Salt Lake City Half Marathon

Marisa and her husband

London, Monte, myself and Camille

HALF marathon number 21 was awesome! Nothing to do with what I accomplished but totally from what I saw and heard many others do in the race. So many people knocked minutes off their previous times for new PRs or equaled times that they had accomplished in easier races.
THE day started early. 4am my alarms woke me up, a quick shower, breakfast and I was out the door and to the train station in Daybreak by 5am. I was the first of our group to show up but London and Monte were soon to follow with Marisa and her husband coming along within seconds. Sitting on the train I just made a comment Camille was supposed to be with us and then she showed up. 5:11 the train departed the station.
A few stops along, we got a text from Meridith and Shelley, they were on the train but on a different car. I sent a text to let them know we were on the rear car. At one stop I tried to get off and rush to their car to let them know but I was trying to open the door on the wrong side and the train moved on. The next stop they did jump off and run back to our car.

Meridith and Shelley

THE closer we got to SLC the more full the train became until it was standing room only. Jonathan called and said they were at the Moran Eye Center waiting to get a group picture. We were a few minutes out. Including Hilary's husband there were 11 of us for the group picture. We got that done quickly as Jonathan was organizing the pacers and needed to get to the start area to give out the signs.
ONCE we got to the start area I tried calling Wanderley, a guy I had got to know from California. He was at the gear drop area. I tried to find him there but failed. A few more calls back and forth and the noise was just too great to hear anything so figured I'd try to meet up with him on the course or at the end once he was done the full marathon.

Our group picture at the Moran Eye Center

BEFORE the start gun I would meet some from our group, Marsha Monson was first, but I would quickly lose track of them, but then meet up with some others a few minutes later. A few of us finally got together at the port-a-potties, where Josh, Kasie, Becca and Nate also met us. From there it seemed we scattered. Everyone I believed was making their way to the start line. I tried to work my way closer to the front where I knew Jonathan would be with the 3:55 sign for the full marathon. I wanted to be ahead of him throughout the first 9 miles.  LAST year I did this race in 1:52:45. They had changed the course quite a bit and I didn't know if it would be a faster or slower course.

Waiting our turn

My goal was to try to beat last years time, but with the course changes and a problem I had been dealing with in my left leg behind and above my knee since running down Little Cottonwood Canyon a few weeks prior, I knew the odds weren't in my favour.
SOME guy sang the US national anthem, we had a count down and the crowd of over 6000 people surged ahead. About two minutes after the gun went I crossed the start line and weaved my way through the crowd moving closer to the front.

Looking towards the back, about 6500 people participated

Wanderley Reis and myself

My leg felt fine to start, I had taken 3 ibuprofen's hoping to stave off the pain if it did flare up. Shortly after the start there was a bottle neck where we almost came to a stop with everyone trying to get through it. I haven't really figured out what the purpose of that was. Then there was a short hill to climb. First mile was 8:25, not bad considering the crowd and the bottleneck. Into mile 2 we came on another longer hill. 9:33 pace. Figured that was fine and I could make up that time. The next three miles were wonderful downhill. Pace for each mile was 8:08, 8:21, 8:13. I was on track for my goal! I had passed London and Meridith and some others in that stretch and on a loop saw Jonathan not that far ahead of me. I figured if I caught up to him, I'd be well into my goal of an average of an 8:30 pace for the whole race.  To this point I had been feeling a slight pain in my leg but nothing that couldn't be ignored. Sometime in mile 6 the pain got worse. I had caught up to Jonathan and visited with him for a few seconds, but was struggling to keep up with him with the pain I was feeling. The next two miles I did a 9:15 and 9:01 pace. I had decided before the race if my leg created a problem I was going to just run through it no matter what and keep my pace, but there was no way I could. Around this time I felt a tap on the shoulder and it was Wanderley! He had recognized me and caught up to me. I must have passed him at one of the aid stations as I knew he was ahead of me somewhere at the start. We visited for a bit. He was struggling on the hills which he wasn't used to. Got a picture taken of the two of us and kept running. I told him I was behind my needed pace and if he wanted to go ahead to do that. I'd see him when he finished his full marathon.
AT this point of the race there was a long uphill climb. It seemed like it wasn't ever going to end. Meridith and London both passed me on this stretch. London is incredible going up hills so for her I'm sure it was a breeze. We turned a corner to the right and finally it looked like a long slightly downhill stretch but even that didn't help my pace enough. From then on my pace was in between 10 and 11 minutes per mile until the end. Janet Huffman caught up with me and we ran for a bit, until an aid station, slowed down for water, she kept running and it took me longer to get going. About a mile and a half from the end Marissa past me, she was saying nothing had gone right for her, but she was plodding on anyway.

Janet Huffman finishing strong!

TURNING the last corner I could see the finish line arch in the distance, it seemed so far away. I was realizing the course was going to be longer than it should have been but I was so glad to be finished. There was no sprint or dash left in me for the end but at least I was still running crossing the finish pads. I knew my time was around 2:07, way longer than I had planned.
WANDERING around I slowly came across people I knew. I had hoped to take pictures of people crossing the finish line, but a lot had already crossed it. I had glanced around a bit for the first aid station after crossing the finish line to get some ice for my leg but didn't see it anywhere so thought I'd try and walk it off while looking for people.

SOME of us finally got together on the grass and shared our stories. It was awesome to hear of peoples accomplishments. Becca had tied her Riverton time even though this course was 2 tenths of a mile longer. I heard later, Camille knocked off a lot of time from her previous half record. Monte got a PR with a 1:36 time. London got under the 2 hour mark which is what she was targeting. Meridith was within seconds of the 2 hour time. I'm sure there were many others!
WHILE Jonathan looked around for the pacing signs and waited for the final pacers to cross the finish line, I waited for Wanderley to finish his race. He crossed within minutes of his previous SLC finish time and we got to visit again for a bit. I also had the privilege of meeting his wife and kids. I look forward to meeting him again at a future race. He did not like the hills for sure, but neither did I.
Great memories of the day. Not the finish time that I had hoped for, but I was sure proud of my friends. I believe I will do this race again.

Me, Jill, Josh, Meridith, Shelley, Hilary, Becca, Nate and Kasie.