I Don't Know What To Say...Pokey Had Me In The Potato Bag

First off...  I have amazing family and friends.  Thank you all for all the super supportive, kind emails, text, and comments.  I feel so lucky to have you all rooting for me.

This is one of those posts that no one wants to write.  I'm not even sure I should be writing about it now, but blogs are about journaling so you can go back someday and remember those moments in your life, whether good or bad, and hopefully be able to learn from them.  And there was WAY more good than bad this past weekend. :)

It actually was a weekend full of awesomeness.  On Friday I picked up Emily from the airport and off we were to Pocatello.  First time to hang since last May at her 24 event.  It was almost a 3 hour car ride and I don't think we stopped talking once.  So fun.  First up... meet up for lunch!

We got to meet Supermom Erin and Cari!!  They are both darling and it was so fun to meet in person.  Cute Cari drove an hour to meet up and even came back the next day to see us at the finish line!!!  Love her. 

I get to see these two again in a couple weeks.... more on that in a second...

Don't mind me standing on my tippy toes to try to compete with those 4" heels...

Next up was Expo time.  It was kind of a small sad Expo, but don't worry we grabbed our potato bags.

Race morning.  Felt good.  Slept ok.  I kept my nerves at bay.  It turns out I didn't hydrate super well. But I felt really good at the start.  Game plan: Run mostly 8:00's through first 15 and 9:00's last 10 if need be.  Main goal: keep this lady in sight.

Yeah she rocked the arm sleeves and tatts like a pro.  We chatted the first hour a little but by mile 8 it was time for music and buckling in.

Without going into writing an epic saga on the race that wasn't....  I'll give the cliff notes version because, well just because.

Halfway point I was at 1:47.  Yeah, my fastest half ever.  Still feeling pretty strong.  By the time we hit 15 there weren't too many downhills to find and I started to slow.  By 18, I think we were around 10:00's and I knew 3:35 was out the door.  By mile 21, I was barely squeaking out 12:00's and I knew BQ was gone.  Mile 23, I knew a sub 4 was gone too.  I hate realizations during the race.  I couldn't will myself any faster. 

Emily was awesome.  Completely patient.  And bored out of her mind.  I'm not a big talker during races, as in not at all.  She knew when to check in and when to just roll with it.  I kept my emotions in check, til the end.  But I knew she felt bad.  And I thought of all the people that were pulling for me.  But it is what it is.  I tried.  I fell apart the last ten miles.  Still trying to figure out what to do different.  Probably just more fast training.

Happy faces coming into the finish line.  And look at those awesome heel strikes.  ;)  Emily's parents and sister had come to the race!  They were at the finish line!!!  And cute Cari!!  I could hear them cheering.  So nice to have hugs from family and friends at the end.

We found Erin and were so happy for her awesome BQ finish time!  3:32!  So amazing.

I tried to disappear to a corner, looked at my phone and saw all my messages and just couldn't keep my composure...

It's so disappointing.  And I know it's only a race.  But I was hoping for better from myself.  Thank goodness I had a best friend there. 

So.  Finish time for me and poor Emz: 4:06.  Actually my personal best ever.  But no BQ.  Gonna try again in two weeks at Top of Utah Marathon in Logan.  If all the early registration doesn't fill the Boston Marathon, I still might have a shot to get in if I can pull off a 3:44:59 in Logan.  And Erin and Cari will be running TOU too! 

So what did I do with my potato bag?  Since I didn't mash them in the race...  nothing like a little grease to give some comfort.

I'll get over this one.  It's all good. :)