This last weekend I ran my 4th half marathon for the year! Whoop Whoop! I made a goal to run 4 this year and I’ve done it! Initially I thought running four half marathons would keep me consistently running and training – and it has to some point, but I wasn’t as prepared for this race as I should have been. After the Big Cottonwood half I didn’t run much and the weekend before this race I decided to run 10 miles…and if I could still walk after that, then I would register for this race. I was running out of time and good race weather…so the crunch was on. Probably not the best game plan, but it worked.
My sister, her friend and I ran this race. They are both faster than me, and probably read a short novella at the finish line waiting for me, but it was sure nice having someone to talk to that morning and hang out with at the start. I have a love/hate relationship with the 8:30 start time. It was nice that I didn’t have to wake up so early to get bused up the canyon, but seriously, starting at 8:30 seems SO late and I felt like it took up a lot of my day. And speaking of being bused up the canyon…remember my story from the Big Cottonwood? I am DOOMED on race buses! Our bus driver somehow missed the turn and pretty soon we were seeing lights from Midway! No…that couldn’t be Midway! That would be WAY too far…but sure enough it was. We had to turn around (on the freeway) and then head back down the canyon..only to take another wrong turn, turn the huge bus around on a gravel road (which I was worried we would fall off a cliff into the river) and then finally we found the right road. If you only had the job to drive a race bus for the day – wouldn’t you LOOK at a map and know where you were going?
We arrived at the start and the bus in front of us got stuck in the mud from the rains the night before and at this point we were really just wanting OFF the bus…so finally the bus driver let us out. What an adventure!
But once we got started it was a beautiful course. And you couldn’t argue with the weather. It really was PERFECT. It was fun looking at all the creative people and their costumes. I am SO not one of those creative runners. I didn’t even wear fancy socks. Some people really got into it – and I have no idea how they run in those fancy costumes for so long!
I wasn’t too worried about my time in this race. I knew I probably couldn’t come close to my Big Cottonwood time and I didn’t really train much for this race, so I just ran. The course really reminded me of the Utah Valley Half, or American Fork Half. I wasn’t too crazy about the big hill in mile 12 though. I didn’t even care that it was on a busy road with lots of cars full of people who would see me. I totally walked it. And if I had to complain about something in this race, it would be that the police stopped us at the traffic light with only .5 miles to go to finish the race and made us wait for traffic. Seriously. If my legs stop at this point, it is hard to get going. I was SO frustrated and my time could have been at least 30 seconds to one minute shorter if I didn’t have to stand there during that time.
Regardless, I came across with a time that I felt okay about, 2:13. My sister ROCKED it and placed in her age division and got a second medal. She is super fast! Don’t let her try and tell you she isn’t! It was fun to have photo booths set up at the finish line…we managed to get some fun pictures. I enjoyed this race – and thought it was pretty good one. I would probably run it again in the future.
.
The rest of the day was pretty busy with Halloween festivities. My legs felt a little sore the next day, but I was happy with my time and that I finished my goal. I have one more race planned this year and then I need to start thinking about my running goals for next year. I think the 4 half marathons a year is a good one to keep my going. I did run a couple 13 mile runs this summer in training too. Maybe I’ll go for a full sometime in the future…..maybe!
Did you set a running goal for this year? What would be a great running goal for next year?
And last, but not least, our fancy costumes for the trunk or treat Saturday night: We really know how to go all out! We are party animals!
