First Mid-Distance Race in my Comeback, Finishers Medallion Sneak Peak

I received an incredible opportunity thanks to Meranda over at Fairytales and Fitness to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon and I was happy to take it, thanks friend!!

Truth be told, I didn't actually train for this Half Marathon, not like I should have.
I had been training for hiking the Grand Canyon and put most of my focus on that. (Which I did and will talk about soon!) But since I had been running a few shorter runs 3-5 miles 4 days a week and a couple of weeks ago I went out for a 12.5-mile run and it felt pretty good. I figured since I trained to hike 54 miles, I should be able to knock off a half marathon with less than adequate training. In theory, LOL

Due to a few circumstances on my hiking trip, my feet were very blistered, I had 4 blisters half the size of golf balls and 3 the size of quarters and zero skin left on the bottoms of my feet in addition to 3 other smaller blisters.
Thankfully, my dad is a medical genius with patching up blisters to the point you can hardly feel them, it took him over 30 minutes to patch mine up the night before. Then I just hoped for the best the next morning!

I met up with a few blogger friends before the start, it was fun to get to know them from virtual into reality! Leave it to me, to not take a single picture of us.. I am terrible at this I know!

I had two goals for this race: Have fun and not walk LOL (Yeah I wasn't aiming too high!). So I settled into my "I can run nearly forever at this pace, " and went for it. I possibly had my worst ever Half Marathon time, but I didn't train so I was happy with any fun finish! I did complete the goal of having a great time and not walking. But then again my "I can run forever pace" is pretty slow and called that for a reason, because well yeah I can nearly run forever at that pace LOL.

This race I never had run before, I traveled up north for it, stayed with my parents about an hour away and drove down for the race last Saturday morning!  Beautiful course, very easy rolling hills, nearly as flat as a Utah race can get really. I have to say, I'd do it again possibly in the future, but I think I'd like to run the full marathon and run the entire canyon next time!

On a side note, a funny fact: this is actually only the second different half marathon I've ever run. Sure I've run the Canyonlands Half Marathon in Utah many times, but none other halfs. I'd been a marathon gal for so many years I only had 26.2 on my mind. So yeah, the half marathon race on different courses is all new to me!

Second side note, at this race, they gave us the cutest and best race jacket I've seen in a race yet, I love mine!!!

LAKE TIME

My trip up north to run the race ended up with me catching a summer cold. I stayed a few days longer just to heal up a little before the long drive back home.
I've kinda laid around not doing much, by Saturday I was bored and I needed to get out even if I didn't have the energy to do much of anything.

I did stop at the library on my way out to the lake and thankfully they had the book I wanted to read checked in! Very relaxing way to spend the tail end of a summer cold!

Additionally, since it was 110 degree's outside Saturday, I took a like a little higher up so it was a bit cooler, only 105 LOL. (In case your wondering, temps like this make a lake bathwater warm. But it's still a good place to cool off!)

If you think 110 is hot, Sunday it was 112 and this week we are supposed to hit 115 nearly every day, possibly even warmer than that. (Heat wave coming) Oddly, I love the heat and my body loves the heat so don't think for a second that means this week I'll be indoors under the air conditioner. In fact, if you follow me on Instagram, you'll be in for some visual eye candy, I've got some great hikes planned. Better yet, some are ones I've never been on.
So I am staying fully hydrated and ready for a week of outdoor summertime hotter than hades fun, LOL

ADDITIONALLY

The Virtual Race that I am putting on for my Thesis Project this summer for college is up and running and accepting entries. You can check it out: Runseatoshiningsea.com

I'm doing my best to keep the prices as low and reasonable as possible and still offer higher quality items as far as the shirt and finishers medallion go.

Above, I've finished the first DRAFT of the finishers medallion, it will look similar to this, though you will have to use your imagination as it will be in Metallic and only a Blue Accent highlight. Feel free to tell me what you think! I worked hard on it because I know the medal is the only reason for someone to enter a virtual race.
However, I can take criticism, so if you think it is horrible let me know.
FYI, it will be a normal size medal, 3.5 inches wide and 3 inches tall. With a satin ribbon (design still in creation.)

I'll be reaching out to some of you soon who expressed interest in helping me spread the word about this race. There is an Influencer factor in this thesis project, one of the main experiments is I can only advertise this recreational event through influencers.

I cannot pay, as I have no funds, but I can comp entries for some or allow influencers to earn free entries by getting at least 5 people to sign up under discount codes I will give them to share the message with. If you haven't already told me and you might be interested let me know and I'll be sure to reach out to you soon! (I'm just waiting until I have the medal design and t-shirt designs finished.)

LAST

Grand Canyon was amazing, but the story has been hard for me to write to do it justice, which is my way of saying I'm still working on it LOL.
I'm almost done with it, and I can't wait to share with you the experience and story behind it all.
My goal is to get it up before an entire month passes, LOL I'm terrible right now. Busy working on my thesis project!


Okay, so what do you think of the finishers medallion I am creating? 

Is it hot where you are? Do you love the heat too, or do you sit under the cool air all summer?