Bear Lake Half

What an event!!  At the beginning of the year, I  mentioned that I had signed up for the Bear Lake half marathon.  Almost immediately, my Mom called and said that she was signing up for it to.  So it was set.  We were ready to run.  Then, I talked one of the young women in my ward to sign up too.  Even more motivation, we were ready to go!  Brad was sweet and found us an amazing cabin to stay in.  Soooo exciting!  The afternoon before the race you would have seen me, my friend Lynette, my Mom, and Grandma jamming out in the car on our way up to the beauty of northern Utah/Idaho.  I started to get worried just right before we pulled out of the canyon and into Bear Lake when I started to feel the predecessor symptoms to a migraine and by the time we had checked in, it had hit.  [dangit]  To say I was frustrated is an understatement...I headed off with Mom and Lynette to pick up our packets, drive the course, and then crashed on a bed in a dark room to try and shake it off.  The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur but I do remember my Mom making an amazing pasta dinner, her friend from El Paso (who also was running the race) coming to visit, and enjoying the comfort of the sweet cabin.  

 

The morning of the race, unfortunately, my migraine was still very much active and the bus ride to the start of the race was probably the worst part of the day.  But it was fantastic having so much support (Brad, Grandma, and Soren, Rachele, and their kids, Mitchell, Curtis, and Aubree).  It was also fun to run into my old roommate, Katelynn, at the starting line and catch up a bit with her.  The best part of the pre-race stretch was watching Curtis and Mitchell find some bones up the hill a bit and come running down yelling, "Dad, look!  BONES!" (one of them was an intact rib cage of a deer...).  I was truly grateful for my Mom and know that without her support and motivation, I would have dropped out at mile 1.  We had both worked so hard and were prepared and she just kept encouraging and distracting me which helped me keep going.  Thanks, Mom!!

Mom, me, & Lynette

Look!!  They had the Aggie Shuttles take us to the start!

Katelynn, me, Mom, & Janille

I was very very very happy when we finally heard and saw the finish line.  After Mom and I did our heel clicks and crossed the finish line, I was even happier :)  I'm so grateful for this opportunity I had to run with my Mom and friends because it taught me so much about the importance of mental preparedness.  

After a good stretch, a bit of a nap, and a shower, we made our way to fulfill the promise of good shakes and good food.  Grandma makes everything look good.

Unfortunately, the weather was very very cold which meant it was nearly impossible to get into the very very cold water.  So instead, we rented some rick-shaws and rode along the lake.  Mitchell and Curtis were fantastic drivers :)

It turned out to be a great weekend despite the initial start.  And now it just means that we need to go back to Bear Lake this summer to jump in -- especially now that we have a cabin connection :)