Hobble Creek Half Marathon

Zac, Amy, Becky and I all ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon on Saturday.  Zac and I have been training for this race since April.  This is the first "official" race that Zac has ever ran.

The night before the race, Zac and I carb loaded with our "Ultra Fuel" drink.  It is so disgusting.  You have to chug the drink and not breathe in while drinking.  I always feel good after the drink though, so I think the effects are worth the disgusting taste.  We woke up bright and early at 4 am to get ready for the race.  Dad and Diane came over at 4:15ish to stay with the kids, get them dressed, feed them, and head to the finish line.

We headed over to pick up Amy and Becky.  When we got to Becky's house, she was outside waiting for us.  A skunk ran right past her into her yard, about 10 feet away from her.  She didn't see it, but we all did!  That was one way to wake up.

We got to Mapleton in great time, found a parking spot, got Amy's race packet, loaded the bus, used the bathrooms, dropped off clothes, and were at the start line with only about 10-20 minutes of wait time.  Not bad!  While we were waiting a man fell completely down the cattle grate in the road.  Both of his legs went all the way inside the grate.  I felt so bad.  Right before the race.  After he got out he was limping.

The race started right on time.  I have heard that this race is notorious for being up to 1 hour late on start time. I think they tried really hard to make sure they had an "on-time" start.  In fact, we didn't even hear the start!  We were talking and looked up and saw all these people running!  So we started.  Zac took off.  We never saw him until the finish line.

Amy, Becky and I ran together during the race.  It was such a beautiful race.  It was a rolling downhill race.  I felt great!  It went by really fast.  Every mile we passed I was shocked that we were already at the next mile.   When we were taking a picture at mile 10, a runner passed and said, "You guys are way to happy at this stage of the race."  About mile 11 there was a really long gradual hill.  I was starting to feel tired.  We hit our last water station at 11 1/2 miles, and we saw we could hit our goal of beating 2 hours.  We all did great and made it to the finish under 2 hours.  We had so many supporters there and it was so great to see everyone.  I loved having Zac cheer me on at the end wearing his medal.   Our official time is 1 hr 57 min.  Zac's official time is 1 hr 44 min.

They gave out finishers medals this year.  All of the women were suppose to get flowers too.  I asked somebody about it and they said they ran out.  Without skipping a beat Eric shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well Mom, I guess you should've ran faster."  Thanks little Zac.  They had a great playground at the finish line, which helped keep the kids occupied while waiting for us.

 

 Zac told me about mile 3 his ankle really started hurting him, so he didn't push as hard as he normally would.  There were 2 cattle grates to run across during the race.  They only put a board over 1/2 of the grate, so you had to slow down to get across.  On the 1st one, Zac just ran and jumped over the grate completely.  He told me that his ankle was hurting about mile 3.  He also said there was a "Phoebe" runner (from the show Friends) out there.  He wished he had his camera then.  For those of you who don't know what type of runner this is, it's when your legs and arms are going in every direction.

It was a great run.  I wouldn't mind doing this race again.  I loved the downhill.  There were only a couple spots that were a little too steep for me.  The rest was a gradual downhill.  Thanks for running it Zac, Amy and Becky!  And thanks Dad and Diane for waking up so early and getting my kids ready!

After the race we headed to my cousin Stephanie's house for swimming and food.  It was great to see my cousins.  The kids loved swimming and it felt so good after running.  Eric told me that Stockton was so amazing.  He was in awe at his flips and dives.  I loved watch Alden go off the diving board.  Such a brave little guy.  When we were coming home, Eric and Aubrey both said that today was a really, really good day.  Thank you Steph for letting us come play and swim!