I can't believe it's taken me this long to post

about the race- especially since that's all I could talk about for a week. Truly it was one of the best experiences of my life. When Erin first suggested that we train for a half marathon I thought she was crazy. Why would anyone want to put themselves through such pain and torture? What about running for hours sounds fun? There are a couple people in my ward who have run half marathons and really enjoyed it. So eventually I said, what they hey, lets do it. So, Paul and I started training at the end of April- our very first training day consisted of running two miles (which left us sore for days) and we built on from there. It was incredibly rewarding to see our steady progress. After hitting the four mile mark, every long run after that was the longest we'd ever done in our lives. Paul certainly kept me motivated. Running with a partner is the strategy that helped push me in the beginning. I've realized that running, at least for me, is a mental sport. I think most bodies can handle the physical demands of running, but it takes time to discipline your mind to not think about how tired or bored you are, or how out of breath you are, or how that spot in the distance isn't getting any closer. There were a few times early on where I'd have to run by myself, and I'd let my mind slip and I wouldn't be able to finish. Running with Paul gave me something else to think about. Not to mention, he pushed my abilities. Paul would rather run fast and get it over with. My body has a natural pace that is about 11 minutes per mile, and regardless of how far the run, I always seem to keep that same pace. Paul would make us run fast, but I made us slow down so that we'd actually be able to finish our long runs. We made a great team. We also would have a friendly competition at the end of our runs. At about the last half mile we'd pick up the pace and see who could finish first. (I often won. :))

Turns out that Paul had no desire to actually run the race, and he stopped training with me after we had reached our nine mile long run. My sister came down from Idaho and we ran the Disneyland Half Marathon together. The night before the race we carbo loaded with spaghetti. She fell right asleep, but I woke up about every hour until our alarm woke us up- I was so nervous. I had invested a lot of time into this and what if I couldn't finish the race, or got hurt, or, or, or... We drove over to Disneyland, waited in our corral for about 30 minutes, and then the fun began. As we crossed over the starting line people on all sides were cheering for us. Racers were dressed up as Disney characters there were smiles all around. The best part was that our names were printed on our bibs, so people kept shouting, "Go Courtney! You can do it! Yeah, Erin! You're awesome!" We first ran through the park and then went through Anaheim. There was entertainment at least every mile- everything from hula dancers to high school bands. There were even official Disney characters that people stopped to take pictures with. At about mile 10 we got to run around the Angel's Stadium field. There were people in the stands cheering us on and spraying water on us. There was even a camera there that projected us on the big screen when we ran by. Running the race was honestly as fun as actually going to Disneyland- I'm not kidding! I had a smile on my face the whole time. Running with Erin was so fun- I wouldn't have done it any other way. We got to chat the entire time and we helped each other keep pace. My only goal was to not stop and walk- and we didn't! We even finished strong with our last mile being about seven minutes. My body felt great the entire time just until I crossed the finish line and started to walk- then the pain really set it. The back of my thighs started to burn in a way that I can't even describe. I almost thought I was going to cry. But, the problem was solved with a little snack and some serious stretching.

Erin and I decided that we're going to do it again next year, which I'm so excited about! I've been looking forward to it since the day after the race.

Here's some pictures they took of me en route. A lot of these look like I'm walking, but I promise I'm not! Paul and I discovered that I don't move my body very much when I run- I guess I'm trying to conserve energy. :) The second picture, although it's not actually of me, is my favorite. It perfectly sums up the way I felt during the race: ecstatic.