Ogden 1/2 Marathon

 In May I was able to run the Ogden 1/2 Marathon again.  It started with pretty much no sleep that night and then waking up a little before 3am to get ready and drive up to Ogden.  The forecast had predicted rain for Saturday, and it did.-Actually it poured.

Anyway, I drove up in the wee hours of the morning in the pouring rain to catch the bus.  I made friends with a couple of ladies on the bus ride up the canyon, which made the next couple of hours much more fun.  We were on the first bus to arrive at Eden Park and it was pitch black, and still raining.   Luckily, they had fire barrels for the runners to stand around while we waited (almost 2 hours) out in the rain for the race to start.  We kept hoping the rain would let up for the race, but it continued relentlessly.  A few minutes before the race started I realized that I had accidentally taken Chad's phone.  Which meant that I wouldn't have my running playlist to run to.  Bummer.  My plan was to just pick a soundtrack to listen to and play it over and over...which is annoying, but better than nothing.  So the gun went off at 6:45am and the race began.  I was soaked to the bone and freezing cold.  Not the ideal way to start a race.

About a minute into the race my music turned off and I couldn't get it going again while I was running.  I wasn't about to stop running just to figure it out so I just kept going.  I ran the whole race with no music, no watch to know my time, an injured hip, and in the freezing rain.  Definitely not ideal circumstances.  Without my music the race did seem much longer, but it was still fun despite it all.  There's something about running a race surrounded by thousands of people that is inspiring and always gives me the boost I need to keep going.

After I crossed the finish line, volunteers handed me a bottle of water.  I was thirsty and wanted to drink it, but I was so cold that my hands couldn't even grip the lid to turn it.  I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering or my hands from shaking.  I'm sure we all had some degree of hypothermia.

Chad had brought the kids up with him to see me at the finish line and unfortunately, they were a few minutes late and missed me.  We never did find each other since I had his phone, but it made me happy just to know they made the effort to be there to support me.

All in all it made for the craziest race story I've had yet, but I'm still glad I did it and accomplished my goal.  Here's to many more to come!