New Year Half Marathon

You know that saying about the road to hell being paved with good intentions? I think I built a 4 lane highway over the month of December in my posting. I had this really cool idea to do various unique Christmas gift ideas and yet nothing happened. Here's a brief recap.

1. We got a dog. I'm taking her running a couple times a week and my wife will walk her a couple times also. She's almost to what her ideal weight should be.

2. Christmas was good. I got some new running gloves. My last pair had a hole in them.

3. I ran a half marathon this morning. Details to follow.

Marathon Maniacs New Year Half Marathon
Last year, the race was a bitter 5 degrees. This year, the weather has been wacky. All week the weather has been in the 50s. January is the coldest month of the year in Utah. 50 degrees is unheard of.

The race this year had more participants, but it was still a bare bones event. We did get a local running store to offer free gatorade and GU at their store which was about mile 7.5 on the course. I talked my brother in law into joining me. He hasn't run since November and I haven't done much in the past two weeks. When I got up this morning, it was snowing! Of all the days to snow and it decided to finally snow on race day. It tapered off though so we only had to contend with some wind.

The race started and finished at the race director's house again, but he offered better medals and had more food so the cost was a little more. Overall, the race was good and fun. I didn't have any goals in mind, but I felt really good so I just found a pace and went for it. My Garmin died around mile 6. I'll have to buy a new one or send it to Garmin to have them replace the battery. I'm bummed about that.

My finish was 1:43:30 'ish. We all timed ourselves for the race and I had to estimate my time based on who finished in front of me. They were at 1:41 and I was just a couple minutes behind. This time equates to a new PR in the half marathon. This makes me hopeful to break into the 1:30's for the half this year.

At the end of the race, there were big pots of chili, rice, yogurt, chocolate milk, bread, biscuits, gatorade and water available. That was probably the best part. Oh yeah, we also got a cool medal.

I have two marathons on tap for 2012, but would like to add a couple more. It will depend on timing, finances and my training.