Lillian Gwenyth Jensen

On March 23, 2024, I ran the Riverton Half Marathon in Riverton, Utah. It was my first half-marathon ever, and my first race in years, so I wanted to share a little bit about my experience.

Background

I’ve been running on and off since my sophomore year of high school. I had a lot of friends who ran on the cross country team, and all three of my older brothers had done at least one year on the team. I never really wanted to be a runner, but all my friends and my brothers loved cross country and always tried to convince me that I should do it. So, my sophomore year, my brother, Phin, convinced me to come with him to the first practice of the year.

I thought it couldn’t possibly be that bad. I was fairly active: I did ballet and other dance, I went on hikes, walks, and bike rides with my family, and I had gone on a couple of runs that summer. But I got to practice and immediately realized that this was going to be so much harder than I imagined. I don’t remember if this was actually the first practice, or one a couple days later, but I remember the coach asking us to divide into groups based on how long we thought we could run without stopping. I think the groups were something like 20 min, 40 min, and an hour. I had never really run very far and had probably never run farther than 5 minutes without stopping or walking. I immediately felt out of place and thought there was no way I could do this cross country thing. But I did that practice. I was so slow, I got winded super quickly, and I had terrible shin splints.

After that first practice, Phin and I went home and I told him how awful that experience was, but that I wasn’t ready to give up yet. Everyone told me that the first 3 weeks of practice were the hardest, and I didn’t want to be weaker than all these other people, so I decided that I was going to do the first 3 weeks and then quit, just to prove that I can run, I just don’t want to.

Those first weeks were really hard. I was the slowest person on the team, and people had to turn back over and over again to make sure I didn’t fall too far behind on our longer runs. I still had terrible shin splints, and I overall did not enjoy most of the experience. But I loved being around friends, and everyone on the team was so nice. My coach was amazing and always paid attention to me even though I was such a slow and grumpy runner. And my teammates were so encouraging and kind to me. So I kept going. I didn’t quit after 3 weeks like I kept saying I would, and I didn’t quit after the season. I did track in the spring, then I did two more years of cross country and track before I finished high school. Even after high school, I ran when I could, and even did some races in my hometown and in the city I moved to for college.

Somewhere along the way, I ended up liking (maybe even loving) running.

Pre-Training

For the last few years (basically since summer 2020) I haven’t done much running. Every few months, I would go on a run or two, then lose motivation again, or get injured, or get too busy. I still loved running, it just became very hard to prioritize it over all of my other responsibilities.

Then, last September, I was talking to my mom and sister-in-law Alayna about running. I finally felt like I had time to run. I had a steady 9-5 job, and I had started running again and enjoying it a lot. I mentioned that I wanted to do a half-marathon at some point, and my sister-in-law suggested we train for a half together. Starting right then. I had been thinking that I would probably run for a while, then sign up for a race sometime in 2024. I did not feel ready to run 13.1 miles. But I thought, “why not?”. So I tentatively agreed, and we started running together when we could. We planned on doing an unofficial half marathon sometime around Thanksgiving.

I followed a pretty simple, mileage-based training plan that I found on the internet. We didn’t have a ton of time, so I just found one that seemed doable and fit within our timeframe. It was really fun to train with Alayna. We went on most of our long runs together, and it really helped keep me accountable and consistent, and she actually runs pretty close to the same speed that I do (or at least she slowed down enough to run with me).

In early December, we finally attempted to do our unofficial half-marathon. We set out, and everything was going fine, until about mile 9, when both of our phones died within a few seconds of each other. Neither of us had any other form of GPS, so we had to do our best to try and get to 13.1 miles before we got home. But unfortunately, we did not estimate very well and when we got back, we had only run 12 miles. Alayna decided to go back out and finish the last mile, but I was so tired, that I just decided to call it a day. But just a few days later I signed up for my half-marathon race so I could finally actually do the whole thing.

Training

I started training for my actual race on January 1. This time I had a little bit more time, and I was more confident in my abilities, so I used the Nike Run Club app’s training plan, that included recovery runs, speed runs, and long runs every week. From January 1 – March 23, I ran 4-5 days/week every week except for one (when I was sick). Most weeks were 2 recovery runs, 2 speed runs, and 1 long run. I did most of my training alone. I did most of my runs during the week at the gym on the treadmill or the indoor track, because the only time I had available was in the morning, when it was cold and dark.

The long runs were my favorite part of training. I’d turn on some music, an audiobook, or a podcast, and just run for a while. I did all of my long runs outside. It was fun to explore different parts of Provo (and a little bit of Orem). The longest run of my training was 12.4 miles (20k), about three weeks before my race. That day, Provo was experiencing 35+ mph winds and I had been having really severe period cramps in the days before. But I completed the run. It was very slow (it took me about 3:30:00), and it was one of the harder runs, but after doing that, I felt pretty confident that I could run 13.1 miles.

