Day 22: The Half-Orem Half-Marathon

Date: March 5th 2011, 8:05 am
Distance: 13.5 miles
Weather: A Hazy Shade of Winter

Jeff kindly offered to come down to Provo and run this one with me. We worked out a route the length of a half marathon that did a lap around the southern half of Orem. I am starting to realize that all of my easy runs are gone. My weekday runs are all 4+ miles and my weekend runs are going to stay in the double digits until we get close to the marathon. No pain, no glory, I suppose.
We started by running down University Parkway, past the lines of tents set up outside the Marriott Center. BYU has a basketball game today... but I won't lie... my passion for BYU basketball hasn't quite been the same since Brandon Davies was taken off the team for an honor code violation. Regardless... go get em cougs.

The run up the hill to the mall was uneventful, except for a kid who was texting while walking and didn't see us until we were right in front of him. He was so surprised that he almost dropped his phone. We ran around UVU and got up into the thick of Orem. The hills were starting to slow me down. By the time we started heading south again, I asked Jeff if we were going his marathon pace.

He said yes.

I said nothing, but in my mind I thought: "Oh Jeez." I'm pretty sure I haven't been running this fast on my runs.

We noticed that the Provo River trail was absolutely congested with other runners. It was ridiculous. We were basically tripping over ladies with their dogs. There were also lots of students on "running dates" as well as the classic mommy with the running stroller. As I thought about this, it clicked. The Rex Lee Run is next Saturday and everyone is just now putting in some practice runs.

To top it all off, when I got home the doors were locked and nobody responded to our knocking (mid-morning nap?). After knocking quite heavily I went to the back window and started to break in. Halfway through my efforts to remove the screen, I heard a voice from behind me:

"Hey! Are you locked out?"

It was my community aide. Apparently, we were making a scene. Two minutes later (with the help of a spare key) we were inside. Next time, I'll have a backup plan in case the baby keeps Holly up all night again.