Just a brief update on the “something I signed up for on a whim in my desire for something new and exciting” I mentioned in the last post. When driving through Moab last week, I saw advertisements for the Canyonlands Half Marathon. I’m not a runner, I haven’t been training in the slightest, but still decided it sounded like a good idea. So last Sunday, I signed up! My goals were pretty simple:
- Finish
- Not be last
- Challenge goal: not walk any of it
I ended up succeeding pretty easily on all three! The first half absolutely flew by, and I found myself looking at my watch and setting some more time goals as I went along. In the end, I finished in 2:14:01, finishing 2044 of 3189 total runners, and 188 of 305 in my category, females age 25-29. I’m really happy with this performance, considering this was my first race of any kind, I’ve never run more than 6 miles before, and certainly haven’t been running at all recently.
Within the first hour of finishing, I had to make 4 emergency dashes to the port-a-potties. And I truly mean EMERGENCY. No one warned me of the digestive consequences of long distance running. Now, 5 hours post-race, and another 3 urgent bathroom breaks later, I think things have settled down enough that I’m willing to try eating. Wish me luck!