Haunted Half-Melody

I wish I'd known that RC was comping some of the Sojourners for this race.  I would have loved a free entry!

  I signed up because it's a course I train on a few times a week and I love running down that canyon.

The race was pretty well organized at the start and started about right on time.  It was chilly so the blanket they included in the swag bag came in handy.  I used that to keep warm until the gun went off.  

I started in the third row back- not ideal but with a pretty steep start I didn't want to get mowed over by all the guys. One girl started out pretty quick but I passed her about .1 into the race and no other girls came with me.  I ran the first 2 miles leap frogging some guys and after that I was pretty much alone.

The 4 South Fork miles flew by and my pace was pretty fast.  I knew it would slow so I just tried my best to push the pace without digging too deep that early.  It is really hard for me to push myself when I am alone!

My husband met me several times coming down the canyon and I knew I had a pretty good lead, but by mile 8/9 I was on track for a PR, so that kept me going.  I caught up to a guy with just 2 to go and we navigated the flood of 5k walkers together.  It was horrible! I was tired both mentally and physically and I had to weave in and out of runners and completely stop a couple times.  

When we got to the intersection at 800e and 800S the cop didn't stop traffic for us.  I was really annoyed at this point and the guy that I was with just went up the east side of the road.  Eventually I was able to cross- and it probably only cost me a few seconds, but no one should have to stop in a race- ever- in my opinion- especially at mile 12.6 in a half marathon!

My last mile was the slowest but I think it was more due to the factors I described than fatigue. I continued to dodge walkers all the way to the finish and made a huge push when I saw I was seconds away from a PR.

My watch and their first set of printed results had me at 1:17:57- a 2 second PR,  but their online results put me at 1:18:00.  I'm going with my watch on this one!

They really need to start the 5k later to cater to the faster half marathoners if they want it to continue to be competitive.

I never got my prize money either because the "girl with the checkbook was up the canyon taking the course down."  Hopefully they will send it in the mail.  

I give this race a grade of a "B."

Positives- decent fast course, accurately measured, good support/water tables etc, fairly easy to spectate 

Negatives- Too congested at the finish, cops did not stop traffic.  Prize money not handed out.