haunted half marathon: fun, camaraderie, and evenly paced miles

Beth and I had a mission this weekend: Our good friend JJ wanted to break 2 hours for the haunted half marathon in Kingsport, TN. We decided that since we were a week out from Masochist that this was a golden opportunity for us to pace JJ to meet his goal, PLUS dress up, act crazy and have a blast!!! No racing, no pressure ( other than to get JJ across the line in less than 2 hours).

My husband Brock, ever supportive:o) decided he wanted to dress up as a rabbi:o) and bring the kids so they could also dress up( harry potter and darth vader) and run the Monster Dash ( their first race!!) and have a good time while I ran, then once I crossed the line we could drive back to Bristol and take the kids trick or treating in the neighborhood ( and everyone would already have on their costumes!)

The day went off without a hitch. Brock, myself, and the kids got to the race about 2pm, and then we met up with Beth and JJ about 10 min later. It was so great to see SO many of my friends at this event. 300 people ran last year, 800 people ran the event this year!!! So for a 2nd year event, this has grown ALOT with the aid of the half marathon relay:o)

Before the gun, beth and I decided to run 8:55 miles, then after the gun, we decided to take a very hesitant JJ out 8:45 pace. While I didn't want JJ to blow up by going out too hard, I didn't want it to be TOO close. ( I hate nail biter finishes) so we just stayed at that pace and skipped and laughed, yelled encouraging WOO's!!! to all our friends, enjoyed fresh legs ( thanks to an easy taper week) it was hard to not take off at times, beth I would start talking and I would look down and we'd be 8 min pace( mostly plotting and planning about MMTR next week) .. so then we'd slow up, get back on track. We went through the half way point at 53 min. I was a little: "uh-oh... JJ DONT LOOK AT THE CLOCK!" haha but I felt that that gave him a good cushion, and he seemed FINE.. :o) and he was!!!!

second loop consisted mainly of beth and I leap frogging with a "mario and luigi" which is funny because for MONTHS that is what beth and I were going to dress up as, but once we saw the costumes, I was like " NO WAY, we'd smother to death!" they looked like very non breathable costumes, but this mario and luigi seemed to be managing it just fine:o) We kept cheering on JJ and acting crazy, and I seriously was SO proud of him for hanging on and being so consistent with his miles. That last mile people were fading and beth and I kept encouraging people to not fade and finish hard. ( which was fun) we were running to the finish.. I got on one side of this guy, beth on the other, we were getting ready to pull away and pass him-- and this dude looked at me, turned and looked at beth and said "oh, hell no..." and he took off in a DEAD SPRINT ahead of us.. HAHAHA.. so hilarious. I told beth he didn't want to get chicked(squared) that would just be too much.

JJ crossed in 1:57!!! SO proud of him!!! Congrats on your PR!!! and good luck at Richmond Marathon!!!! WOO!

I enjoyed running yesterday so much. It was so relaxing to just go have fun. So simple. it was PLAYTIME:o) I wish more runs were like that.. I SHOULD make SURE I have runs like that... I see that now.

The kids and Brock had a great time. The monster dash was non competitive so all the kids got candy as a prize. Brock said they both ran so well and had SO much fun. When I saw them at the finish, they both had FLEET FEET Kingsport cowbells:o) Thanks Phil!!! My buddy Phil Horner has the best fleet feet in the world:o)

I'm really looking forward to MMTR. Beth and I discussed the race ALOT yesterday. The weather forecast, nutrition plans, gear, etc. Really excited about the challenge and journey that lay ahead. Can't wait to have a wonderful weekend with all my "ultra family" :o)

here are some pictures from the race: