I ran my 7th half marathon today! I’m still shocked because last year I only ran 5K’s.  And last year I weighed 180lbs in March and 160 lbs in Oct.  And now I weigh around 130-133.  I’m trying to get under 130, hopefully by March- spring break in Havasu. . But I need these holidays to be over so there’s not desserts everywhere.

My first 5K. March 2010

The Freedom Run 5K was also my 4th day of running in a decade!  I got a medal for the 5k walk. I finished in 43 minutes.  This was also three months post pregnancy.

I also just finished up week 3 of 18 for training for the Sand Hollow Marathon.  We’ll see how that goes.  lol  But in 5 weeks is the St George 1/2 marathon that I want to PR in.  So I need to beat my Bryce Canyon PR of 1:54:44. I think I can, I think I can.  With the help of all the classes I do at Desert Fitness and Aimee Langston is training me once a week with speed workouts and hills, I should be able to.

So…The secret Hostess Half Marathon.  Who doesn’t want to run, eat a donut, run -eat another, run- another donut, run- eat a cinnamon cake, run- eat a Twinkie?  Well that’s what I did!  I was worried about getting a stomach-ache, but I think it gave me lots of energy. lol.  I met a lot of people from FB in person and had a great time.  I met Shannon from www.stgeorgemom.blogspot.com and we run the same pace so I had someone to talk to, which makes 13.1 miles go by so much faster!!!  And she’s doing the Sand Hollow Marathon too, so I even have a running partner to train with now.  Because I can’t imagine running 20 miles by myself, or 18 or 16 or even 14. lol.

December in Hurricane is cold.  And it was 25 degrees at 8:am.  It’s only cold if you’re standing there not running.  My hands finally warmed up about 2.5 miles and at the turn-a-round I took off my long sleeve top that was under my jacket. I gave it and my gloves to Mike.  Mike and the boys were at the second stop.  Evan had a sign and a cow bell cheering everyone on.  :) The hardest part of this race is running after stopping.  I finally feel good then I have to stop to eat.  I didn’t carry my water pack because I knew I had to stop to eat so I drank the water supplied.  I carried my phone in the belt clip that I usually have on my water pack.

Here was the first stop.

We passed a few horses.

Since I live a mile from here I pass these horses all the time.

2nd stop, first time seeing Mike!

Here is the best fan!

This sign was made for my first half.

Shannon and I running.

I took a big bite. LOL

Pretty I know.  But it’s proof I ate it.

4th stop.

4th stop. I had a cinnamon cake.

This was the turn-a-round. I LOVED the tree!

And Melissa (just out of pic was volunteering in the 25 degree weather 7 months pregnant!

The best crew at a water station!

The finish line was at the park.

Mike and the boys went to McD’s after the turn-a-round then met me at the finish just in time!

Finished! I LOVE the medal!

I finished in 2:02.  I thought that’s pretty good for taking my time at the stops.  It was hard to eat fast and wash it down with water.  My running pace was 8:52/mile.

All the runners before the start.

Can you spot me??  I stole this pic from FB.  Thanks Cory for a great race that was not sponsored by Hostess but by a runner who loves to eat Hostess.  And I was lucky enough to run this secret race.

Thanks for reading!

Amber

I’m finally writing my race report one week later! (now 2 weeks!) I did write a couple big paragraphs yesterday on a Blogpress app and I went to save it and it crashed! Yes that made me mad! Ahhh. So I downloaded a new blogging app. We’ll see. I’ve also had a wedding and birthday parties.  Busy week!

SO…The basics real quick…I ran the strip at night in 1:55:35. A PR for a flat course! 51 sec from the Bryce Canyon 1/2 which was all down hill. Maybe I shouldn’t have walked or forget my iPod! lol. So I would love to know how fast I could run BC now- but I can’t run it next year, it conflicts with a race at Brian Head.

Let’s see…this was a family trip.  We arrived at the Venetian Hotel Friday around 3 and then went to the Expo.  Friday is way better to visit the expo when having two kids in a double stroller.  But having my husband there was nice too, I could just leave the kids with him and check out some venders where it’s too crowded.

At the EXPO I didn’t buy much.  I tried on some K-Swiss shoes and asked when new colors were coming out for the California-R’s. Spring. I wore my pink California-R’s for the race.  I bought a FLEXR Sports Jr bottle.  I like the valve way better than opening and closing my current one.  They said it would fit in my Nathan water belt.  Well, it doesn’t fit snug, but I haven’t tried it running yet, but I’m not too confident.  I also bought a LED light up bracelet and some fiber optic lights for my hair.  Oh and I also bought my first running skirt! It’s cute and loud.  Well see if I like running in it in the spring.

Friday night we just at in the cafe area of our hotel.  I had chicken parm and the kids ate pasta.  Saturday morning we ate at Denny’s and I had a Veggie omelet, wheat toast and fruit.  Also my friend Mandi was running the Great Santa Run with over 10,000 people all wearing Santa suits! We were going to watch, but it was cold and windy so we did a drive by to let the kids see all the santas.  We went to the new Center City Mall where I can’t even afford to walk into one store.  But it had nice decorations and some really neat water things that the kids liked.  Luke was turning 5 and they had a cake then we went to the Excalibur for the Tournament of Kings show.  It was a great time.  Pepper and family and Mandi and family came too.

Pepper’s husband and two kids came with us to the start.  We took the $5/ride shuttle to the MGM.  I seemed like it took forever to just get to the shuttle.  Once we got off the shuttle we walked across the street and headed to the start.  And we took the pic above while there was still some daylight.

Once we got to the start I took this pic of the tiger and then we had to walk down a ways before we could get to the other side of the street and we immediately got in line for the bathrooms.  It didn’t take to long, then we went to our corral six. 45 minutes before the start of 5:30.  And it seems as soon as we got in our corral it became really windy and really cold- more like freezing!  We were kneeling down to get out of the wind.  I took a picture with an Elvis runner and then my mom came walking up, in our corral.  I was shocked she got in but no one looked at our numbers either.  She and her fiancé took some pics then left to get warm in a hotel.  They were staying at the Luxor.

I was wearing a jacket I wore last winter that I was planning on throwing away at the start or during the run.  The leftover clothes are given to a charity.  BUT it was so cold I kept it.  While waiting, on the Mandalay Bay screen we could see the jabbawockeez performing on stage.  That was neat, took my mind off the cold wind. I was wondering who the blonde girl was co-hosting for the race.  Then when it was getting closer we all started walking closer to the start, so now we were all crammed together.

We counted down and the first row took off, we counted down again and the next row.  Corral 4 went. We had the minute break, then corral 5 went- but there was no break for 6 so we were off with corral 5. It was slightly slow at the start but then it opened up a little to get to the right pace but not after passing people already walking. What??  After about a mile we were hot. Pepper and I took off our jackets.  I was afraid I would be freezing at the finish so I tied it around my waist.  I forgot they were going to have the space blankets- I should have thrown it to the side.  Oh well.  I had my pink gloves and arm warmers which were perfect.  There was a lot of people. 44,000 runners! So it was hard to stay with Pepper while there are so many different paces running.  At around three miles there was a water stop and it was really congested and I lost Pepper.  I didn’t even stop for water.  I didn’t have my iPod either! It was charging in the hotel room. Oh well.  I’ve run without it before but sometimes you need the beat to keep you moving or to help around mile 9.  Usually I talk a lot to people around me, ask them questions etc.  But this crowd didn’t seem like the talking type like San Diego was.  Maybe because I was in a faster corral than SD and its harder to talk the faster you run. lol

Around mile 9 I was kind of tired and took a walk break at the water station.  Then another short break just after that.  As we were getting close to the Venetian I was looking for my husband.  This was around mile 10 maybe.  And then he yelled my name.  So I saw him for a second and told him I was having side stitches.  Not bad, they actually went away after I saw Mike and I thought I need to speed it up a little.  Only three to go!  But the last half is uphill, slightly.  I really felt it at mile 13, my legs were burning.  I saw Pepper with two miles to go I think.  The McDonald’s sign looked so far, so I tried not to look at it.  I told her I really wanted to walk, but lets not. LOL  Then I was looking for the finish line.  We saw cameras and turned right and was still looking for it- it seemed so far.  Finally we tried to sprint, but it was crowded and we crossed the finish and immediately had to stop because it was so backed up.  Right away my legs and neck were so sore! Running fast (for me) is hard on you!

We got the space blankets and stood in a long slow line to get our picture taken, then stood in line to get a green banana and a soggy bagel.  I grabbed a yogurt to give to my kid too.  Oh there were also marathon bars and water too.  I didn’t see anything else happening, like in SD I soaked my feet in ice water.  Which was so nice!  But it was freezing.  We saw Sean’s husband and kids. Then I asked where the shuttles were and we walked away from the hotel, around the finish towards the start line where the charter busses were waiting.  We got in and it felt great to sit!  It was not even half full and he took us to the Venetian.

We met my husband and kids and went to the Canal St to find a Mexican place to eat.  I think it was the farthest restaurant!  We always want to celebrate with a Margarita! But towards the end of the walk I wasn’t feeling so great.  We sat down and I couldn’t even eat any chips and salsa!  I was really nauseous.  So I ordered some rice ans beans and thought that might help.  Not really.  I drank a coke, not diet, and it tasted really good!  But I knew I needed to start walking to the bathroom, because nothing is ever close.  I started to run as I was getting closer.  Well I did make it, but seeing black beans come up is not fun.  But I felt better.  I didn’t even get my margarita!

We went to the room to sleep after.  In the morning I felt great!

Okay so I heard there was chaos in the Mandalay Bay hotel after- glad I missed it!
I heard people didn’t get water or cytomax.
I heard people didn’t get a meal.
I heard people got the wrong medal.
I heard people fell, got trampled on and got hurt.
I heard people were yelling at each other.
I heard people got sick maybe because of the water.

I’m just glad I missed all that because I enjoyed the race!  I had a ton of fun and will do it again, maybe.  I heard they might up the entries to over 60,000.  Sounds crazy!

Next time I would get a sitter for the weekend.  And stay at a hotel by the start.  I thought the Venetian rooms were great and it seemed convenient for the expo.  But it would have been way easier to stay at Mandalay Bay.  But I also read SkinnyRunner.com’s review and she stayed at the Trump Towers with free Internet and a coffee maker in the room!

Okay, since its two weeks later I might have missed some things, but I have another race report to write!

Thanks for reading.

Me & Pepper

Turning off my watch!

The pic we had to stand in line for.

Since I did two RnR's I get a 3rd medal!

Only 4069 in my class!

My splits! Someday I would like to have each mile under 9. =)