Star Valley

(I haven't posted for a little bit, so I did four today. The ones below have pictures of Meili, and she's always more fun to look at than me running. So be sure to scroll down!)


My college roommate, Hope, recently moved with her family to Star Valley Wyoming. She had a baby a couple weeks ago, so I told her that I wanted to come visit her for a couple days. My plan was to go up and make meals for her, watch her kids so she could take naps, and of course, see her cute family. But instead this was our text conversation:


Me: Let me know when I can come up, maybe when [her husband] goes back to work so I can help you with the kids.
Hope: No, you should come run the half marathon and we can party!


I can't even tell you how characteristic that is of Hope. 


I ended up getting a free entry to run the half marathon, and Josh had already taken the time off to go to Scout camp which he ended up not having to go to. So we got there Thursday night and came home Saturday. Hope, of course, would not let me help out at all, and she is such a trooper! She had her baby two weeks ago, and has two other kids, and she was the perfect host. We had so much fun just visiting for a couple days! (And I, of course, didn't take pictures. Because that is so characteristic of me.)

The half went well. K, are you ready for this? The thing I have said before every race this year? 
I was feeling sick the week before and hadn't trained very well. But for this one, I can honestly say, that I feel like I did about as well as I could have. So far, the races I've run have been downhill,  but this one, besides the first couple miles was pretty flat, and even had a few hills. So, around mile 6 and 7, I walked a little, and was getting down on myself, but somehow, pulled it back together, and ran the rest. I felt like I finished pretty strong. 


The course was really beautiful, and I couldn't have asked for better weather!

 Since it was so flat, I already knew that my time wasn't going to be great, so I decided to have my little running buddy finish the last 20 yards with me. 

(Maybe my time wasn't so bad after all. 0 seconds flat!)

I finished in 2 hours and 55 seconds. Maybe if I hadn't had an extra 20 pounds with me, I could've been  under 2 hours, but I think it was totally worth it!

Thanks for the great weekend Hansen family! We miss you!