Sometimes when I travel for work I get to combine the trip with a race. Recently I was in Salt Lake City for meetings, and while in Utah was able to stay long enough to do the Haunted Halloween Half in Provo. (There are also Haunted Half Marathons in Salt Lake City and Phoenix.)

What really excited me about this race – besides being in Utah – is that it is all downhill! The start is about 1,000 feet up the mountain and the course descends through the South Fork Canyon to finish at a mall parking lot in Provo. After all of the races I’ve done this year that were hilly, I was looking forward to one that was downhill.

Costumes were encouraged, but I was worried about the amount of space in my suitcase and walking 13 miles in something I had never worn before. We opted to be Christmas elves, using the elf shirts from a holiday race a few years ago.

Before the Start

Though the race didn’t start until 8:45 a.m., the buses to the start line began running at 6:00 a.m. Because I am paranoid about races with shuttles, Deb and I arrived at the parking lot shortly after 6:00 and decided to board an early bus to avoid possible complications later. When we got to the top at about 6:30, there were already plenty of people there wrapped in mylar blankets and huddled around propane fire pits. It was dark and chilly! We had more than 2 hours to wait til the race started. BTW This is the only race I have ever done where mylar blankets are handed out BEFORE the race.

Around 8:20 people started walking toward buses to throw their gear check bags in. At about this time we saw the Headless Horseman who led the start of the race, and had our picture taken with him.

The Start?

At about 8:40 we noticed people were starting to head a little ways down the road, and as we followed, we saw the jack-o-lantern arch at the starting line. We stayed in the back assuming there would be few walkers. At about 8:45 people suddenly started running. There was nothing to indicate the start — people running. It was funny how so many people just knew what to do; we figured they had done this race before.

The first 3 miles were the steepest, and we easily started out too fast. Deb had a goal of beating 3 hours; my goal was to help her. We slowed down a little to save energy for the end of the race.

Sorry, No Cups

When we reached the first water station just after mile 2, there were no cups. They had plenty of water, just no cups. We were thirsty and I drank from a water jug. Deb drank water poured in her hands.

Early in this race I was struggling and it was hard for me to maintain even that slower pace. I could barely keep up with Deb. As the course switched from roads to paved trails, Deb slowed, too. Once we knew Deb would not meet her goal, we decided to take it easy, enjoy the race and take pictures.

This is an amazingly beautiful half marathon! The mountains are stunning. The autumn leaves are beautiful. The sky is so blue. We walked beside streams and a waterfall. Every turn had a new beautiful view of the mountains or brightly colored trees.

Leap Frog

Throughout the race we leap-frogged runners. (Mostly a group of people dressed as Skittles.) We saw a few walkers. Most of them were people who just stopped running.

There were aid stations about every 2 miles. At every water station, the volunteers appeared shocked we wanted water, though they cheered enthusiastically. As we approached I would loudly ask for water several times before someone would slowly look at the table, pour water and hand it to us. I know we were pretty slow, but this is still a race! Despite that, the cheers were very nice.

After mile 9 the course seemed to level out a little. Between miles 10 and 12 a short section of the trail was decorated with Halloween inflatables: giant black cats, tombstones, ghosts… and at the end of this was a huge black, inflatable tunnel with streamers at the entry and exit. A couple of people near us were wondering if someone would jump out at us, but the prerace info said that would not happen. I felt confident walking quickly into the tunnel. There was no one inside, but this stretch added to the Halloween theme of the race.

Stopped by Traffic

Less than a mile from the finish we came to a busy intersection. Traffic was directed by police officers and there was a lot of traffic. We were told to stop, which is fine. We expected the officer directing the traffic to stop the cars and let us go. We stood there for what felt like forever, with five or six others catching up to us, and he still kept letting traffic go. I said, “This is still a race,” to no avail.

The officer at the corner was very nice and seemed to have sympathy, but the officer directing traffic seemed irritated by us. After more than 2 minutes (an eternity in a race) we were allowed to cross the street. Thank goodness we were not on track for Deb’s sub 3-hour half!

In the race’s defense, there is a published 3-hour time limit to avoid being stopped at intersections. You can still finish the race, but you might be asked to move to sidewalks and stop for traffic. Still, 2 minutes is a very long time to be standing waiting for traffic. (I saw a Facebook post from a 1:40 finisher who complained about also being stopped for traffic.)

Sprinting to the Finish

We walked down the street on the sidewalk, turned into the parking lot and under the finish line arch. We were given our medals and looked around for food and water. There was chocolate milk (always good), cups of water, a few fiber bars and a box of cut up brown bananas that were mush. I asked if there was food, and was told everything was gone except the fiber bars and bananas. Disappointing.

Our finish time was 3:10+ (3:08 without the traffic stop). The altitude had more of an affect than we expected, and going downhill for 13 miles is not as easy as you would think.

There was a party near the finish line. There were bounce houses, sponsor tents, doughnuts on a string, and photo opportunities. Many races and nonracers were in costume. There were plenty of doughnuts, but I really did not want one.

We stood in line to have our photo taken, then went to a restaurant for food.

The Takeaway

For the most part, this was a well organized event. The prerace information was really good. The expo was well organized. The goody bag was really good with a great long-sleeved race shirt, gloves (with the texting fingertips) and mylar blankets. The shuttles ran smoothly. At the top of the mountain there were plenty of port-a-johns and the fire pits were so nice! Water and hot chocolate were both available and the race information said there was GU, though I didn’t look for it. I also saw an organized group stretching before the race. The course was amazingly beautiful. There were plenty of aid stations and port-a-johns on the course. The medal is one of my favorites. And after the race we were able to download free race photos!

There were a couple of glitches such as one water station not having cups, having to stop for so long at the intersection and there being no food left when we finished. But when you balance those couple of things with everything they did right, I can honestly say they did a very good job.

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