Shameless Horn Tooting

Don't you hate it when people just brag about how awesome they are? Especially when they show you evidence of their awesome-ness as if you really needed to see it?
Yeah, me too.

Hey, guys! Guess how awesome I am!

Last weekend Jim and I ran a Shamrock Half Marathon in Saratoga Springs. We were really excited for this race not because it was anything special or a big race. In fact, it was pretty small and in the middle of freakin' nowhere. But we haven't ran a race since December in Vegas so we were both a little anxious to get to a starting line--and even more important, a finish line.
The race started out at a steady incline and quickly transitioned into a decent climb only about 2 miles in.
It didn't stop there. If we weren't running up a significant hill on the side of a highway, we were running through rolling hills of neighborhoods and unfinished subdivisions.
The wind was pretty intense in some parts. We were lucky in the sense that we eventually got the wind behind us and I'm pretty sure that mile 11-12 was as fast as it was because we had a little assistance.
As we ran down our last hill at mile 12, I took a glance at my Garmin and started crunching some numbers. At the pace I was running, I was really really close to my time for the Provo Halloween Half Marathon-- which was almost entirely downhill! There was a guy up ahead of us that Jim and I wanted to pass and that made me kick up the pace just a little more. I can keep this pace! I can seriously keep this pace!
There's a couple up ahead of us. Maybe we can pass them. I'm not going to speed up. Maybe I will just lucky and pass them.
Yep, passed them. We picked it up in high gear the last .2 miles and as I crossed the finish line I checked my time. 2:32!! And what was my time at the Provo Halloween Half? 2:32!!
Damn straight. I just ran a mostly uphill course in the same amount of time it took me to run a downhill course last year. I felt amazing. I was on a runner's high all day.

Shamrock Half Marathon - Saratoga Springs, UT 

On a separate but equally awesome note - we finally organized our race bibs. We made racks a little while ago to hang our medals but our bibs were just kind of hanging on the end.
We found a post on Pinterest (yes, Pinterest. I'm obsessed. Don't judge. Most of you are, too) where someone displayed their bibs in a collage.
So we did it! And they turned out awesome!

The board on the far left and the medals on the white board are mine. It's a work in progress!
Jim had enough bibs to fill one and a half boards which is awesome. Looking at the blank spots on our boards made us more excited to get some races done this summer. Good thing we're coming up on racing season! Woo Hoo!

Only 6 weeks away from the marathon now. (eeeek!)
We have an 18-mile and a 20-mile run on the schedule in the next few weeks. I'll let you know how it goes

Or brag about it. Whatever.