My First Half Marathon, I'm addicted!

When I started running in January of this year, I had a goal of running one marathon and that would be it. Get it knocked off my so called Bucket List. A couple of months into my training I was at the RunGr8 store in Riverton and they were telling me about a half marathon coming up in July. My wife said, go for it. They were taking a bus up with a group and I could go with them. It was in Farmington and looked like it could be fun. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a half marathon before this.

I met up with the group at the store around 3:30 that morning. I got off work a little bit early to try to get some extra sleep but it didn't help. I was so wound up I couldn't fall asleep and I'm not sure if I ever did. Everyone was pretty quiet on the trip up which was a contrast to the return drive.

It was still dark when we arrived in Farmington and being so new at this I just tried to follow the others.

Blake, a cool guy and awesomely fast!

It wasn't long before we were off and running. We turned a corner after the start line and I couldn't believe it, a Hill! I hate hills! But I tackled it and got to the top. My heart was beating like it was going to jump out of my chest, but it relaxed some after cresting and getting some downhill after that. The run was pretty uneventful but it was fun. I caught up with one of the people who were on the bus, Evan Mitchell and ran with him from about mile 7 until the end. We hit another hill and it was steep. Walked a little going up there, just wasn't any choice! It sounded like Evan had done a fair amount of racing, I told him I was hoping for a time of around 2:20 to finish. He figured I'd beat that no problem. Around mile 11 I was getting pretty tired and had to walk again, but I was able to catch up with Evan a little while later. Very close to the end we met up with his son and a friend and they ran with us from that point. They had finished a long time before us. Just before the finish was a bit of downhill and I started sprinting. I guess I must have had something left in me and I went for it. I heard Evan shouting behind me, "Go Robert!" Seeing the crowds lining both sides to the finish line was pretty awesome and sure gets you motivated. And crossing the finish line? It was a cool feeling, especially when they hung the medal around my neck.

 After the race we stayed for the breakfast and it was awesome. I was starved and the french toast hit the spot. The volunteers who sounded like they were all locals were great. Very encouraging and helpful.
On the return drive people were a lot more talkative. I got to know Andrew and Michelle Keddington a little and have run into them a number of times since. He's an awesome runner and they travel around to some major races in the country. Once I had finished this race I knew I was hooked and couldn't wait to run another one. I was very happy with my results. I finished in 2:08:15, I was 3rd out of the 4 guys in my age group, and 145th out of 217 people. I WASN'T LAST! :) Average pace was 9:47 which is 6.13 mph. The course had about 500' of climbs in it total. I also learned a lot in the race, including, DO NOT wear cotton shirts and DO things to avoid chaffing!

Probably the smallest medal in
my collection, but one of the best!

A lot of smiling faces after the race.

Heidi and her Dad, He was impressive!