have a good weekend

Finals are over and I am officially over and out for two weeks.

Have a great weekend!

3/4

A few weekends ago, the Weekend Warriors, along with our buddy Trevor, packed up and headed down to St. George to run the St. George Half Marathon.The whole way down, the boys were teasing me about my terrible sense of direction. Which, if you know me, you know that it's completely true- I am the worst. And, well, if there was any smidgen of doubt about it, this weekend sealed the deal. Now I can proudly say there is no question that I am directionally handicapped. 

Saturday morning we woke up to perfect race conditions. We started at the top of Snow Canyon and ran through most of it then finished up at Snow Canyon High School:

 Looks like a pretty straight shot, right? Yes, that's what I thought too.

It was probably one of the best running days I have had. I felt awesome. The first half of the race I was running between 6:30 and 7 min miles. I started about 8 minutes behind everyone else due to the long line I got stuck in for the bathrooms (yes, another "typical Lauren" moment) so between miles four and five, there was really no one in front of me because the lead pack was still pretty far ahead and all of the walkers and joggers were long gone behind me. There was a water stop at mile five but I was feelin good and getting into the groove with my iPod turned up so I just kept going. Lauren Anne Johnson does not need water. As I kept going down the trail, I realized that I was literally alone in this gorgeous canyon. I loved it. After about 15 minutes, however, things started to get a little fishy. I started to wonder, "Did I make a wrong turn?" "Did I miss something?" But I just kept telling myself, "No, the map said that it was a straight line clear down to the high school. Just keep running. You feel great, this is great. Don't panic." Another 10 minutes went by and this running groove of mine came to an abrupt halt. Dead end. No more trail. Now, at this point, you might be feeling a little bad for me. But trust me when I say that this was probably the best moments of the whole race. After I realized that I had actually achieved the ultimate in getting lost, I had a very good laugh. All of a sudden, this was my own race and I didn't mind at all. The fact that I would have taken top five doesn't even phase me... Well, maybe it does a little bit... But I laughed all the way back to the water station that I had blown off SIX miles earlier and found out that I was supposed to have turned around at that point, follow the trail back up, cut out of the canyon, and finish at the high school. After having a good laugh with the girls handing out the water, I went on my way- and laughed the rest of the time. I ended up running 19 miles that day with a time of 2 hours 20 minutes. Sweet.

Moral of the story? Getting lost isn't really that bad. It can challenge you way beyond what you knew you were capable of and show yourself what you are made of. SO... what did this experience do for me? Well, since I did a 3/4 marathon with relatively little training, I figured, why not a full one? Next stop-Ogden Marathon, May 15. Bring it.

Thanks again guys for the great weekend!