ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, DONE!

Well, I did it! I set a goal, stuck to it and now its been accomplished. My good friend, Denise, asked me many months ago if I wanted to run a 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles) with her and I said sure. It sounded really far away at the time and so I thought, why the heck not. Then several months went by and finally it was time to start training for it. November 1st came and we started training. It was a lot of fun, we ran 3 miles one week, then next week it was 3 miles again but add a 4 mile run in there somewhere and then Christmas rolled around and we were doing 8, 9, 10 mile runs (but I still enjoyed every bit of it because of my fantastic running partner). We would push each other, laugh at each other, talk about everything and anything from the Bachelor to poop...it was awesome! Then before we knew it was the day before the big race. The day before the race I had a few butterflies in my stomach thinking about the next day and after looking at the map that suddenly made 13 miles seem waaaay too long. The night before us girls headed out to go pick up our goody bags and bibs we had some sweet girls in our ward bring us some little treats to help us out. That night I went to bed and couldn't sleep at all, I was so nervous I would sleep in and not be up in time for the race and then finally 6:15am came and the girls showed up at my house so we could all carpool to the race and we headed out but not before snapping a few photos for blogging purposes. Denise, Natalie, Kati, Amber, Carol Denise and I had made a pact to stay together for the first 7 miles and then the last 6 we were on our own. Natalie wanted to be up at the front of the line for the start so we followed her and the race began and we took off. After a minute or two Denise says, "how are you doing?" and I was quick to inform her that we never ran that fast during practices so what the crap was she smoking making me go that fast now :) It was an enjoyable first 7 miles even talking to a few runners who wanted to know how to join the "hot mamas club"(all you have to do is have kids and run), but then it came time for the big split...we gave each other a good smack on the butt like we were professional teammates and put a fresh piece of gum in our mouth and turned on our ipods and she was gone out of sight. I thought, no biggie...I only have 6 more miles to go, all down hill from here. They had water and port-a-potties every 2 miles and so I was in good shape (I had been nervous since the day before the race that I would have to poop during the race - poop that only runners know about), I didn't need any of those yet. I finally hit the 10 mile mark which is the farthest I have ever run before (3 different times but never any farther than 10 miles). "YES!!! only 3 more to go and I am rockin' this!"Ya, not so much. Mile 10 was a beast. I walk/ran it, and continued that until mile 12. Thank heavens for the orange slices and Gatorade at 10 1/2 miles though, they really helped. I really struggled during those 2 miles and thought to myself what on earth possessed me to do this ridiculous thing...I gave birth to twins quicker than it is taking me to run these 2 miles. Then the last mile came..."I can run this last mile, no problem"...well, I ran most of it but I still walked a little. I was just about to round the corner to the finish line and some chick who had been walking a long time passed me and that bugged the crap out of me like she was saving her energy for a final sprint but she was too quick for me to beat so I just stayed my steady pace and then I could hear someone coming up from behind me, I could tell it was a guy and I thought he is not going to pass me in front of all these people so I started to run faster, then he started to run faster, so I started to run faster and then he says, "are you racing me?" and I said, "yep, I sure am!" and then it was on...although I will have to admit he beat me, BUT at least my face is slightly better in this picture than his is :) I had my head phones on so loud to pump me up and I told Jared to stay to the right of the finish line and that's how I would find him so as I ran through the finish and I was looking to the right and my first memory is Joe and Crew cheering me on,never did see any of the girls or my husband...they were all on the left cheering for me, oops.This race was amazing. I have so many mixed feelings about it, LOVED that I finished in 2 hrs 27 minutes especially considering I walked a bit, HATED that I walked a bit after running 10 miles straight, loved that I beat some strangers so I wasn't dead last, loved that I beat the van in, loved that I didn't have to poop during the race, bitter I stopped to pee in a port-a-potty around 11 miles, thankful to the free massage I got on my knees and upper back after the race and I have a new found respect for the makers of Gatorade and orange slices. Before I finish this post I have a few peeps to thank. Thank you to the husbands who spent many many hours babysitting so we could all run,thank you to the girls for doing this with me, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed it and it wouldn't have been the same without any of you. Thank you girls for the treat the day before the race, thank you Jenn and Bryant/Taryn for the good luck calls the day before, thank you mom for babysitting the twins so Jared and the other 2 could come out and watch me, thank you T.I. for making hip hop songs with a phat beat that I can run to, thank you free goody bag for the cream I got to rub on my 89 year-old-grandma-knees to make them feel better, thank you Amber for your wipey (she knows what for) and Thank you to everyone for getting me hooked on this and we'll see what 2010 brings!
As I am walking out the door to go to the race this is what Jared said, "Remember, what's important is that you have fun!" 283/347 CAROL JENSEN 2:27:59 11:18