Team Finish

TEAM NAME: Team Finish
OUR GOAL: To Finish

So, a few weeks back I was asked last minute to run in a half marathon relay. There were 3 of us running and the guy that asked me to run said he was willing to do either of the 2 legs left if I would do the other. There was a leg that was 4 miles and another that was 5.5 miles. I of course opted for the 4 mile leg since the race was in about a week and I had not run as much as I should have prior to then. He told me that there may be a few small hills in my section and I expressed concern about them if they were not small, he assured me I would be fine and that "it was not like I was going to be running up a mountain or anything." I ran hard for the next week, ran consistently and felt like I was ready to run my 4 miles.

Well, on Wednesday 3 days before the race my friend said he had gone to drive the course and check it out. He mentioned in the text that he could not lie and that I had some pretty serious hill climbing. I immediately panicked and went to check the course map and elevation change online. I only had one more day to run and was totally freaked out!!! Come to find out I was the first leg of the race. According to the map online the race began at Mountain Dell Golf headed up Emigration Canyon (which was sounding a lot like a mountain) and then back down and ended at the U of U. The end of the first 4 miles was at the peak of Emigration Canyon. MEANING---I would start 1,000 ft. higher in elevation than I had been running that week and would run about 1,000 ft. up from there. 1,000 ft. elevation gain over 4 miles did not sound good. The 5.5 miles going all downhill started sounding like a dream.

To make a long story shorter, I made it. I ran Thursday night on my treadmill at an incline for 4 miles trying to convince myself I could do it. I had hoped to drive the course prior to running it as well, but somehow never found the time...I think it was a blessing. If I had seen the course prior I would have completely psyched myself out. It is amazing what you can do when you know that 2 people are standing at the top of a 'mountain' waiting for you to get there and can't begin until you do. I prayed my guts out to make it up that mountain...I did.