Provo Halloween Half Marathon

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:29:00 -0700

I never knew how mental racing was. Running down the Provo Canyon river trail on Saturday, while competing in my first half marathon, every time another runner passed me I would think, "that's it, everyone is in front of me and I'm now in last place." My feet ached, my calves burned, and due to a technical mix up before the race I was running without my usual GPS watch that tracked my time, distance, and pace. Without my watch, and with no mile markers posted, I had no idea where I was on course, or how I was doing in regards to time. This stretch of the race was very discouraging. I didn't expect to feel so alone and so lost. As is the case much of the time in my life, my music was my cocoon of comfort to keep my mind focused on the positive and distracted from the negative. Each time that I would take out my earbuds to adjust their position the comfortable tones would be replaced by the sounds of footsteps of the other runners approaching from behind. I'm most entirely at fault for arriving in such a lonely situation. The race began high up the mountains above the Sundance resort. Waiting in the crowd of over 700 runners at the starting line I was accompanied by Amber and our friends Eric and Betsy Billman. We all followed Amber, the experienced racer, who jockeyed through the masses to get as close to the starting line as possible. When the clock started Amber got started quickly, weaving around anyone that kept her from keeping her desired pace. Taking Amber's lead, I also started quickly. We stayed together for a few minutes until I felt cramped and split a couple of runners. I heard Amber yell, "see you later," and I was off - letting the momentum of the hill pull me down the coarse. Once I reached the more level area of Provo Canyon the jell-o feeling in my legs told me that I probably took the first five miles too fast. Next came the drudgery of Provo Canyon and the river trail. There were a few times where I honestly felt like stopping because the pain in my calves was so bad. And, although I paused briefly a few times to stretch against a tree I continued on, trotting closer to the finish line. My hopes brightened when I finally emerged from the canyon, although the pain in my legs was still ever present. As I began heading south towards the Riverwoods shopping center I noticed a person with a camera waving frantically at me. She even took a few pictures in my direction. I didn't think there was anyone behind me, so I first thought the friendly photographer had me confused for someone else. But, as I got closer I realized I was the mislead one. The happy person was Amber's sister Jen. At this point, I figured the finish couldn't be that far off. We came to a stoplight and then cut into a commercial development. The spectators along the trail became more frequent as we made the last turn before the chute. While entering the final stretch I heard a, "yeah, Scott!" from my sister Julia who was positioned on a grassy knoll with a video camera. My pace increased a bit with the thought of almost being done. But, it wasn't until I saw the clock that I threw all my energies into a last gasp sprint. Before the race, my goal was to complete the 13.1-mile course in one hour and 45 minutes. When I saw 1:44 on the clock - the seconds were obstructed from view - I knew I still had a chance to make it across the finish line in time. With 14 seconds to spare I finished my first endurance race. In her second race in as many months, Amber improved upon Top Of Utah Half Marathon time by three minutes, coming in at 1:50:33.

Running Diaries: Training for a Half-Marathon

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:30:00 -0700

Several weeks ago, after completing her first half-marathon, Amber convinced me that I wanted to train for a 13.1-mile race myself. Not to be completely outdone by my talented wife, who obliterated her target time by seven minutes in her first endurance competition, I committed to train for a race in St. George on the first Saturday in November. This was back in August, and believe it or not, I have not missed a single training run. Amber and I take turns each morning running through the chilly Cache Valley air. Both of us have found that we enjoy the regular exercise, and especially having something to work toward. My favorite part about training with another person is the motivation gained while challenging each other with times and increasingly more difficult routes. When the training schedule called for a six-mile run Amber introduced me to a horribly hellacious hill in Hyde Park that ascended nearly 500 feet in just about a mile-and-a-half. What made the Hyde Park hill the most daunted is the three false peeks that make you think you're almost there, but you're not. The St. George race included a two-mile stretch of trail running. This thought made me want to include some similar trails during our preparation. The Bonneville Shoreline trail, a 1.8-mile roller coaster path spanning between the Green and Logan Canyons, seemed perfect. My initial attempt worked me over like no other run had. And, for good cause as the route required climbing twice as much altitude as the Hyde Park run. Never backing down from a challenge herself, Amber had a go and agreed that adding the high-altitude trail in our regimen gave training a new challenge. This past Saturday we needed to find a route to accommodate 12 miles - the longest training run of the circuit. As I thought about it, one thing became clear. This not only had to be the longest run, but it should also be the hardest. Once that was decided, there was no choice but to combine the Hyde Park hill run with the Bonneville Shoreline trail. We even got a babysitter to watch the kids so that Amber and I could go together. Our pace was consistent, the hills were challenging but conquerable, and we climbed 1,529 feet (but also descended 1,567) en route to the longest run I've ever taken in my life. On a side note, we have decided to move our race date up a week and run in the Provo Halloween Half instead of St. George. If you're in the Provo area on October 31st the race ends at the Riverwoods Shopping Center. Come see us!

McAllister Family Blog - Running

Provo Halloween Half Marathon

Running Diaries: Training for a Half-Marathon