Hiking the Y with Nate R.

Our friend Nate and his dear wifey Maddie are moving to Arkansas soon. Nate and Mason were roommates their freshman year at BYU and then again after their missions. They've gotten to be real good pals, and I like him a lot too. :)

One of the things on Nate's Provo Bucket List was to hike to the top of Y mountain. Seeing as he is leaving soon, and Mason and I are experts at hiking the Y (because of the one time we did it together last summer), we decided to make his dream come true, and one late April morning we did it!

Nate and I were both kind of dying a little on the hike to get to the actual Y on the side of the mountain. It is an indisputable fact that the trail leading up to the Y is a very terrible hike. It is SO steep, there's about a million switchbacks, and it's not even pretty. It's just dusty and rocky and steep. Did I mention how steep it was? I mean, really.

Eventually we made it to the Y, and then the real fun began! We went off on the little trail that leads to the top! We were on our way!

Soon we made it to Mouse Rock, which is cool because from a distance it actually looks just like a mouse. Close up, Nate was convinced it looked a lot more like a rabbit. Also like a lizard. Haha I'm not sure how a rock that is supposed to look like a mouse can possibly look like a rabbit AND a lizard simultaneously. It was funny!

It was a fun, pretty hike and the weather felt perfect. Lots of cloud cover, and cool but not too cold. We stopped for some Clif bars, saw our old dead nasty goat friend's skeleton laying on the side of the trail right where it was last year, and then... it happened.

Snow. Everywhere. We had gotten up so high on the east side of the mountain where the sun barely ever shines, and the snow was everywhere! It was beautiful, but SO slippery and actually really deep in some places. We struggled through it, Mason decided his new name was Captain Crampon because of his very grippy trail running shoes he was wearing, and Nate was starting to get grumpy. I'm sure we were quite a sight.

We actually ran into two guys who were looking for the summit who had given up and were on their way back down. I felt bad for them and we all wondered for a moment if we should keep going. Of course, we did! The terrain was steep and slippery and it was getting a little cold, but we WOULD find the summit! With Captain Crampon as our fearless leader, we could not fail.

Eventually, we made it. It was beautiful. Nate had mentioned on our way up the mountain that he wanted to scream, "WHO AM I????" from the top of the mountain, but we all forgot, so he didn't. We all took some pictures and drank in the beauty, and then realized that it looked like a big storm was rolling in so we had better skidattle. Also, someone who shall remain unnamed used our emergency toilet paper. Hopefully that proves to someone else who shall remain unnamed that bringing TP on adventures where there's no potty is not a laughable idea. ;)

The way down was even more slippery than the way up, and we all fell on our bums at least once. I was the record holder, with 5. Even Captain Crampon went down! Oh, and later Nate found a stick to help him get down the mountain, and Mason started calling him Admiral Ice Pick. They are goobers!

Finally we made it out of the snow and started down on the easiest part of the trail. Then it started to hail! HAIL! It was insane. We hustled along and eventually it stopped, but it was about 10 minutes of being hailed on I think.

Finally we made it down the super steep Y trail. Nate had holes in the toes of his shoes, so his entire big toe stuck out of one of them on the way down and we all laughed about it.

It was a blast. I'm sad to see the Robisons moving away, but I hope Arkansas holds happiness and many fun adventures for them.

Revel Mt. Charleston Half Marathon (forever ago)

We ran another half marathon! It was a blast and we both loved it so so much. It was Mason's fourth half, and my second. It was a really emotional run for me and I was SO glad that Mason was waiting for me at the finish line, because I just started sobbing in his arms haha. It was kind of embarrassing, he was like, "Bri! Get your medal!" And the 15 year old girl walked up to me and put it on me while I was sobbing uncontrollably. Ha. Good thing we'll never see each other again.

Anyway, starting from the beginning, we left Mason's parents' house at around 4:30 the morning of the race. Mason's dad, Lane, ran it with us. We were all really tired, but excited. (I was so nervous I was going to have a terrible case of the trots again, so I took lots of Imodium. ;) ) And then we were off to the race! After a nice warm bus ride they kicked us off the buses and we stood around in the cold and watched the sun rise. Finally it was 6:30 and we started running!

I tried running with a pacer this time, and it was a really good decision. I ran with the 2:10 guy, so our mile times weren's super fast, plus we were running down a mountain for about the first six miles, I think. It was fun listening to him babble on and on about running and stay distracted. Around mile seven I was feeling awesome and fresh so I decided to kick it up a notch, and I increased my pace just a little so eventually I was far ahead of the group.

I was doing great until about mile 11.5 when my left hip and knee started to really really hurt. I kept going, and pretty soon the muscle on the front of my shin (also on the left leg) started to get super tight and hurt like the dickens. Around mile 12 I couldn't take it anymore and had to start walking. The 2:10 guy passed me, and I said, "Oh no!" He looked back at me and said, "Yeah..." apologetically as he zipped up the seemingly enormous hill we were on. As he ran away from me I started to see my dreams of a PR going with him. Add on to that the intense pain in my entire left leg and I just cracked. I started to walk, hoping a little break would help my leg to feel better. I felt terrible that I was walking, and started to cry.

I think people noticed that I was struggling because spectators started saying things to me like, "You got this girl!", "You're almost there!", and, "It's okay! You're doing great!" Which only made me cry more haha. I kept trying to run, but always had to stop again, mostly because of my hip. Anyway, once I got to where I could see the finish line I decided I was going to run all the way there even if my legs fell off. Luckily they remained hooked to my body and I got a huge shot of adrenaline when I got really close which allowed me to sprint past about 6 people. And then Mason was there, looking so happy to see me, and making me feel so proud, and I just lost it and started bawling.

So it was kind of a weird experience. Lots of emotions. No trots, which is definitely abnormal for me, if you must know. I actually did end up with a PR. Somehow I was able to finish in 2:10 and some seconds. It made me feel strong and powerful and I loved it!