Halloween Half

This past weekend I got to run in the Halloween Half. If you remember, I ran it last year and thought the race itself was awesome. This year I wanted to run it, but didn't want to wait 2 hours to pick up my packet and drive out to Prove on a Friday afternoon in traffic. So I checked the website to see if any improvements had been made. Luckily, there had been improvements. This year they had packet pickup for 2 days and in Lehi instead of Provo. They also had 3 different wave groups for the start which helped a lot with the congestion we experienced last year.

 

 

Last year, if you don't remember, I dressed up as Mr. Good body. The body suit worked out so well that I decided to do something along the same lines.

 

This year I was a robot.

 

 And I ran with these lovely ladies.

 

 The Avengers even showed up...except for the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.



That morning I woke up at 4:30 to get going. I put my face on, got my costume ready, threw back some oatmeal, brushed my teeth and waited for my ride. We arrived in Provo at 6:30 and waited in line to load the buses. Once we got up to the start, we only had to wait for an hour. We took pictures, used the Honey Buckets a few times and stripped off all our warm clothes. This is how the race went.

Mile 1-5: It was freezing. Even after running a few miles I still felt cold. My face was so cold and my nose started to run a little. My fingers were numb and I moved them as much as I could. My toes were also cold but they seemed to warm up faster than the rest of me. We were running in a little bit of ice and there was no sunshine. I felt pretty good and 5 miles flew by fast. It's always so entertaining to watch other people run. I'm sure they said the same thing about watching me run and in that ridiculous costume. ;)

Mile 6-8: I was finally warm and actually felt really comfortable in this temperature even without the sun. Since the race had to start a little lower down the canyon this year, we had to run uphill for about 1.5 miles and then run back down. I don't think many people planned for this as many people had to walk. It was tough, but I wasn't going to walk and I was proud that I didn't.

Mile 8-9: I forgot to take my GU at mile 7 and I knew that I was going to need it soon. Fortunately I remembered as I was passing a water station and I was able to down that thing fast. I was feeling pretty good up to this point, but 4 miles seemed like a long ways away. Anything could happen.

Mile10-13.1: Still running and I hadn't walked once nor was I going to. I was really starting to feel some pain in my right knee. I had this pain prior to this race so I was worried about it, but it went away in the last couple of miles as I kept going. A lady and I were running right next to each other for a while and we began to talk. It's amazing how fast time goes by when you have someone to talk to. I never thought I'd like to talk while running, but it actually helped. The last stretch was so fun as the shoot was lined with tons of people that always gives you that extra push to finish strong. My finishing time was 2:14:58. Not my best, but I will happily take it.

 

I loved seeing my family at the finish. It always makes me feel loved and supported to have people that I love there watching me achieve something difficult.

 

Anyone want in next year?