A Frigid Weekend in Park City

Way back on Oct. 8th I ran a half marathon with Cid and Amy.  It was the Pink Series women's only one in Park City.  The weather was awesome until a few days before and then it became freezing and rainy/snowy.  Cid has been training and planning for this for a long time as something to check off her bucket list and part of her weight loss journey.  I was super nervous by the time the weekend actually came because in the 5 weeks between this one and the Top of Utah I did very little running.  I did some short runs and some running with Ian in the jogger but virtually no long runs after the beginning of September.  That is a really bad training plan.

We took all the kids and hubbies and headed to Park City for the weekend.  On race morning it was only in the 30s with rain/sleet verging on snow going on.  Cid, Amy, and I got on the shuttle bus to head to the start line and that actually turned out to be one of the most exciting parts of the race.  It was 6:45ish and dark outside and our bus driver got lost!  It was standing room only, and we were standing at the front of the bus.  He had this crazy set of handwritten directions and no phone number to call and missed a turn really early on.   The poor guy was seriously not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he had no clue what to do.  He was asking us how to get there and wandering aimlessly making like 5 point turns in a bus on various highways.  It was a total zoo.  He also had the heater cranked so high that in our bundled state we were all sweating and dying.  At one point he headed down a dead end and only realized it at the last minute at which point he slammed on the brakes, locked them up, and came within inches of a rock retaining wall.  We finally convinced him to find his way back to where we last made human contact and get new directions.  We did end up getting to the starting line eventually where we quickly went from sweating to freezing.  It was so stinking cold with this awful freezing headwind.  I started the race in this big, bulky rain jacket and gloves which I just couldn't bring myself to shed yet.  By mile three my legs and feet were still freezing, but I was getting hot elsewhere so I left it.  My hands were shaking, and I had to have a lady at the ad station help me get it off.  At that point I was seriously questioning my sanity.  I started to feel better after that and kind of got into a rhythm.  It was a beautiful course, and I would love to do it again (with nicer weather please).  It was mostly flat with some hills...nothing I'd really call downhill.  I was almost 10 minutes slower than my last half, but I finished in a respectable time.  At the finish line the guys and kids were waiting like little frozen popsicles.  It only got in the 40s with cold wind and rain.  The kids were troopers and cheered everyone on to the finish.  It was exciting to see Cid finish and meet her goal of being under 3 hours.  She did great!  The kids enjoyed the rest of the weekend swimming and playing around the condo, and we had a very yummy breakfast at Kneaders before heading home, so it was a good time.

The pink blob in the distance is me and that's my back too.  I was so ready to be done.

Jer's cousins wife Lisa ran also and then there is Cid, Amy, and I.  It is now just a freezing memory and is seeming more fun in retrospect, and it was for a good cause!