The Haunted Half Marathon - Provo

On Saturday, I ran the Haunted Half Marathon in Provo with most of my team from the Red Rock Relay that I did in Zion last month. It was a great team reunion, as well as my season finale for the 2014 race season. These are the awesome people I ran with (left to right) - Chris, Jenna, Steve, his son, Bryce, and Steve's wife Natalie. All super fun. And faster than me. ;)

The weather for this race really couldn't have been any better. But I could have been dressed better for it. I ran in my Green Bay Packers getup, and the thermal top I had on under my jersey quickly turned out to be too warm. And I had no base layer under it to allow me to shed it. I ended up running the half being too warm for most of it. Especially the last three miles, which were mostly in direct sun around 11am. 

Now for the race recap! Steve and his son took off right from the start line, and the rest of us stuck together through about mile 4. Once we hit that first aid station, Chris and Jenna ran ahead to pick up the pace a little bit, and I ran with Natalie for a couple of miles before we separated to run our own paces from there through the finish. I felt great through about mile 6-7, then I started to feel a little bit fatigued. Then around mile 10-11, it got really hard for the remainder of the race. What I realized around mile 11 was that I had only done one long run of 9 miles since the Huntsville Half on September 27. Poor planning on my part. I had basically set myself up to not have the endurance to go the full 13.1 miles and feel good the whole time. Even with that being the case, I still finished about 15 minutes faster than at Huntsville. 

This race was very well organized. I was not able to attend packet pickup, but from what  I heard, the race organizers made it very easy for runners to pick up bibs for others. Parking at University Mall was easily accessible and plentiful, and the bus loading was painless. We were at the start line for about an hour prior to the race starting, which was the only drawback of this event (for me). They had some fire barrels set up, but no tents or anywhere to get out of the elements. If the weather had not been unseasonably warm, I could see that aspect having been an issue. Volunteers were awesome at the aid stations, and there was a lot of activity and celebration going on in the finish area. 

Every race that I run teaches me something. And sometimes I need to learn the same lesson more than once. This race was yet another reminder to me that I can only perform as well as I train to perform. I wasn't expecting to be able to go out and just wing the half by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think I placed enough emphasis on getting my long runs in after Huntsville, and that really hurt me in the later miles of this half. 

As I start preparing for my next half marathon (Naples, FL in January), I am rededicating myself and taking my training plan a little more seriously. It's time to get back in the gym for more strength training, back to yoga once a week, and definitely need to do my speed work too. And it never hurts to clean up the 'ole diet either. 

I'll wrap up this post with some more pictures from the Provo Haunted Half. Great event, and I will definitely run this one again! 

 I definitely earned that pizza! And here is a perfect example of the diet cleansing that needs to take place. :)

It's been a great 2014 season! Bring on 2015!!!

Week 8 Update - 2,982 Miles

We are officially two months into our challenge to run across the country, and we have logged 418 miles thus far. We added an additional 60 miles this week alone. Great job, ladies!

Running Alone vs. With a Partner

I was chatting with Lacy a little bit the other morning about how I rarely run by myself anymore, and it got me thinking. I started wondering if it was a conscious choice that I make daily to run with someone else or on my own, or if the only time I run alone is when no one else can go with me due to scheduling conflicts. And I am still not really sure. What I do know is that there are pros and cons to running alone and with a partner for me, and I thought I would share my list with you, and see what you think about additional benefits or drawbacks. 

Pros of Running Alone

• Time to think and clear my head, and blow off stress from the week.
• I can run my own pace, whether I'm taking it easy or pushing myself a little bit more that day.
• Easier to extend or cut mileage based on how I'm feeling. 
• I don't feel guilty or like I'm hindering someone else's training if I need to take a walk break.
• I can put on my music and grind through a hard workout, and just be in my own head. 

Pros of Running with a Partner

• Someone to hold you accountable to get out and put in the miles.
• If I want to walk up a hill, and my partner is still running, I don't want to get left behind. So I push through and run my butt up the hill.
• It can be safer to run with a partner, especially in the dark. I run with my Jack Russell Terrier, Sadie, so she helps me feel a little safer if I'm alone. 
• Getting out of bed at the butt-crack of dawn is easier if I know someone is waiting outside for me. 
• Talking while you run is a great way to boost the cardiovascular part of your run. Plus, a good conversation can really make the miles fly by.

Here's my verdict: I like both. It depends on the day, but sometimes I really just need to go out and run by myself. And other days, I really need someone there to help get me through the miles. 

What else do you like about running with a partner and running alone? Leave your pros and cons in the comments!

Week 7 Update - 2,982 Miles

We are 7 weeks into our challenge to run 2,982 miles, and we have completed 358 miles as of this week. This took us into Utah, past St. George, and on the road to Cedar City. Keep it up, ladies! We're only 280 miles away from Linsey's house in Salt Lake!

Week 6 Update - 2,982 Miles

I can't believe we are already 6 weeks into our 2,982 miles challenge! But here we are in Arizona. We added 46 miles this week, which took us through Mesquite, Nevada, and closing in on St. George, Utah. At this point, we are averaging about 52 miles per week, which is less than we had projected. But I would be willing to bet that we will be averaging way over our estimated 60 miles/week when the spring hits and we are staring down the barrel of marathon and race season. Great job, ladies!

