So October 10th...I got the crazy idea that I would run the Halloween Half. It had been my plan all summer long but then with Justus' football schedule my running schedule became close to nonexistent and so I cancelled. Let me start by saying my furthest run since my June 25th half was 6 miles...and I had ran that twice since then. I was seriously not in half marathon shape at all. I decided to do 10 miles the Saturday after I signed up for the race and I about died and only did 9.35.
All in all, looking back I shouldn't have done this half. It was so unorganized and I was not feeling good enough to run. So the packet pickup day was the same as the Adobe Halloween Hoorah (my HUGE work halloween party) so I was already exhausted and tired but I went to the mall with two tired kids and went to get my packet. Never before have I waited for more than like 10 minutes to pick up my packet....The line went from right outsides Nordstroms to the food court in the University Mall...seriously...and I had no stroller so I just bagged the pickup. I went home thinking I was not running this race cause there was no way I was going to wait in line with two kids. Justus was at his playoff game so I would have to have both kids. So I texted my neighbor that was running with me and told her I wasn't running it. She waited in line for two hours and picked mine up for me. :( Now I had to run it. Justus didn't get home until 11 so I didn't get to sleep until well after that. From what we were told last year's bus situation was awful (like buses still bringing people up after the gun had gone off) so we decided to get there early. So for a race that started at 9...I got up at 3:30. We got to the buses at 4:30 with no buses or signs or anything in sight. The first buses arrived around 5:15 and we loaded the second bus. We headed up the canyon and the driver had no clue where he was going - we had to give him instructions. We kept going higher and higher up the canyon until the road narrowed so much that we saw the bus in front of us almost go off the road - so they kicked us out of the bus and we walked a 1/2 mile down the road...a canyon road...in October...with no lights, no clue where we were going but walked until we got to Aspen Grove's lodges. And it was freezing! Still having no clue where the start line was..where the tent was...and where anyone was. So we just stood around waiting and waiting while buses kept coming up and not knowing where to go. Finally at 6:30 someone from the race finally showed up and we were directed to the tent. Where we sat for 2.5 hours until the start of the race....Seriously? I was tired and hungry and just wanted the Opt Out Bus to pick me up...if there is one. To make matters worse I woke up with a stiff neck...I had slept on it wrong and it hurt. The amount of porta potty's was great -there was tons but there were also tons of people so there was always a line. And I found out, it's true what they say - it is coldest right before the sun comes up.
The course goes from Aspen Grove all the way to right before the Riverwoods and had a 2200 elevation drop. And the first 5 miles had 1200 of that drop. So my whole plan was to run as fast and as hard as I could for those first 5 miles in order to make up for the fact that I would burn out and go slow the last few miles....didn't realize HOW SLOW I would be...here's my splits...
Tessa, Lynsey, and me (which both of these girls got 1:51 and were mad...I hate fast people! LOL)
Miles 1 - 5 - 7:59, 7:37, 7:40, 7:47, 8:57
I was cruising during these miles -seriously it was awesome. Each mile came and went so fast and I felt so good. I knew that has soon as we hit the lesser downhill portion I was going to die so I tried to enjoy this feeling while I could. I seriously loved every second of these 5 miles and was passing people right and left. Felt great. Then around 4 miles it started flattening out and I started slowing down...and I got hot...
Miles 6 - 13.13 - 9:52, 11:32, 9:33, 10:36, 10:02, 11:37, 11:00, 11:29, 1:13
I could break these miles up into sections but what's the point...it was the longest end of the race I've been in. During mile 7 (my first of more than I would like to admit 11 min miles) I had a wardrobe malfunction. It was FREEZING in the canyon in the morning. So I was wearing two long sleeve shirts under my little wizard dress - so it took longer expected to get figured out. Then I felt pretty good until mile 10. My neck/head had been hurting worse and worse throughout this race and this is where it started getting worse. I started texting people cause I had a lot of time on my hands when I wasn't running! LOL The 2:00 pacer past me and tried to get me to follow him...I tried so hard - I really did but he kept getting further and further in front of me at this point. My feet were killing me. I knew I needed new shoes prior to this race but I didn't buy them and I was regretting it at this point. I kept doing the walk/run and finally around mile 11.5 this little boy (couldn't have been more than 6) had started running next to his mom and they were passing me! I couldn't let this little boy beat me so I kept running...very slowly but I kept running. Then finally I came up to the finish line cheerers...and seriously it was like the twilight zone...it just kept going and going and going and I couldn't even see the finish line due to a turn right before it. I was so ready to just walk to the finish cause seriously it kept going and going and going....and then I saw it and ran as fast as I could to it.
My official time was 2:06:58. As soon as I crossed the finish line I broke down. I was in SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much pain with my neck and my head and mixed with the being so tired and already emotions from running for that long I lost it. My mom didn't even see me cross the finish line - and I had texted her when I was a mile out - and the finish line was chaotic so it took forever to find her - She took me straight to a gas station and picked me up excedrin and Dr. Pepper - and I instantly felt better.
I really wanted to run this race for a few reasons. #1 to prove to myself I could still complete a half even though my training wasn't so good and #2 cause I love races and I won't be able to do hardly any for the whole winter. But it was a great learning experience for me, like how fast you can get out of shape! So I finished my first year of running - with 4 half marathons - and that's like 2 marathons. I had previously decided on running the Ogden Marathon in May...but after yesterday I'm not sure I want to do that! We shall see. As of today I am in a ton of pain and can barely walk!
My biggest negative of this race, and the reason I won't do it again is the attitude I've seen from the few people I interacted with as far as volunteers/race people. 2 minutes before the start time I went to drop my bag and I heard the volunteers in the truck saying "If you want your bags there when you finished you better come help us" - and I'm sorry I was not happy with that statement. I am so grateful for EVERYONE that volunteers and makes these races possible. I know it's a sacrifice and it takes a lot of time - but telling runners 2 minutes before race time that they should jump in the truck and help load cause there wasn't enough volunteers for the number of racers was kind of rude to me. If you don't have the resources - cap the race...
Since yesterday I've been reading through the facebook posts and it just doesn't seem that anyone from the race is really sorry. They will "just improve next year" - I ran in the AF Half - it's first year ever and they were one of the most organized races I've ever been to. I was so impressed and it was their first year, and first year having a race go down that canyon - so I don't really feel like there are that many excuses for a race to have THAT many hiccups. I understand a few - and the packet pickup was a disaster but that was that...but to keep having issue after issues is kind of ridiculous.
I know part of my bad mood is the way I ran - I ran horribly and part of it was the utter chaos. I have no plans on running this race again - even though I loved the course and I love the time of year. It really was pretty and a fun race - but I like a dependable race... and the AF canyon races are off the hook! :)
Congrats to everyone that ran and I hope all of you that did had a less stressful time than I did.
