What a Week(end)

First, timing is EVERYTHING! Thanks for the best laugh of my life Chase and Tae.
Second, I can't move, at least not like a normal person.
Third, I can't move because I ran a half marathon on Saturday morning. THIRTEEN POINT ONE MILES. That's right. And I did it in two hours and twenty five minutes. Cutting off fifteen minutes from my previous PR. Someday I'll knock my time down to the two hour mark, but I'm in no hurry. I'm pretty proud of myself since two years ago at this time I was swearing up and down that nothing short of being trapped on the Serengeti at lunch time would get me to run. Now two years later I've completed one 5K, two 10K's, and three half marathons. Someday I plan on running a whole marathon.
It was a great race. Grandpa ran the whole marathon, because he's incredibly hard core like that, Trent, Melanie, Megan and I ran the half. Trent and Melanie both placed which was awesome, and I was way excited for them. They make up the hard core running section of the family. At least the fast part... we won't get into training techniques, because there was a lot of not good training that happened in preparation for this sucker. The race itself was absolutely beautiful. I wish I could have taken pictures or something as I ran, because it was amazing to look at. It definitely helps to have beautiful scenery for a long race. You need something to look at to distract yourself.
Speaking of distracting yourself. I found the most perfect and slightly nerdy way to pace myself and help with the distraction factor. I spent the majority of the race going through every flute piece I thought I could play from memory. It was an interesting game to play, and kept my mind occupied while my body was screaming to stop. Do you think Dr. Clayton would let me count it as practice hours? Just kidding. But it did help, sooooooo much.
A few fun memories from the race that I don't want to forget:
~ We met a guy on the bus who looked just like Benedict from the movie of the Shakespeare play Much Ado about Nothing. He was fun to talk to. It's always interesting to meet people at these things.
~ They announced at the start of the race that if we heard shooting not to be worried, it was the first day of Antelope hunting season. That's right, Antelope hunting. Only in Southern Utah.
~ There was a guy at the race who had run 52 marathons in 52 weeks, and another guy there who had run over 500 marathons. CRAZY!!! I hope to run for all of my life, but I'm not sure I'll ever be that intense.
Yay running. And yay being sore. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to move finally.