Haunted Halloween Half Marathon still haunting me...

It has been almost a month since I completed the Atlanta Halloween Half Marathon on October 26th, and I am still haunted by it.  Not that it was scary, but that it was difficult for me.  I am haunted by doubt and apathy.  It didn't start that way, so let me tell you what happened....

A couple of weeks leading up to the event, my family and I ran the Tower of Terror 10 miler at Walt Disney World.  For me, it was great.  They finally got to participate in a RunDisney event with me.  Afterwards, I went on a great business trip to tour Sandals and Beaches Resorts in the Caribbean.  I came back to work and remained too busy to get out and train for the upcoming Atlanta Half Marathon.

The big weekend arrived.  I had a scheduled 5k on Saturday night, and the next morning, the half marathon. I felt that completing the Dopey Challenge in January, and the Dumbo Challenge in August, I could do both back to back.  It didn't occur at the time, that one would be less than 12 hours after the other.

On Saturday night, my youngest daughter, Brooke, and I ran a local 5k, Cherokee Twilight Run, and had fun. This was a work sponsored run, so several of my co-workers attended as well.  Since I was planning on running with Brooke and had the half marathon the next morning, I wasn't going to run for a PR.  I held back and paced with Brooke.  I think I like running in the dark better, as we made great time.  It was a loop run where we start at a local park and run neighborhood streets circling back to the park.  Brooke began dropping back as we approached the park and I challenged her to catch me.  I ran the last half mile with a steady increasing pace, unknowingly, passing a couple of co-workers in my age group.  I finished ahead of Brooke, but managed to get a picture of her finishing and getting a PR for her.

We waited for others to finish and view the costume contest.  They announced award winners and Brooke learned she finished first for her gender age group.  She had the biggest smile as they handed her the first place medal.

I had finished third for my age/gender division.  I felt so slow and couldn't believe I had finished in a top three.  There was a good turnout, but either several faster runners didn't complete the time cards as it wasn't chip timed, or they weren't in my age group.

It was time to get home and get some sleep as I had to get up early to get to packet pick up before the race.  I didn't have time to get to early pick up the day before.  Despite the name, Atlanta Half Marathon, it wasn't in Atlanta.  It was in Cumming, way north of Atlanta in the foothills of the Appalachians.  I say this to point out that it is quite hilly.  There are flatter  sections in Cumming/Forsyth County, like the Greenway, but this race was not there.  I arrived at the Cumming Fairground and picked up my bib, shirt, and other items stuffed inside.  It was a cold 48 degrees and breezy.  I waited in my vehicle till about twenty minutes before start.  There were a couple of hundred runners gathered, and I learned that most were there for the 5k that started a half hour after the half.  Many were in costumes and I had considered it, but I was running solo.  It's always funner to costume up when you're with a group or another runner.  If you weren't in costume, you didn't get your picture taken.  The only photographer was staff for the run itself.

 

Here's a start picture where I am in the back with a white hat and black shirt 

The race started and we left the main gate  and down Castlebury Rd.  Then after a short distance, it went up Castlebury Rd.  By up and down, I refer to the 'hills'.  I would soon learn that this course had less than a half mile of flat terrain.  If you weren't running up a hill, you were running down a hill.

I managed to maintain a 12 min pace for the first few miles, but some of those hills kicked my butt!  I was hurting toward the end.  I have only to blame myself for two things.  First is not being consistent with my training and making myself get out and run. I have similar hills nearby and and just didn't get out and run them.  Second fault on my part was picking the race simply because the medal was cool and looked similar to last year's race that my sister and I hosted as a virtual run.

Haunted Headless Lemon Ride or Run 2013 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation

Here are some pictures that I took along the way. 

The course was not crowded.  There were plenty of officers at intersections to help with traffic.  There were several water and Gatorade stations.  I don't recall seeing a first aid station, but I'm sure one of the many officers on course could have summoned help. Only on one portion at a turn around was the course into a neighborhood with traffic mixed in.  This section was one of the only flat portions and had residential traffic going in both directions.  Being a rural area, there were no sidewalks, so runners had to yield to cars. There were very few spectators or persons cheering.  Other runners who had finished, close by the finish, were great moral supporters cheering those of us still on course, to keep going.    

That hill we ran down just outside the Fairground gates, I now had to run back up.  Being so close to the finish and passing by my parked vehicle, I sprinted with everything I had left to finish and get that medal.  At the finish, there were cookies, bananas, and water.  By the time I finished with 2:55:36, I was tired and sweaty, despite the cool temps.   I determined that unless there was a super cool medal that I just couldn't do without, friends begging me to join them, or losing a bet, I would NOT do this race again.  This was a once and done.  Till the organizers move it to a different location, I decided that it just wasn't fun.  Like all my races, I took a photo of the shirt and medal to remember it, before I add the medal to my rack. 

That doubt and apathy I mentioned earlier, now come in to play.  I had a great 5k experience and the half's poor performance, left me doubting myself and if I wanted to keep running the events.  Without a race to set goals or keep me focused, I have found it easy to make excuses or get 'busy' and miss out on training runs.  I have caught myself feeling like I know I can complete the run, but don't care how I do.  Hopefully this is just a small burnout and I find my 'love for running' again.

With that said, I am only a week away from The Tryptophan Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day.  This will be on a course I have already run on 4th of July, We the Runners Half Marathon.  It is on the Greenway in Forsyth, with relatively flat wide paths mixed with sidewalk and wood pathways along a river.  Last summer it was humid and hot.  This next run will be with temps between 28-40 degrees. My goal has always been to complete a half under 2:30:00.  I just haven't been training for it like I should.  I hope to make it under 2:40:00.  I'll be sure to snap some pics and update afterwards.