Canyonlands Half Marathon: Take 3.

This weekend we ran our third annual Canyonlands half marathon in Moab. My personal goal for the previous 2 years was merely to finish the race without 1) peeing my pants and 2) crying. My first year I finished in 2 hours 19 minutes. Last year I finished in 2 hours 15 minutes. (And I even met my goal those 2 years, but just barely.) This year, since I knew I probably wasn't going to accidently pee myself or burst into tears, I wanted to up the anty a little and made a goal to finish it in 2 hours 10 minutes, which would have me averaging 10 minute miles, which is roughly what I have been averaging on my long training runs. When we got to the top, Sara and Rachel talked me into trying to finish it in 2 hours even. Do the math - that equals roughly 9 minute miles. For 13 miles. Ah - what the heck. I gave it my best shot. Here are my stats:

OVERALL RANK: 1203 (Out of 3361 runners)

CLASS RANK: 110 (Out of females 24-29 years)

SEX RANK: 499 (Out of all females)

AVERAGE PACE: 09:12 miles (FOR 13 MILES!)

FINAL TIME: 02:00:40. TWO HOURS AND FORTY SECONDS (against a crazy strong head wind to boot!)

Sprinting to the finish

The runners. (Note to self: When you sweat as much as I do, do not wear grey.)

My favorite part of the run is always at the end when I look for my babies. Best feeling in the world is running through a crowd of hundreds of people whistling, yelling, and clapping and still being able to hear little voices say, "Mommy!" and know that they are mine.

Next up: Salt Lake City Marathon. Stay tuned .....