Hobble Creek Half Marathon

We did it!!! Dale and I completed a half marathon together! Here's the story--- last year I did a half with Lindsay and Kayla. I think Dale was a bit jealous that I did it, and didn't think I could actually complete it, so when the time came, he said he wanted to do it also. Our neighbor Karen had heard great things about the Hobble Creek marathon, so we decided to register- it filled up in a couple of hours! Good thing we were on top of it. In the meantime, Karen decided that she didn't want to do it, so Dale and I were doing this thing together. It landed on the 21st of August, two days before our anniversary.

So we trained for our ten weeks. We used Marathon Rookie, that gave us a great schedule to follow. It was a tough ten weeks trying to find time to actually do the training, especially with Dale's schedule at work, but we did it. Then the 21st rolled around. I actually picked Dale up from work on Friday and headed to Provo to spend the night at his parents' house.

They did a fun birthday party for Ady and Lynette did some fun crafts with the kids, too. She always does something fun when they come down.

Dale and I got up at 4:30 the next morning and headed to Mapleton. We got our running packet with our running chip in it, and then hopped on a bus. We drove what seemed like forever! We made it up the canyon at 6:00 am. But where we were starting was another mile up the rode, so we got dropped off and then hiked up to the starting point to Balsam Campground. We waited forever and ever- until 8:00 when the race actually started. It was so frustrating because we stood there for 2 hours waiting for it to begin. I was so so antsy! But the gun shot and we started. It felt good to start. There were some nice hills at the beginning, and the canyon was so beautiful. It was full of trees and you could hear the river. It was nice and cool through the trees. Dale and I were running an 8 minute mile through those first 4 miles because they were mostly downhill. Trust me, it didn't stay that way! By mile 7 we started going up hills, and not just tiny hills, big hills. My hamstrings were in pain! By that point, Dale's knee, that had already given him grief, was killing him, and he had to start walking. I kept running, so we parted at mile 7. But those first 7 miles were so fun to be able to be running together. He was doing an amazing job for his first race! At mile 8 we started going on the trail and doing trail running. It was paved, but we were running across bridges, running up steep hills, then down a gradual hill, and doing it all over again. It was so hard! The next four miles were a gradual uphill battle, literally! They were tough! By mile 10 I wanted to cry because I needed a bathroom- luckily we got GU, water, and a bathroom! That helped me tons! Those last three miles were painful, but I knew if I stopped, or if I walked, I would never get running again, so I plowed through it. The hills were definitely rough, especially because we were not prepared for them. The last three miles there were people there cheering us on. That is what gets me through. I love hearing people clap. Some person had set up a mister in front of their yard, so running through that was great. Since the race started late, it was definitely hot hot hot getting out of the canyon. (It turned into a day of 101 degrees!! We were dying!) When I heard Sorrel scream "GO JANAE!!!" and I saw my cute kids, that made it worth every mile! At the finish line were Tannith and Ady- it made me wanna cry! I love that they were all there to cheer us on!!

I got my chip off, grabbed some water, got a flower, and my official 1/2 Marathon shirt and went to see my kiddos and family. We then went to the finish line to wait for Dale. Here he came! He did it! The kids all slapped his hand as he ran by and he finished the race!!!

We loved doing this together and our goal is next year to do it again and increase our time. I was so proud of him, and being able to do it together! I told him I want him to do Top of Utah next year. We'll see what we end up doing. Right now we are just excited. We can't walk, neither one of us- we definitely are in pain, but it was a great accomplishment! Here's the finals of everything:

118

Janae Jakins

Layton UT

831

30

770

2:08:53.4

9:50/M

77

Dale Jakins

Layton UT

863

32

949

2:21:09.8

10:46/M

978

Dale Jakins

Layton UT

863

32

78 M 30-34

2:21:09.8

2:22:13.9

1:04.1

10:46/M

792

Janae Jakins

Layton UT

831

30

119 F 30-34

2:08:53.4

9:50/M