RACE REPORT: Deseret News Half Marathon 2022

If I wasn't a blogger, I'd be reaaaaally tempted to sum up this race with ... it was hot, it sucked, I hate running ... and then left it at that. This was a tough race for a number of reasons. Not only was it my first half marathon since last September, but I felt severely under-trained that was exacerbated by the hot, hot heat. 

But, I did it.

When I signed up for this race last year I did it because I love running Emigration Canyon. It's a nice downhill course that does have a couple tough miles along the parade route to the finish line, but overall it's usually not bad. Well, not when it's hotter than Satan's armpits. During the years I do this race on a hot Pioneer Day morning I do question my sanity and life choices, because running in the heat is just not fun.

With that said, I am often perplexed why I chose to run my first half and full marathon in the middle of July. I've always kind of hated extreme weather, especially running in it. Finding out how much MaryAnn hates the heat was a major plus to me when we were dating, because the heat is just horrible. The snow is horrible. You can't do anything outside when it's over 100 degrees and then don't get me started about driving or walking/running in the snow. It's horrible.

Have I adequately mentioned how horrible it all is? Because it is.

Weather aside, a couple weeks before the race I was contemplating on downgrading my entry from the half marathon to the 10K. I knew the race was going to be a struggle between my preparedness and the hot summer we have been experiencing in Salt Lake this year. I really should have downgraded, but when my friend Rick asked me to run it with him since he was expecting to be slower than usual for the same reasons as me ... I agreed.

This might be a good place to point out that it doesn't take much peer pressure to get me to do something. And, the worst the idea or situation the more likely I am to do it. Which is definitely a post for another day. Needless to say, you can talk me into pretty much anything. It doesn't take much either, again ... that's a post for another day.

The week leading up to race day I kept obsessively checking the weather. The high was going to reach somewhere between 98-100 degrees and that pretty much didn't change throughout the week, no matter how many times I checked the weather app. I just had to come to terms that it would be hot and probably suck from start to finish lines.

And, yeah, that assessment was pretty much spot on.

After a 3am wake up call to get to the buses by 4:30am, I met up with my friends Taylor and Rick at the Rice-Eccles Stadium parking lot before loading on the cramped buses. The ride up Emigration Canyon wasn't long, but our poor bus died a couple times and had to be restarted. In my mind I wasn't worried about missing the race if something happened to the bus, but on the other hand I wouldn't have necessarily been sad either. But, we made it up the canyon with about 45 minutes or so to go until gun time.

After standing in line at the Honey Buckets for 40 of those 45 minutes we jaunted down the quarter mile walk to the start line. The start line is usually further up the canyon, but because of construction they had to move it a little this year. It would have been nice if we got more canyon miles instead of less, but it wasn't that bad of a temporary change.

My father-in-law Van, friends Rick, Taylor, Amanda and I all started together, which oddly was almost the same crew of runners we had start the same race together last year. After about a mile or so running together the faster runners separated from Rick and I and I settled into my run/walk method. The miles down Emigration Canyon went surprisingly well. I knew that I needed to enjoy those miles because once we were out of the canyon it was going to get hot and much harder.

Which it did.

Not only was it hot, but the humidity was an unexpected evil. There was some cloud coverage in the valley that provided some rain around Miles 8-9, but it wasn't a relief, it just added to the humidity. It was around this time that Rick and I was feeling the strain of the heat and started to cramp a little bit. The clouds broke to a very hot sun that made life miserable and at Mile 9, Rick and I stopped at the 7 Eleven along 1300 South for some relief.

We grabbed not only a Slurpee, but some cold bottled water as well. The boost helped, even if it was short lived. By Mile 10 when we turned onto South Temple, Rick was done. His foot was hurting too bad and he was worried about getting heat stroke. So at the Mile 10 aid station I kept going while he had Taylor pick him up.

I felt bad that Rick wasn't able to finish the race, but I don't blame him dropping out. The heat was miserable. I entertained the thought for a moment, but I felt like I could beast out a 5K to the finish line. I just wasn't looking forward to it because I started cramping a little bit more ... and did I mention it was hot? And, humidity? It was miserable, but I kept going.

I missed the cutoff to run the last two miles along the Days of '47 Parade route. As much as I hate parades I've always enjoyed running those last couple of miles with thousands of people cheering you on. It's fun. But, since I missed the cutoff they diverted me one block west. I did get a half block of the parade route, but the last couple miles were pretty dead and nondescript. Well, they were hot and humidity, so there was that.

After dodging the Mormon Battalion near the finish line I found myself crossing the finish line in just under four hours. It wasn't my worst time and it could have been better. But, considering the challenges, the heat, the 7 Eleven pitstop and all of that ... I finished the race and that was victory enough for me. And, it gives me a good starting point on the road to where I'd like to go.

It wasn't long after getting home that MaryAnn and I headed up to Bear Lake with her family for the weekend. Dipping my legs in the lake was a great relief not to mention the numerous recovery naps I took on the holiday weekend. It was the perfect recovery.

My next half marathon is the Mt. Nebo Half at the end of August, so I have some time to get some good training done. But, next week I have the Timp 10K in American Fork, which I am sure will be hot, but 6.2 miles will seem like a relief.

LET'S DO THIS!