept thinking to myself I am not going to finish at 2hrs5mins. I'm going to end up finishing at 2hrs.20 mins. I was getting mad. My thighs were hurting and whenever I would stop it would make it worse. Finally at the last drink station I grab a cup of water dumped it on my head and was back to my pace. I finally see the finish sign and I've never been more happy to see an arc of balloons in my life. My friend comes out of nowhere and runs with me cheering me on and I am just running. For how tired I was I couldn't believe I had that last kick to me. I look at my watch after I cross the finish line and it says 2hrs3mins! I ran 2 minutes faster than Provo! For how crappy I felt and how I had to walk I still ran faster. I was amazed. There were times when I just wanted to faint so that someone could carry me off of the road and not have to finish the race. It was a hard race for me. I think it's because I didn't run the trail so I didn't know what to expect. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad that my friend ran it with me. I am so impressed with her because she ran this 1/2 marathon in 1hr59mins. She helped me push myself and running with her took 40 seconds off of my minute miles. I am getting to my goal of running an 8 minute mile. I only have 1 more race to go and it's the end of the season for my races for this year. I have had a blast running all of these races and I am proud of myself. I have to give thanks to my hubby though. If it wasn't for him being at all of my races I think I would have a hard time running. I love him for being there for me.