Hobble Creek Half Marathon Recap

Started the morning by waking up at 3:45am…

yup… that early.

I was terrified to hit the snooze button and not wake up on time.

I made a small pot of coffee

*side note… I am MOST definitely turning into my Mother. she can not go running without her coffee first*

drank my coffee (not my usual 6-8 cups, just 1-2 cups, lol), got dressed, and headed to my Mom’s.

Once we all checked our bags (and then double checked) to make sure we had all of our gear, we were out the door and on our way to the buses.

 me, momma, lindsay, and michelle

 woo hoo!!! we’re (more like, just me) SOOO excited for the race!

once we hopped on the bus, we were on our way up to the top of the canyon.

the bus took us all the way to the start line, usually they drop us off 3/4 mile down so they can turn around.

not complaining… we got to the portapotties faster. 😉

We got to hang out and chat a little with other runners.

my super awesome friend, Rachelle, kicked Hobble Creek’s ass and ran up 7 miles from the golf course so she could pace me for the race. Josh and I had briefly chatted about him running with us, but I knew once we started… I wouldn’t see him again. and… that’s how it happened. My Mom was gonna run with us, but once we started, Rachelle and I split left and she split right and she got ahead of us and I just couldn’t (and wasn’t wanting to try, honestly) to catch her. We had her in our sights for the first 7-8 miles though.

we started off with a great pace, just under 8:00, but then… tragedy struck…

around mile 3 Rachelle tripped and went down and as Rachelle puts it “ate pavement”.

omigosh… girlfriend popped up so quick off the ground I wasn’t sure it really happened.

Rachelle swore she was fine and wanted to keep going. I kept looking over at her expecting to see blood running down her legs or from her hands, but I never did… when we hit the mile 5 marker she ran ahead to see if the “aid” station had bandaids. Her elbow was pretty mashed up and bleeding.

Well… the super duper, super organized Hobble Creek race didn’t have any bandaids or any first aid kits at ANY of the “aid” stations.

As I hit the half way mark I could really feel the pace getting to me…

and I slowed down.

I took an Accel gel at the 6.5mile water stop and then at the 10mile water stop.

Looking back, I should have gelled at the 8mile water stop, since I was already feeling fatigued then. But I thought, I just took a gel 1.5 miles ago, I’ll be alright til I get to the next one.

ugh. the next few miles were tough. Rachelle was so awesome and really pushed me to finish strong, even when I was being a pansy and had to walk around mile 12. She just kept telling me “You can do hard things” and I was so grateful to hear that. 🙂 She is amazing.

I ended up finishing in 1:51:29 (garmin time).

my garmin shorted my distance to 12.89 miles. I noticed around mile 8 that I was off by about .2 miles. weird. not sure if my garmin lost signal or what. but my Mom and brother’s garmin were also short.

my overall pace was 8:30.

missed my PR by 2 short minutes. Boo.

I was pretty upset about it right after the race… b
ut I’m over it now. LOL.

Rachelle (freaking amazing super star that she is) sprinted back to find Julia and ran her in too.

seriously. Rachelle is such an amazingly strong runner! She ended up running 20+ miles yesterday. 20+!

After I chugged my weight in water and decided that I didn’t have to throw up I headed back over to the spectator area so we could cheer on Lindsay and Michelle. We had told Lindsay that we would run her in. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it… my legs felt like mush, but as soon as I saw her, I just dumped my stuff on Diz and Whit (Lindsay’s sister) and took off with her. My Mom was going to run her in, too, but she started cramping and had to stop. She was so excited when she saw her, she started jumping up and down and her calves started cramping. Lindsay was a ROCKSTAR and finished her very first half marathon in 2:05!

Lindsay, her man-friend Rob, and Whitney.

(the girls took off to Vegas after the race to see Adele in concert… so jealous!)



JOSH! PAY ATTENTION!

also… Joshie killed it with a time of 1:40!

super star!

 Lindsay, Rachelle, me, Momma, Poshie!

I even saw Monica (who calls herself my “stalker”)

and got to hoot & holler for her!

(she rode by me at UV Marathon and said she was a blog reader.) LOL. 🙂

Then it was time to get Michelle to the finish line. Her hubby, Brent, and her son, Korbin, were there with her niece, Tanya and her girls. I kept telling Korbin, he HAD to run his Mom in.

 When I saw her coming I took off towards her and made her run the whole way in. 2 of Tanya’s girls ran with us and somehow I convinced Korbin to come too! Michelle finished in 2:45.

(which I’m pretty sure is a PR for her!)

 LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO MY FREAKIN’ ROCKSTAR, SUPER AWESOME, SUPER SPEEDY MOMMA!

SHE TOOK 2ND PLACE IN HER AGE GROUP!

and PR’d by 2 minutes for a final time of 1:46!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so so so so so so so PROUD of her! 🙂

the whole group!

Julia, Rachelle, Michelle, Lindsay, me, Momma, Joshie

now that I’ve had a day to think about it, I really am okay with how I raced yesterday. I should have been smarter with hydration and gels, but overall, I still kicked butt. 2 years ago I only dreamed of running a sub 2:00 half marathon. and now… I’ve run 4 sub 2:00 half’s. I can’t expect to always PR at a race. I had the most fun being there for Lindsay and Michelle and helping them get across the finish line. I need to get “that” back. That feeling of accomplishment, regardless of time or pace. I just need to have fun. And I am LOVING the fact that I see more and more familiar faces when I’m racing. I love that I’ve made so many friends with running and blogging. It’s great to be able to have so many friends that are SO supportive and understand the obsession with running! 🙂

that being said… I still want a sub 4:00 finish at St George, but I am SO SO SO looking forward to our Tinkerbell Half Marathon where we it’s all about the RunDisney experience and not so focused on time or getting a PR.

Anyone else race Hobble Creek yesterday?

any great long runs or other races??