Fast & Fun 9 Miles

Saturday morning, Ami and I got to run 9 miles down Big Cottonwood Canyon together, and it was awesome! I am so looking forward to Ami and her husband moving back to Salt Lake so I can run with her more often. We started our run at about 7:30am, and from where we started, we could see snow in the mountains, and it was about 34 degrees. Typically when I run the canyon, I tend to start out pretty fast, and then from there my pace kind of pops up and down from there. I loved running this canyon with Ami for so many reasons, but one of the running-related reasons is that we started out a little slower for our first two miles, and then increased our pace each mile thereafter. I think this was my first run where every mile was faster than the previous mile (except those two seconds on mile 8, but I'm not counting them). It felt great, and I never felt the need to walk or like I was pushing too hard to warm up or get moving at the beginning. And we still averaged 9:48/mile overall. Now I need to learn how to create that pacing for myself!

A couple miles down the road, we saw a couple of moose across the river. I was glad they were a little bit off the road, as it looked like it was probably a female with her calf. Although the leaves are changing up in the mountains, both Ami and were expecting them to have changed a bit more, especially considering how far up the canyon we started. The scenery was still absolutely beautiful, though, and we enjoyed every minute of the run. I couldn't believe it was already over when we ran out of the mouth of the canyon, and was wishing that we could do it all over again. Thanks for the run, Ami, and hope to see you again very soon! 

Here is our run in an awesome photo collage! Don't mind the duplicate of our splits... I was just really excited to share that separately too.

Week 5 Update: 2,982 Miles

5 weeks in the books, and we are barreling down on Mesquite, then over the border into Arizona. This was a recovery week for a couple of us, and Lacy is expecting the arrival of her baby within the next week or two, but we still managed to log 37 miles this week toward our goal. Great job, ladies!

Huntsville Half Marathon

On Saturday, Sept. 27, Ami and I ran the Huntsville Half Marathon in Utah. We had been planning to run this half together since May when Ami surprised me in my birthday card and said she was coming to Utah in September to run her first official half marathon with me. I was ecstatic when I got that card from her! 

As the race approached, we were watching the weather, and things looked ominous. Rain was in the forecast, and it had been raining more than usual in the weeks leading up to the race too. So we planned for rain. And it was a good thing, because it rained on our drive to Huntsville, and only let up for a few minutes when we were all getting dressed and boarding the bus. Then the rain started again. Our friends Andrea and Jenna also registered for the half, so the four of us drove up together, and wavered back and forth over what to wear for the race for a good portion of that drive. Eventually we were all dressed and ready to board the bus. Here's Ami and I getting ready to head to the starting area.

Once we had driven the full 13.1 miles of the course, we scurried off the bus and into the tents that race organizers had set up for us to stay as dry and warm as possible. We all donned our trash bags as 9:00 drew near... 

From left to right: Jenna, Ami, Andrea, Linsey

And we goofed off just a little bit too. 

As soon as the race organizers announced that everyone needed to move to the start line, the rain started coming down in droves again. We got a few more pictures through the Ziploc bags that were holding our phones, then it was time to run!

My whole plan was to just try to stay with Ami for the race, but she quickly left me in the dust (and I was happy about it!). I wasn't happy that we weren't running together, just happy that she was feeling so strong and doing so well. 

I'm not going to recount my entire race story, because it isn't pretty. This was definitely my most challenging half this year, and probably the hardest half I have ever run. I decided I wasn't going to make excuses for why I performed so poorly (in my eyes), and rather just look at my preparation for this race, see where I made mistakes, and what I could have done differently. Ultimately, I don't think I really let my legs recover from running the Red Rock Relay 2 weeks prior, and I think I ran too many miles in the 5 days immediately preceding the half. And finally, I let myself count on the downhill to help me keep pace and cover the distance too much. I train for downhill in Big Cottonwood Canyon near my house, and in my head, I was counting on the half to have that same kind of elevation loss. It didn't. At all. It was a much flatter course than I thought, so I had to rely on my own propulsion a lot more than gravity, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't prepared mentally or physically for that. 

Ami and Andrea finished well ahead of Jenna and I, who ended up running slogging through the entire half together. Jenna and I ran in our floor-length trash bags for about 5-6 miles, then ditched them since the weather had cleared up a bit at that point. Then around mile 11, I regretted that decision when another downpour hit us. I ran more in those last two miles because of the rain than I would have if it had been sunny. I just wanted to be done. By the time we finished, my phone had died. Luckily, Ami walked right up to us at the finish, and we ran into Andrea on the way back to the car. It was still raining pretty hard, so the four of us wrapped up in blankets and towels, drove down some random side street in Huntsville, and changed out of our wet clothes into dry ones in the car. Pretty impressive that we all managed to change within the confines of the car, but I don't know what else we would have done. Still smiling, even in spite of the rain!

 Love these goofy girls!

At the end of the day, I had a great time, and learned a few things about myself and my running too. Ami, so proud of you for finishing so strong at your first official half, and can't wait to do more events together!