While I was tapering in preparation for my race, I got sick and didn’t run for 4 days straight. This was the week before my race, and I was terrified that illness could potentially get in the way of me meeting my goal. But I was able to recover fairly quickly, and for the last few runs before my race I felt pretty much back to normal.

Race Day

The night before the race, I stayed with my brother Jacob and his wife, because they live about 25 minutes closed to the race than me. I spent the evening before hanging out with Jacob and his wife and preparing mentally for my race.

I got to the race start at around 8:30 and said hi to my parents and sister. My sister and my dad both warmup up with me a little bit with some stretching, and then I saw two of my roommates before I went over to the starting line.

The race started at 9:00 and we all set off. I started pretty close to the back, but quite a few people passed me right away, and within the first 1-2 miles, I was already in the very back spot. The course was very interesting. We started at Riverton City Park, then ran to the Jordan River trail, which we ran on for a lot of the course. In the first mile, there was a really big downhill, so I knew that at some point I’d have to go back up the hill.

Anyway, the first few miles were quite good. I could still see a lot of other people, and even though I was definitely in the back, there was enough excitement in the air that I was feeling really good. I was even going a little bit faster than my goal pace. The weather was perfect, too. I think the first time I saw my family/friends was around mile 3.7 or so. My dad ran with me for a little while which was a nice mental break, and also helped me to keep track of the course, since at this point the course was going through some neighborhoods with lots of turns. Around this point is where the first big hill was, and it was very hard, but I kept running.

Around mile 6 is where things got hard. At this point I was back on the Jordan River Trail, and on a part of it that was very exposed to the elements. Although the temperature was good, the wind was very strong, and I was running into a fairly strong headwind for about miles 6-10. I was also alone for a very large stretch of these miles, because it was much harder to find places to watch the runners. This was also one of the hardest parts mentally. I was already pretty tired, but I also knew I had a long way left to go. Around mile 8 was one of the biggest hills of the course, and I was completely on my own making my way up. I was so tired from running alone in the wind, and it was a real struggle to get to the top of that hill without walking. But I did it.

Around mile 11 was the next place I saw people. My roommates were at the last aid station, and cheered me on for a little bit as I made my way into the last 2 brutal miles of the race. I was so exhausted and I had slowed down a lot. But I kept running, and a little bit later I saw my brother, his wife, and their baby for a little while, which was a very good morale boost to help me through the last struggle. I also saw my parents and sister one last time before the finish line.

Those last two miles may have been the hardest two miles I’ve ever run. I was so tired, and I just wanted to be done. I had run 11 miles, mostly in the wind, and I had been running mostly alone for almost 3 hours at that point. But all the hard hills were over, and I slowly made my way back to Riverton City Park, where the finish line was. Since I started running all those years ago, I’ve always had a good little pick-up at the ends of all my races. I really did try to pick it up at the end of this race too, but I don’t think it was really much of a difference. I crossed the finish line and my dad put my medal on me. I was crying and so so tired, and there were so many people there to cheer me on for those last few meters and to congratulate me afterward. I was so grateful and happy and absolutely exhausted. A few of the race officials were around and were so positive and kind to me. We got some pictures of the group, and that was that.

It’s now been just a little over a week since I ran that race, and I’m kind of baffled writing about it. I really ran 13.1 miles? It honestly doesn’t feel real. This was such an amazing experience. I loved training, even though it was hard and frustrating and SO time-consuming. I loved racing, even though it was painful, hard, and exhausting. I’m so grateful to everyone who supported me while I was training, and everyone who came to the race and cheered me on throughout. I’m especially grateful to my dad, who ran with me for some decent chunks of the race. I honestly don’t know if I would have been able to keep going at some of those points if not for him.

I’ve always, always been a slow runner, and I’m used to it, but I am really glad that people are willing to wait for me, as the very last runner, as I run long races. I’m grateful for the people who have encouraged me to keep running in spite of me speed (or lack thereof), and the great running community on the internet and in person who all are so encouraging of those of us who run slowly. I am proud of myself for continuing on with this sport despite not exactly being “good” at it.

I’m going to add some of my stats and details for anyone who might be interested in the more nerdy part of running. 🙂

Times/stats (from my watch)

Final time: 3:17:17

Distance: 13.19 miles

Elevation gain: 443 ft

Avg pace: 14:56/mile

Mile	Time
1	13:12
2	14:03
3	14:36
4	15:16
5	14:45
6	13:50
7	14:12
8	15:10
9	15:32
10	15:35
11	16:16
12	16:21
13	16:03

Gear

Shoes: Altra Rivera 3

Socks: Darn Tough Ultra-lightweight running socks

Leggings: Old Navy Powersoft leggings

Shirt: Fabletics athletic shirt (no longer available)

Sportsbra: Fabletics high-impact sportsbra

Running vest: Aonijie running vest

Watch: Polar Pacer

Fuel: Honey Stinger gels, chews, and waffles; Gatorlyte, water.