2015 Thanksgiving Day 5k

This was my 4th year running the Thanksgiving Day 5k in Cottonwood Heights, and it did not disappoint. A group of 7 of us signed up, participated and had a blast! Here's the whole crew before we walked over to the Rec Center for the start of the race. 

We meandered through the neighborhood and got to the start are with just a few seconds to spare. Lacy, Crystal, and I hopped into the melee, snapped one quick photo, and off we went! As usual, I was dressed as a Green Bay Packer, and also wore the awesome football headband that Bethany made for me. 

Lacy finished fast, and Crystal and I plodded along at our own speed. I'm not quite sure how the boys finished, but I know we all had fun. One of these years I'm going to figure out a good way to take pictures during events so I have some action shots in addition to the fun group ones. 

Even though running a 5k doesn't burn that many calories, it does feel nice to start the Thanksgiving Day holiday off with some exercise. See you all there next year!

-Linsey

201 Haunted Half Marathon - Salt Lake

On October 24, 2015 we ran the Haunted Half Marathon in Salt Lake. I did the Provo Haunted Half last year, and I do have to say that I enjoyed the Salt Lake race more than the Provo version. Packet pickup was seamless, and Winnie and I had a little bit of fun with the photo board at pickup. 

Buses loaded for this race between 6-7am, which was a nice break from the 4-5am loading of some other races. The Haunted Half has a later start time due to the time of year, and I have no objections to that as it lets me get a few extra precious minutes of sleep. Winnie and I got to the bus loading around 6:45am and were able to get right on a bus to go to the start area. About 2 minutes into the bus ride, I realized I forgot my ipod and headphones. That was a bummer, but I knew I would be running with Winnie most of the race, so I wasn't too upset over it. There were worse things that could have been forgotten.

Lacy was supposed to run this half with us as well, but her daughter was up sick most of the night before, and she made the tough call not to run this one. It's so hard to decide not to do a race, but I think it's the smart thing to do when you know that you aren't physically up for the challenges of a half marathon, and knowing that the energy probably isn't there to get you through it. It's better to not run than to risk getting injured. We definitely missed her at this one! 

Once we got to the start area, we had plenty of time to eat something, use the honey buckets, and stand around shivering. At least the views were spectacular! Sunrise at the top of Emigration Canyon did not disappoint.

And there was also good company to keep us entertained and warm. I'm so happy Mariah found us and came to say hi! 

Finally 8:45 rolled around and it was time to start running! The downhill portion of the race was great, and we rolled through the miles. Winnie, Brittany, Kollin, and I stayed together for about the first 4 miles or so until bathroom breaks split us up. I did find this great photo of Brittany and Kollin in the race's photo bank.  You can't see Kollin's onesie, but he was dressed as a Storm Trooper. And I love Brittany's mermaid!

I think we averaged about 10:30/mile for the first 9 miles. After that when the terrain leveled out and we started winding through the neighborhoods, my legs started getting tired, and Winnie ran ahead of me to keep a pace that felt good to her. Winnie ended up finishing 10-12 minutes ahead of me. I was getting so hot in my Packers getup in those last few miles that the finish line was a welcome sight if only to be able to get out of the sun and slow down. 

Here's Winnie coming through the finish. 

And me a little bit later. 

I am so glad that I got to run this half with Winnie. I have missed her so much since they moved to Oregon several years ago, but am glad that we get to see them every so often when they come to visit or when we go to Corvallis to see them. 

And finally, here is a picture of the whole crew at the finish line, pizza and all. Huge kudos to Brittany for this one as her daughter, Summit, was born just three and a half months prior to this half. She's kind of a rock star in my eyes. 

Thanks for a great day everyone, and hope to see you at this race again in 2016!

2015 Huntsville Half Marathon

I'm going all the way back to September 26, 2015 for this post. Lacy and I ran the Huntsville Half Marathon, and it was a wonderful day! We had a very early start, but a little coffee always helps mitigate that. All smiles, even though I'm pretty sure this was around 4:30am. 

Once we got to Huntsville, the sun was rising and the scenery was spectacular. Unfortunately, my phone bit the dust a month or so after Huntsville, and a lot of my photos were lost, but at least I had these that I had posted to social media.

We had to be bused from Huntsville to the starting area, so there was a little bit of time spend standing around and waiting. But that was okay, because I also ran into my friend Natasha at the start! The leaves were gorgeous, and I was thrilled that it wasn't raining this year. 

Lacy and I run different paces, so we didn't plan on staying together during the half. Lacy ran ahead, and I trucked along at my own slower pace. It did get pretty warm during the half, but we both survived and got to see some great views of the valley around Pineview during the run. I finished slower than I had hoped to, but I felt pretty good this entire race, so I considered that a positive outcome for the day. 

FINISHERS!

I'm sure we'll do this race again sometime, just not this year. The Huntsville organizers moved the race a week earlier in 2016, which puts it one week after the Big Cottonwood Full Marathon. And that is just not enough time to recover from a full and be ready to run another half. So maybe in 2017 we'll be back.