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!!!