Let's just get that out of the way now. While last year's Haunted 5K had the creepiest clown medal known to man, the two Haunted races this year (Emigration Canyon and Provo) had dragon medals ... and the best two were the Emigration half and the Provo 5K. So I maybe signed up like a week before Emigration for both races.
I had barely run since St. George, but the race was downhill and I figured I had enough residual fitness to be fine.
(... I clearly have a LOT of faith in myself ...)
B was out of town so I was rolling solo for this one. I woke up early, ate breakfast, packed my handheld with Skratch, and grabbed some maple candies before driving down to Sugar House where I had to catch a bus. I also took Dramamine ... which is having the (helpful?) side effect of canceling the need for (any, really) race morning poops.
Unlike St. George, it was quite chilly up at the start and stayed that way through most of the race - it was probably low-40s up at the start and windy and I don't know if it even hit 50 by the time I finished. Maybe low-50s at the finish. In other words ... perfect running weather for me, since we all know I run hot.
Waiting to start. That arch was FIGHTING the wind.
We started and I just ... ran. The first ... 9-10 miles were all downhill running down the canyon. I don't even think I walked for the first time until three miles in.
In the meantime, I was just clicking off sub-10 miles, but I didn't feel like I was pushing it that hard.
I forget whether I started at two or three miles in, but I did start the maple candies and then ate them every other mile (so if it was at three, on the odds, and if at two, on the evens) ... as well as a slug of Skratch every mile.
I did walk a tiny bit here and there, but for the most part, it was just steady running.
The problem with this is, of course, is I started wondering if I could hold it and PR.
Photo courtesy of Runtastic Haunted.
Photo courtesy Runtastic Haunted.
We exited out the canyon with ... I think four to go to the finish, with half of that on the 5K course - which, if you recall, I ran last year. And I knew that it was a lot more undulating than I had been running, with one horrible hill in the last mile.
Still, I decided to push it, to try, to see what I could do.
It hurt. A lot. I was doing my best to keep the walk breaks to an absolute minimum and to never extend them longer than the 20 breaths. Since I have become a giant Empyrean series nerd (... peep the shirt that a friend designed!), I channeled my inner Violet Sorrengail by telling myself to box the pain in my brain and ignore it.
Look at that delightful grimace. Photo courtesy Runtastic Haunted.
The question is ... was it enough?
Holy. Fuck.
Overall Stats:
Time: 2:09:51.65
27/64 division (F40-44)
234/534 gender
483/891 overall
That, my friends, is an eleven-year-old PR broken. Almost 11 years to the date, too. If you recall from that race, the Garmin had 2:09:44 for 13.11, but it measured long, so watch stats had like 2:12 for 13.3 miles or whatever. This one?
This one's official.
There has been a part of me that wondered if I'd ever go that fast again, whether I wanted to try.
Turns out I just needed a downhill course and the perfect conditions. And a willingness to suffer (nice to know that still exists, too).
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